Talking to the Elephant

When trying to persuade someone who doesn't think like you, Jonathan Haidt said it's important to "talk to the elephant." He uses the elephant/rider metaphor to explain our subconscious/intuitive mind as an elephant, and the rider as our rational consciousness. The elephant moves where it wants but rider can try to steer it, although not always successfully.

Haidt's point is that people don't think logically, so your argument should speak to their emotional/intuitive instincts.

I wrote a post about how liberals should look for a reason for conservatives to use a transgender person's preferred pronoun, because "standing up for the oppressed" doesn't speak to their elephant. I only recently realized that Scott Alexander already made a good argument for this.

He goes through a really long post that eventually leads to this conclusion:

1. It's probably not "true" that a biological male can be a woman, however;
2. Transgender persons are at very high risk of suicide;
3. Calling a transgender person their preferred pronoun can greatly reduce this risk, therefore;
4. The benefits of using a transgender person's pronoun outweigh the costs of saying something he doesn't believe to be true.

Facing this argument puts non-progressives in a tough situation; what reason could be so great that it justifies pushing someone toward suicide? Are you really going to double down on "facts don't care about your feelings"?

In this instance, Alexander makes an appeal to common humanity identity politics. Reducing suicide is something we can all agree is a good thing; it transcends tribal partisanship. It's an argument that has the best chance of working with conservatives and other non-progressives because it speaks to their emotions and avoids tribal signaling.