Have you ever changed your opinion on an important issue after talking to someone with the opposite view?

Question

Or, have you changed anyone's opinion on an important issue (ie, politics, religion, race, world view) after discussing it with them?

Please give examples.

Thanks!

Answer 1

There have been many times I have either changed my opinion of what I thought or I have been so moved by what they said that I have gone and researched the topic more.  The same goes for me changing someone else's opinion.  Everybody has their own ideas and sometimes it can take just one person to make you look at things differently.  One thing I can remember off hand is about religion.  I am not catholic and I was asking questions to those who were one day about their religion and wondering why they do some of the things they do.  I did not do it in a demeaning way but as a way to learn more about why the religion does the things they do.  For example, I asked why they do confessions when in the Bible it says you should only confess your sins to God.  After a long talk with them and none of them could answer why they did some of the things they did some of them started going to a church of a different religion.  They said they didn't feel it was right to believe in something that they didn't know why they had to do what they were told and not know why especially when some of it did go against the Bible.  (and no I'm not bashing catholics)

Answer 2

My sister was against boxing since it causes injury to the brain.  I guess she is correct.

Answer 3

i had the same opinion change as Joyce. Until going to university i was always critical about g**s. to me they were mostly like the one's you see at the pride parades on TV. i never would have said anything to their faces but i would have felt awkward with them. Now after meeting so many people at university my perspective has changed a lot. I feel completely comfortable around g*y people and i think that it's important to treat them with respect, dignity, and equality like every human being should be treated. It is a lot harder for them to live in our society than most people think.

I have a friend from high school who some people suspected was g*y. he isn't, by the way, but that doesn't matter. I wasn't friends with him in high school but now in university we are friends and i am so glad for that. I ran in to one of my former high school friends a few months ago and he found out that i was hanging around with my new friend who some thought was g*y. So i told my former friend, "It doesn't matter whether he's g*y or not, because he is a far better person than you have ever been." This led the guy to saying, "Well atleast i'm not a hom*." That just gives you an idea of the ignorance that is still in society. And I am so glad that i switched to the opposite view from what i used to think, because it doesn't matter what someone's sexual orientation is. what matters is the person that you truly are inside!

Answer 4

No.  I have developed my own world view by studying all sorts of things in all sorts of sources over the years, and no single person has ever had enough of an impact on me to change my opinion about anything.

Harleigh Kyson Jr;

Answer 5

Hi,

I was uncomfortable with g*y people.  That was the way I was brought up.  I talked to my boyfriend at the time and he explained to me that people shouldn't be treated differently for loving another person a different way.  Since the discussion was based on love, I got a new prospective.  I then watched a movie about a girl coming to terms with her homosexuality.  She loved and longed for girls in a loving way.  Since I learned about this kind of love my eyes have opened.  I now embrace g*y people as valuable people in our communities.  Before I thought they were perves.  Now I have g*y friends.  

Take care,

Joyce