Posted by
Playful Walrus on Monday, May 05, 2008 3:16:39 PM
Why should we expect someone to change their convictions because of a protest demonstration or because they find out that a friend, family member, coworker, or someone they admire does something they find wrong?
I just don’t react to an illegal alien demonstration with “Golly, I guess I am wrong. How can I be against illegal aliens getting amnesty now that I’ve seen them marching?” My opposition does not come from thinking nobody wants it. My opposition comes from my convictions.
What if a group of burglars and kleptomaniacs got together for a march and you saw a bunch of people you recognized there? Would that make it okay to steal? What if there were a lot of people there? What if someone in your life came to you and said “I don’t want to live a lie anymore! I want you to know that I steal things.” Would you suddenly say, “Well, I don’t want to hurt his feelings, so I’ll change my mind and say stealing is okay”?
I can understand protest demonstrations as a tool to fire up the participants, but they don’t change my mind.
As I’ve written previously, Leftists often think that if you disagree with them, you simply have not heard them; and I already know that people I admire are sinners.
Oh - and it does not influence me to change my mind if a movie actor supports a certain cause. Depending on the cause, I may choose not to support that actor anymore.