BEFORE YOU POST ANOTHER COMMENT ABOUT THE ELECTION, CAN I SHOW YOU HOW TO WIN ARGUMENT? (please read, don't watch)
Last night, I decided to digitally meet-up with a Trumper I'd never met who'd trolled me all election.
Make no bones about it - this guy is the real deal - based in a small town in NC, he posted nightly "Killery" conspiracies to my wall, attempted to discredit Trump accusers with memes based on their looks, has strong feelings on "immigration" and more (some of his friends were the inspiration for the thing I wrote about jobs a few days ago).
The video itself is just two white guys who don't know how to shave (him and me) awkwardly trying to cut through the noise. Don't feel like you have to watch it. But the second I turned the camera came on, three things became clear to me...
1 - NOBODY WINS AN ARGUMENT WITH A COMMENT ON FACEBOOK. It's too easy to skim, skip, turn off or tune out. If you think it's important, and you want to be heard, you have to find a way to say it. With your voice.
2 - ASKING AN A-HOLE FOR A BEER IS A POWER-PLAY. But in a good way. Seriously. Camaraderie found, even among enemies, can sometimes win the war. George Washington said that. (He didn't. But he should have.)
3 - NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOUR POINT OF VIEW UNTIL YOU LISTEN TO THEIRS. True story.
By the end of our call, I hadn't made my point, but I'd listened to his.
30 seconds later - while my wife and I talked about how "immigrants" aren't an abstract idea, they're our friends and neighbors, about Mike Pence's not so hidden agenda for the LGBTQ community, and how scary it is that hate-crime feels like the new norm thanks to a president elect who tweets about who's unfair to him without defending the rest of us - the guy texted to say we should do it again next week.
When we do, I'll explain to him all of those things and more.
And I'm guessing he'll hear what I'm saying.
Feel free to like / share if you agree.
Feel free to comment if you don't (odds are I'll ignore it - you should buy me a beer).
