How facts backfire

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Gemme

People's opionions are a fragment of their self as they know it. The more you try to change their view, the more it feels as if someone is trying to change *them*.

This doesn't surprise me in the least.

If that is true, how do we evolve beyond where we are? I used to play a game called Pyroto (it was the web version of the BBS game Pyroto Mountain). The game itself was a social experiment based on these facts and the hypothesis that people only change their opinion/view if something major happens.

I can attest to this being a true statement in my own experience. Prior to my mom's death I was a card carrying conservative (was a member of the Progressive Conservatives). Today, I'm on the farther left and would be classified (in Canadian terms) as either Liberal or NDP, perhaps Socialist.

So while I do agree that it's not surprising in many ways, knowing this info, how do we get those that refuse to see the facts (for whatever reason) to see them?