Convincing a person through logical argument and reasoning and the role of Whatsapp University

These days it is increasingly challenging to logically argue with a person and drive home a message based on facts and data in my neighborhood and society in Bengaluru, India though all of them are well educated. Many have extended international exposure. All of us now have our own preferred channels of information, and unless one belongs to those channels, they will most likely be unconvincing to the listener. In my opinion some of the main reasons behind this mindset are the following.

1. It is difficult to change someone’s opinion or belief by using logical arguments or facts if that person did not arrive at their opinion through a process of reasoning and critical thinking. In other words, if someone has formed their opinion based on emotions or other non-rational factors, it can be difficult to change their mind using logical arguments alone.
2. People don’t turn away from reasoning because they are just disinterested, they turn away because their survival literally depends on not looking.
3. It is difficult to get a person to understand something when their financial income depends on not understanding it.

One good example of such information channels are WhatsApp Groups in India. A recent study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford suggests that the majority of Indian citizens trust the information they receive on WhatsApp.

I shared my local experience. The same may be true for similar societies in rest of India and few other countries.

#LogicalReason #Logic #Society #Information #WhatsApp #WhatsAppUniversity #MastIndia #MastodonIndians

cc: @srijit