I completely disagree. It seems to me that fear causes people to dig themselves further into their convictions ... or even to create convictions that were, up to that point, just tendencies. It's relatively easy to imagine that's the case with modern racists. Up to the point of being challenged, they may not think anything explicitly racist, just have a general tendency to associate with those that look/talk like themselves. But when faced with some pressure like fear, their implicit racism may snap into an explicit one.
The way _out_ of such fear-induced convictions is to weasel your way into their world and poke a bunch of little holes in it, then step back and watch them slowly evolve out of their commitment. It's very difficult for people to learn how to change their mind (aka flip-flopping), even when faced with contradictory evidence. And I'll take that opinion to my grave. //* On 09/23/2015 12:40 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
In practice, the tactic of creating doubt tends to be more about creating fear, and decreasing the resolve of the opponent, than it is about increasing the prevalence of skeptical thinking. I think flip-flopping is not that hard of a skill to master, it's whether one wants to devote the needed attention to segue between today's lie and tomorrow's in a sufficiently smooth way. At some level, any competence can be self-reinforcing and even enjoyable.
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