Partisans

When I was younger and obviously more, or even, idealist, I thought that if a person could make a cogent enough argument in favor of a position, they could sway people to appreciate that position, better yet become aligned with it, convinced of the merits. This, of course, presupposed that people were flexible, persuadable. Of course now I have found out that this is not the case. Many people cannot be convinced of anything other than something they are already convinced of and will never abandon their position on an issue or even be moved slightly away from it. In a situation such as this, one wonders whether there is anything to be gained by espousing an opinion besides the promotion of one's views, a self-affirmation. In other words, if one is not going to be able to change opinions, does it make any sense to take so much trouble espousing one's own opinion. Obviously you reinforce your opinions, invigorate and reinforce ties to those who think as you do. Now of course there is still a middle even though it continues to diminish in quantity and relevance. It's shrinkage in quantity is due, ironically enough, is due to both the your success and the opposition's success. Those who leave the middle ground, who move from within the reach of your rhetoric have either come over to your way of thinking or to the opposite side. Either way your chances of swaying them from those newly held positions is challenging. However, we are going to give it a go.