Heather from Alaska has an good example of how to personally make a difference on the cultural front:
To be entirely honest, there were several times over the past week when I wondered why I was bothering trying to explain my position to people who felt it was okay to just insult me personally based on my beliefs. Â I kept at it, though, and very recently I realized how much that work had paid off.
I had received several private comments from people supporting me, which certainly helped some but those were mostly from those who agreed with me to begin with. Â Then one of the pro-gun control people made a public post in the forum in my support. Â She thought that I was being unfairly attacked.
Read the whole thing, as they say. Being engaged with ordinary people is important. It not only lets you know what people outside the movement think, but also lets other people out there who are on our side, but might not quite be as vocal, know there are other people out there that think the same way. It offers an opportunity to expand the horizontal interpretive community, and to prevent the left’s strategy of shaming the nation into supporting gun control from working.
I’ve been “out of the gun safe” in a passive way on Facebook prior to this, but I generally followed a “no politics at the dinner table” guideline there. I have violated this guideline just recently, and I’m glad I did. I’m changing hearts and minds, one at a time. You can’t reach everyone, but I was shocked at one person whose mind was changed thanks my pushing the facts and figures under his nose.
I had a similar experience last week. In an online discussion over the events of two weeks ago, I had the usual back-and-forth with the foaming mouth types. But I also had an intellectual conversation on the subject with a fence sitter and actually changed their mind. Before, this person was leaning towards the anti side. In a little over a week, he now sees the position he once held as wrong. All by talking to (or in this case writing) folks as opposed to at/over them.
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy poking holes in the anti’s talking points, but what happened in this instance was completely rewarding.