this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025

114 points (91.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

31269 readers

1009 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world

TheSaneWriter@lemm.ee

TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com

Asudox@lemmy.world

lemmy_bot@lemmy.world

beefbaby182@lemmy.world

ModeratorCan@lemmy.world

neidu3@sh.itjust.works

KaneLivesInDeath@lemmy.world

asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev

candyman337@lemmy.world

candyman337@sh.itjust.works

114

Why is it so hard for people to concede even small points when discussing charged topics? (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 day ago by Opinionhaver@feddit.uk to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

55 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been thinking lately about why, in debates (usually) about highly emotional topics, so many people seem unable to acknowledge even minor wrongdoings or mistakes from "their" side, even when doing so wouldn't necessarily undermine their broader position.

I'm not here to rehash any particular political event or take sides - I'm more interested in the psychological mechanisms behind this behavior.

For example, it feels like many people bind their identity to a cause so tightly that admitting any fault feels like a betrayal of the whole. I've also noticed that criticism toward one side is often immediately interpreted as support for the "other" side, leading to tribal reactions rather than nuanced thinking.

I'd love to hear thoughts on the psychological underpinnings of this. Why do you think it's so hard for people to "give an inch" even when it wouldn't really cost them anything in principle?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

Because team mentalilty.

Many people will instinctively disagree just because you happen to be on the other team.

Let's take political ideologies, they all want the same thing:

Good schools, good healthcare, good geriatric care, good infrastructure and so on.

Where they differ is how they get there.

The left want the government to provide these services, the right want the private sector to do it.

To have a productive discussion on how to solve society's problems, I find it better to talk about the issue itself and avoid branding yourself as a part of a particular movement.