&gt; Most people making arguments for &quot;the other side&quot; haven&#x27;t actually had to defend them against real criticism.<p>If you go into a conversation with a condescending viewpoint like that, don&#x27;t be surprised if you don&#x27;t get anything out of it.<p>Even if the person you&#x27;re arguing isn&#x27;t an expert on the issue you&#x27;re talking about, they are an expert on why they feel that way. And understanding that can be helpful.<p>I&#x27;m reminded of a conversation I had with a right winger in rural Indiana. We somehow ended up talking about global warming and he told how me how he didn&#x27;t believe in it. I probed a bit further. He told me when he was younger people were talking about a food crisis and then he saw wheat yields increase by a factor of 3 or something. His main point was that we&#x27;ve heard stuff like this before and somehow it all turned out okay, so we&#x27;ll probably be okay this time too. And this viewpoint is a lot more reasonable than he&#x27;s just a fool who is repeating what Trump and his cronies are feeding him.