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Originally Posted by iam3KBs
If the goal is to "reach" people then, perhaps, one way of doing so would be through encouraging people to think critically about the assumptions they grew up with...
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Yes, critical thinking is a wonderful thing, but very few people are able to do it.
When you challenge people's assumptions, many just won't hear, and many actually become enraged. Critical thinking is scary, because it entails admitting that you might be wrong. It's also scary because most people believe the things they do because their beliefs work for them: reassure them that they're good people, that they're part of the right group, that the world isn't as bad as it looks sometimes -- et cetera.
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Originally Posted by Phoebe
3kbs, I'm not mad. I am frustrated because I say one thing and you respond as if I've said something else entirely.
You're fighting windmills.
No one on this thread has actually disagreed with you on how life should be. The disagreement seems to be that you don't want to recognize how life is for many women, none of whom would be likely to be on this board.
If a woman IS on this board, she has already taken steps to insure that she can defend herself, or she wouldn't be here.
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Phoebe, you beat me to it.
The "should be" vs. "is" thing is exactly the issue. Yes, people "should be" able to think critically -- but most are not, and just "encouraging" them to do so rarely works. (Trust me on this, I used to be a teacher.
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The whole purpose of this thread is to explore the question of how, exactly, does one change women's minds -- "encourage them to think critically," if you like -- about the worth of using firearms to protect themselves. In order to do that, we've spent a lot of time discussing specific cases, ourselves or other women we've encountered, and talking about why this notion is so hard for most women to accept.
And yes, one big reason is the messages this culture sends to women about what it means to be feminine. Phoebe has spoken eloquently, firsthand, about the ways those messages make it hard for a "feminine" woman to change her behavior in this area. It is what it is, and saying it shouldn't be that way doesn't change it.
It misses the point to say, "Well, they should just be able to figure that out for themselves." The problem is that in the world as it is, most women don't. That is a fact, and blaming them for it doesn't lead to a solution.
Why shouldn't Warmare, or any of us, want to change the way women think about self defense? It's possible in principle: there's an entire technology dedicated to changing people's attitudes and behavior, and it's very effective; it's called advertising. It can be done; it's just a matter of finding the right approach.