Message for My Liberal Friends:
Fact-checking? Good.
Name-calling? Strategic malpractice.
The Facebook post graphic reproduced below illustrates both name-calling and effective fact-checking. If your goal is to change minds, contempt is self-sabotage.
Calling people “stupid” because they disagree with you may feel satisfying. It may earn applause from your side. But it will not persuade a single person who matters.
It will harden them.
Contempt Backfires
Arthur Brooks put it plainly in The Atlantic: Contempt — not disagreement — is what poisons civic life. Treating opponents with disdain doesn’t weaken them. It strengthens their identity and their resolve.
People rarely abandon beliefs because someone mocked them. They defend themselves.
And often, they escalate.
Resentment Is Political Fuel
Many Trump supporters describe feeling culturally disrespected. Jonathan Haidt warned in The New York Times that dismissing people as ignorant or immoral deepens alienation rather than persuasion.
If someone already suspects that “liberals look down on people like me,” calling them stupid doesn’t weaken that belief.
It confirms it.
And resentment is a powerful motivator.
Even Politicians Learn This the Hard Way
When Hillary Clinton used the phrase “basket of deplorables,” it became a rallying cry for her opponents. President Obama later acknowledged that the remark was politically damaging.
Insults mobilize. They do not persuade.
Elections Are Margin Games
You don’t need to persuade everyone. You need to persuade a few.
The loudest voices online are rarely the swing votes. The people who matter most are often quieter — reachable but not yet locked in.
Public shaming is designed for applause.
Persuasion is designed for outcomes.
Those are different audiences.
What Works Better
If you genuinely want to make a difference:
- Share a calm, well-sourced fact check.
- Send it privately.
- Choose someone you believe is persuadable.
- Lead with respect instead of ridicule.
You don’t need fireworks.
You need one honest conversation that lowers the temperature.
Flip a few — just a few — and the math changes.
Fact-checking is constructive.
Humiliation is counterproductive.
Respect isn’t weakness. It’s strategy.
Found on Facebook:
