this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
245 points (95.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

30593 readers
1042 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

As in, not known to you IRL.

I've occasionally brought it up before, but a while back in my reddit days I was in a thread where a "professional deprogrammer" had popped in and was talking about how to "deprogram" conservatives and get them to shift left in their views. It centered around restoring their sense of community and belonging with more balanced viewpoint folks IRL and away from their online echo chambers.

I asked them if they had any way to convert someone you encounter wholly online and they said that it was basically impossible, IRL you have a decent chance, but not online.

I've been thinking about that quite a bit, so now I'm curious if anybody here has actually gotten an online conservative to come to the ~~dark side~~ light side?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I've had small success with my aunt by focusing on her love of children, explaining how many are dying under the needlessly cruel boot of Israel

From what I have figured out:

  1. They need to already respect you in some way, this does not work on random strangers unless you are a top tier communicator or public figure

  2. You need to identify the levers, for my aunt it is babies in danger. It will be different for different people, you need to do your homework

  3. INFINITE PATIENCE and consistently reiterating your own genuine respect for them (this can be hard, you may need to dig deep), you need to show them that they aren't your enemy and that they have been lied to by people they have trusted for nefarious purposes

  4. Play on the rights inherent distrust for the elite, Muskrat and co ARE the elite! Look at what he's doing to medicare!

  5. It will take many, many sessions and you CANNOT falter or get impatient or it gives them an excuse to dismiss everything before

It's not easy, it takes time and effort, though it is doable

[โ€“] cm0002@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Yea, IRL it's possible, but it's much got damn work. I'm doing this rn for some family members, and it's been a few years and I think I'm starting to make a breakthrough on one.

I've needed to stoop to some "drastic" measures though, like manipulating their favored corporate social media algorithms away from the alt-right bubbles or drastically artificially slowing down certain places like Facebook so that it's "painful to use"

load more comments (2 replies)