What Trump says does not matter any more. Reacting to what he says just gives him energy.

[summer_in_TX]

48. Reminds me of the teacher training I took in the 1970s. The advice for how to handle student

misbehavior was to ignore it, deprive them of reinforcement (positive or negative).

Only problem was it assumed that only the teacher's attention mattered. The students laughing and encouraging their misbehavior far outweighed any ignoring I could do.

Later in looking back at the textbook for the course, I discovered the research on the effectiveness of ignoring was all done in a behavioral hospital setting where the researchers had far more control of the setting and the presence of an audience than any classroom teacher has.

US ignoring Trump won't do a damn thing.

At least not to stop or slow him in any way. It just means he does things without any resistance.

Maybe posting the firehose of news of the terrible things Trump administration will be doing and our discussion of it will be too overwhelmingly stressful and just seem hopeless to many here. I understand that feeling.

But for those of us working to help as many as possible who will be targets, we need the info. We also need to brainstorm and we need the discussion to inform our own thinking and formulate the best arguments, ones that will be an effective way to push back and delay or divert or rally the public opinion of fellow Americans.

I read this today and have been thinking about it ever since.

Will Stancil
‪@whstancil.bsky.social‬
The liberal answer of “sitting back and waiting for reality to reassert itself” doesn’t work because people don’t get their information about the world from reality, but mostly from each other. You have to go out there and contest the bad beliefs. That means talking to people you DON’T agree with.

And by “talking” I specifically mean “arguing with.” The dusty liberal fallback of “we need to be better listeners” does absolutely nothing to contest those false beliefs. It’s a contest for the collective mind and you’re never going to win it unless you actually try to take territory.

…You contest claims in public not to persuade the other side but to persuade the audience. In politics everything is always, always, always about persuading the audience. Looking like the smarter side to the audience. Convincing the audience.

Democrats and liberals specifically are terrible at this: they seem to think persuasion happens by directly making your case to voters. No! That’s wrong! The goal is to win the sympathies of the crowd, by engaging in conflicts where you look good and the other side looks stupid/venal/weak. It’s WWE

The reason you have to persuade people this way is that if you convince one person to agree with you, but the audience thinks the other side is winning, then the person you convinced will still most likely return to the popular consensus the moment they realize it exists

The liberal answer of “sitting back and waiting for reality to reassert itself” doesn’t work because people don’t get their information about the world from reality, but mostly from each other. You have to go out there and contest the bad beliefs. That means talking to people you DON’T agree with.

— Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) 2025-01-03T17:37:52.820Z

I'd like to be able to do that. Only problem is I don't think fast on my feet and need all the help I can get to think things through. It'll take a lot of work to overcome those traits and get better in areas that are needed and then have a plan.