Realized I was shouting down speakers I disagreed with at a UC Berkeley rally last fall

Tbh I used to think winning a campus debate meant drowning out the other side. Then I heckled a speaker from Turning Point USA during an open mic and a professor pulled me aside after. She said 'you just proved their point about closed-minded students' and I felt like an idiot. Has anyone else had that gut check moment where you realized your tactics were backfiring?

3 comments

3 Comments

corap211mo ago

Does shouting them down ever actually make them listen, or does it just make you feel righteous?

the_thomas1mo ago

...which is exactly what happened to me but in a totally different way. I was at this local town hall about zoning laws. Not even a political thing. Just boring housing stuff. Some guy kept going on about parking minimums and I got so annoyed I started muttering under my breath. Loud enough for people to hear. My neighbor tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "you know he's actually got a good point about fire truck access, you just didn't let him finish." And I realized I wasn't even listening to his argument. I was just reacting to his voice. That gut check made me actually sit through the whole thing quiet. And guess what? He was right about one part. Still don't agree with all of it. But I learned more by shutting up than I ever did trying to shout people down.

hannah3201mo ago

That's the thing, right? We're so trained to defend our own position that we stop actually listening. It takes a neighbor or someone to tap you on the shoulder and remind you the other person might have a point.