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How to teach liberals and children to think in dialectical materialism? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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On youtube, there seem to be few videos that explain dialectical materialism in a way children and liberals can understand. How do you explain dialectical thinking to someone in a very popular way?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Essentially, just push against individualism and keep reminding them that context (social, economic, etc) going back decades will determine much of life. It's also helpful to try to remove binary good/bad morality from politics and explain the historical context of something, eg Russia/Ukraine, North Korea. That's laying a foundation for more complex moves later.

Just remember that you're not just explaining materialism, you are helping them unlearn brain worms. And that can take a long time with a lot of conversations

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

I've always found (in my experience teaching first year uni science students) teaching something directly, especially if it goes against someone's fundamental understanding, is not very fruitful.

So saying "we are a product of the world we live in" might help, but usually isn't too effective.

If you ask probing questions that lead to the person discovering reality themselves, that is a lasting impression. Trust that people are smart and capable. Even if they do dumb things (we all do).

Example would be asking someone what causes the seasons on Earth, and getting them to reason it out. Albeit, a non-political question is easier, the same tactics can be used for anything really.