Hopefully I'm not quoting just for the sake of quoting, but I think this story shared by Seth Godin shows how extremely difficult is changing someone's worldview.
The story talks about convincing people to do business with you, but translates perfectly to the world of politics, religion, and race.
Most interactions we have easily fall into debates instead of discussions, but still, even discussions are not enough to change someone's worldview. We remain sentient beings who absorb information through feelings. I believe that we still need to "feel it to understand it", and that can only be achieved in real-life experiences not just around a coffee table.
Great thoughts @ajdohmen, you're on a roll!
That's a great video. It does show that approach and mindset need to be changed when something is not working. Believe it or not, there are people who actually have incredibly open minds, and who don't go into defensive mode when their perspectives are challenged, or when they see themselves in what someone is talking about. They are such a joy to talk with. Working together is easy and, as they say, two brains are better than one. Too bad it is such a rare quality.
The debate in the video I included is important because of the illustration it provides (scripture is sort of a passion of mine, so I know who is actually better grounded in their understanding of it). I don't know how familiar you are with biblical history, but I found it ironical that Wilber defaulted to precisely the same methodology as the pharisees and scribes of biblical times. His only interest was in proving superiority, while Yu is pleading with him to change his perspective out of concern for Wilber's spiritual welfare. A rather remarkable interaction.