I end up doing the 'smile and nod but running away screaming in my head' thing all the time. I am always conflicted about educating through disagreement, but I end up rationalizing not stepping up by thinking that a person will probably never take to heart something told to them by a stranger on an airplane especially if it conflicts with their cozy worldview. He would probably be just as shocked to hear the words 'universal health care for all' come out of your mouth as you were to hear 'Bush's plan' come out of his. Then again, I have a problem arguing with anyone, let alone strangers, so whatever I say might be tainted with my avoidance of conflict issues.
this is something that i work with myself so don't think i'm pointing fingers: staying quiet and keeping things going "as expected" is just another one of our privileges. in situations like that i try to shrug my shoulders, explain (the beginning of) my own views in a sentence or two then smile and act like it's not a big deal. as misanthropica says, you're not gonna change anyones views over a plane ride but you can at least stay true to your own beleifs and maybe plant a seed.
yeah, I mean, I say "I think everyone should have health care." and "There has to be a way to do it." and "I can't figure out where all that money goes. Why does it cost $300 to spend the night in the hospital?" but then when he counters with some stupid assed idea about "putting money away toward a future disaster," I just kinda look at him and wonder how he could believe such an idiotic idea.
On a recent flight, I sat across the aisle from an over-eager talker and a guy nice enough to play along. This man's topic of choice was religion (seems he's a born-again). When he wandered into areas of religion vs science (and took the religious side), his seat mate took the approach of not disagreeing, but nodding to allow the talker to continue to expound his views
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Hope you're having fun in Kansas!
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