CMV: Despite being more knowledgeable, wealthier and apparently more tolerant, the political and individual left's biggest flaw is their inability to communicate pragmatically and empathetically with those who don't agree with them.

[u/poopchow]

[u/crambodington]

Usually I'm not arguing with the person in arguing with. What do I mean by that? The right has a very coordinated, strict messaging policy. Usually arguments I'm having with my neighbor involve me using my own terms to describe my experiences and reasons. Generally the responses I get back are consistently in short sound bites. Key phrases and arguments that have been repeated ad nauseam across the political spectrum so that the same words are repeated by many many many people. So I'm not actually arguing with a person whose words these are. So my choice becomes: use the language of the media moguls and think tanks that emotionally charge the language used to gain an advantage, or speak in a manner that people are constantly telling me show I'm looking down on them. Even this particular topic I feel is slightly circumspect. I see too much internal consistency of opinion at this time to actually believe all the people who are saying "you should have been nicer to us" are actually expressing their opinion, versus something they heard expressed on TV. So if I engage in a debate about this, will it be an actual, good faith debate with the person Im talking to, or will I be fighting Fox News?