Ask HN: How to combat propaganda?
If you want to bring someone around to your position, you need to have an actual conversation.<p>First of all, you need to listen, with your mouth closed, while the other person explains their position--without being forced to defend it. You can ask probing questions, of course (They think that Ukraine needs to be liberated from the Nazis? Have them elaborate about the Nazi problem.), but avoid becoming adversarial or contrarian. Investigate their beliefs, trace them down to their foundations, and then undermine said foundations. The belief that &quot;Ukraine needs to be liberated from the Nazis&quot; may be based on some article claiming that Zelenski is a Nazi.<p>Once you understand the foundations of a belief, you&#x27;re in business. If you&#x27;re objectively correct, you should be able to provide incontrovertible evidence that you are correct. If your evidence is not acceptable (because, for example, it comes from a source the other guy doesn&#x27;t trust), then find other proof. If you can&#x27;t, ask yourself what that means.<p>After you&#x27;ve undermined one of these foundations, (perhaps, by proving that Zelenski is very unlikely to be a Nazi) remind the other party that their belief that &quot;Ukraine needs to be liberated from the Nazis&quot; was based on this fact, and ask if they still believe it. They will, of course, and they&#x27;ll present some new justification.<p>Rinse and repeat.<p>It goes without saying that this process almost never plays out. It requires that both parties be interested in having the conversation, both parties participate in good faith, and both parties are committed to Truth more than to their on cognitive comfort.<p>After all, how many hours of your life would you spend in conversation with a Russian relative who wanted to convince you that your worldview is based on lies?