Reply #9: Here's a lesson: One week, I gave educational lectures in two different classes, one [View All]

[struggle4progress]

a group of business majors, the other a group of literature majors. My object was to explain, in half an hour or so, the ideology and politics of the apartheid system, the police-apparatus and terror used to support the system, the social and consequences for the disenfranchised population, and the beneficiaries of the system. I spoke with the business students first. I had expected a tough unsympathetic crowd -- but, in fact, the lecture went very well: they were very curious and asked insightful questions. So I was optimistic about the talk with the literary students, who I thought would be emotionally interested in the blatant injustices I would discuss -- but that lecture actually went badly: the students showed little interest in the real issues, asked a number of silly questions, and became increasingly hostile as I avoided their framings of the situation

Lesson. Don't stereotype people: some will be on your side, even though you expected them to oppose you; others will be hostile, though you expected their support