RE: When your Statist friends engage YOU on anarchism, just STFU and LISTEN.
Yeah, I think we've all made that mistake before. For a lot of us, it takes years before we realize that it is a mistake, and that it hurts our cause more than almost anything else we could do. You and I probably discovered anarchist principles around the same time, along with the great burst of revelation that hit so many people in 2008-2012. There are a great many of us who became anarchists and voluntaryists during that time, and we took to the social medias in an angry, fervent attempt to be heard, to beat people metaphorically over the head with the truths that now seemed so self-evident to us, though just months or years before we were as deluded as the rest. I really appreciate watching that batch of anarchists mature into more patient, confident, and conscientious promoters of liberty. It's wonderful.
This was definitely a stage for me. The angry stage. Like, why hadn't I seen all this before and how was I so easily fooled? You should feel angry!
I used this line...
on my wife's brother when we were discussing net neutrality. Basically I said, "I used to think just like you", and he took that as I am a pompous ass who knows more than everyone else. I just can't get my point across without coming off like a know it all jackass apparently.
I see this too. And it is absolutely wonderful!