Tell Your Story
The most effective conversations I’ve had with people who are prejudiced against my friends is to tell stories about what I know about my friends.
When people say something that I think is awful about someone I know (as part of a negative statement about that person, or all people of that social or ethnic group), I tend to speak up. This can be interrupting people who are bashing on Millennials or people who are just don’t understand non-binary people.
Here’s a summary of what works, found on Quora:
Answered May 23 · Author has 2.6k answers and 465.6k answer views
What doesn’t work is myth-busting, debunking, or refuting false statements. Resist the temptation! By repeating the falsehoods, even to expose them, you just ingrain them deeper into people’s minds.
What does work:
- Spread your own narrative, without referring to theirs.
- Structure it as a story, with a hero encountering a challenge and overcoming it. If possible, invite your audience to be the hero.
- Repeat. Repeat.
- Use social proof. Show that many people familiar to your audience share your point of view. Source
Dennis Fischman spends a lot of time on Quora. He tells his story.