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A student changed my mind about a campus speaker last fall
After a talk at our college, a student told me, 'I came to shout him down, but I stayed to ask a question.' That happened outside the library, right in the rain. It made me see these events less as battles and more as chances, however small, for real talk. Has a speaker you disagreed with ever surprised you?
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adamellis6mo ago
Used to think they were pointless but one actually made me reconsider.
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jenny5806mo ago
Which one changed your mind?
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aaron6775mo ago
Honestly, adamellis hit on something real there. Last year I went to a talk by a climate change skeptic just to argue with him in my head. But when he started talking about local water shortages and how his own farm was struggling, it hit different. He wasn't wrong about the drought affecting his crops, even if I disagreed with his bigger points. It made me realize you can sit with someone and find one small thing you agree on without giving up your whole stance. That's not changing your mind completely but it stops you from just shouting into the void.
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