The necessity of persuasion.

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com has an interesting take on why the conservatives lost this election cycle:

There are a certain segment of conservatives who literally cannot believe that anybody would see the world differently than the way they do. They have not just forgotten how to persuade; they have forgotten about the necessity of persuasion.

John Ziegler is a shining example of such a conservative. During my interview with him, Ziegler made absolutely no effort to persuade me about the veracity of any of his viewpoints. He simply asserted them -- and then became frustrated, paranoid, or vulgar when I rebutted them.

In all fairness, there are many on the left who have this same attitude. As one who leans more left and hails from a traditionally blue state, I can attest to the fact that I simply cannot understand why anyone would have problems with gays or lesbians or people of color. It takes a lot of effort to pull myself out of my belief systems so I can take the time to understand someone else's. Of course, I'm pretty good about avoiding being paranoid or vulgar when I do so.