Each Friday during the World-Changing Writing Workshop, we’ll give you our favorite tidbit from the class; a teeny tiny tasty treat!

Ellie asked “How can we change the world through proud alienation? Don’t we have to reach the unwilling to make the biggest difference?”

Here’s my reply.

“The answer is: No. HELL NO. If you try to reach people who are unwilling to hear your message, it annoys both you and the pig. It is a complete waste of your time and the other people’s time.

“There is a myth in modern civilized society, and it is the myth of rational discourse. It’s complete bullshit! There’s this general expectation that when people have a discussion about something, that people are open-minded and willing to listen to reason. People pay lip service to this, but it’s generally not true, especially about things that are important enough to be considered world-changing.

“Instead, what people do is filter out the things that don’t match with what they believe, and focus on the things that do match what they believe — to support whatever their paradigm is.”

So ignore those who are unwilling to hear your message. Either preach to the choir, to help them accomplish the goals you already agree on, or write for the fence-sitters, to help them see your point of view.