You are likely familiar with the situation where you try to explain to a friend with conservative views why decriminalization is normal, or why the state should not meddle in your bedroom, and in response, you get something like this:

– Today you allow same-sex marriage, and tomorrow they’ll start marrying dogs!
– Today you don’t imprison a drug addict, and tomorrow we’ll have a zombie apocalypse on our streets!

Of course, such argumentation will seem absurd to you, and it will be difficult to find meaning in it. But science has finally explained what is happening in the heads of our authoritarian opponents. And, most importantly, it has given us the keys to how to work with this. Recently, a fresh study was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, which puts everything in its place. So, let’s analyze how we can use this for the benefit of freedom.

The study confirmed what we already suspected: conservatives are much more prone to believing in arguments like the “Slippery Slope.” This is when a small, seemingly harmless action (eating a cookie) inevitably leads to a catastrophe (gaining 300 kg and dying). For a conservative, the world is a very fragile system. Pull out one brick (a tradition, a law), and the entire building of civilization will collapse. But here’s the thing: the study showed that this tendency is based on intuitive thinking. It is a “gut feeling,” an evolutionary mechanism, similar to how hearing a rustle in the bushes might make us immediately think it’s a tiger and that it’s better to run.

The most interesting part of the study is the experiment that showed how to switch this effect off. Scientists made conservatives wait 10 seconds before responding and asked them to “think carefully.” After this, the gap between liberals and conservatives narrowed to a minimum. As soon as “slow thinking” (analytics) is activated, the fear of the slippery slope evaporates.

How, then, can one effectively persuade conservatives? Based on this data, we obtain the following strategy for debating conservatives (and statists of all kinds):

First, it is important to slow down the pace and remove emotion. You need to switch your opponent’s brain from the “fast response system” (intuition) to the “deep analysis system.” Do not press; instead, ask questions that require a pause and reflection. You are unlikely to convince someone by saying that legalization reduces crime, here is Portugal’s statistics. It is better to ask: “Do you think if a person drinks a beer on Friday, they will inevitably become an alcoholic in a year? No? Then why should it be different with weed? Let’s break down the chain!”

Second, you need to fill in the gaps in the chain. Research has shown that conservatives believe in the “slippery slope” only if the intermediate steps are unclear to them. You must always argue step-by-step: A leads to B, B leads to C. If you skip steps, your opponent’s intuition will fill in the gaps with monsters.

Third, use their own weapons. Libertarians also frequently resort to the “slippery slope.” For example, “taxes are robbery, and even the slightest regulation is a direct path to slavery.” Use this!

Are conservatives afraid of chaos? Show them that expanding state powers is the most dangerous slippery slope of all. “If we allow an official to decide what we read/watch/smoke today, then tomorrow they will decide where we work and how we pray. Do you really want to give a Major Comrade that kind of power?”.

Are conservatives afraid of terrorism? Show them that the development of scientific and technological progress in a society where psychopaths with a weak version of the violence inhibitor are present will inevitably lead to global catastrophe and the self-destruction of all humanity, whereas attempting to mitigate these risks through increased surveillance and state regulation will make normal life impossible, turning it into an endless airport security check, but without any guarantee that some psychopath won’t still manage to “slip under the radar.” Consequently, a technologically advanced society has no way to avoid the practice of strengthening the violence inhibitor in psychopaths!

Voluntarist, Bitarch