What do you do when you find out your friend is a moron? You see their post on social media or a bumper sticker on their car or they simply tell you who they support for President in the upcoming election and. . . you think. . . they are out of their friggin mind.
You’re shocked. Angry. Your friend is a fool. A dummkopf. A dunderhead.
How could they be so ignorant? How can they turn a blind eye to the evil that is their candidate?
You want to talk some sense into them. Convince them to change their mind.
I recommend you don’t do it. You can’t fix stupid.
You can love them, pray for them, try to see the good in them, but God knows, you can’t fix them.
And if you want my advice, you shouldn’t even try. You’ll just make things worse.
Let it go. Or. . . let them go. They’re not who you thought they were so walk away and don’t look back.
Don’t get angry. Don’t be sad. Move on. One day they might see the light.
Now, I know that a lot of people won’t follow this advice. They like to fix people. And they feel guilty if they don’t at least try.
I have some advice for the fixers of the world.
If you’re trying to convince someone that they’re wrong about their candidate (or about anything, actually), the first thing you have to do is realize that they’re probably not going to listen to you.
They know you, and while they may love you and respect you, they don’t necessarily see you as an expert on this topic. They’re not buying what you’re selling.
However, while you can’t convince them that your point of view is the correct one, you might help them to convince themselves.
How? By steering them towards information and opinions provided by someone your friend doesn’t know.
Your friend won’t listen to you but they might listen to a stranger.
It’s called “third partyâ€. It’s what we use when we submit evidence in court. We present documented facts and expert opinions and let the evidence do the persuading for us.
But here’s the thing. When you present this evidence to your friend, you run the risk of exposing yourself and having your friend think that you’re the fool. As we are told, it is usually “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
So there you go. You’re all set for this election cycle. I’ll see you on the other side.
