Reply To: On Tyranny Lesson 12: Make eye contact and small talk

I think Snyder is channelling Maya Angelou,

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

The effect of eye contact or small talk is to affirm the other person, to acknowledge they exist. It is a place to start and a reasonable place to end as well.

Making small talk is not my forte. But I can see it as a path to connecting with others and building trust. Turst is the critical factor in survival. It seems a whole lot more doable than the idea of engaging on charged and divisive issues, and maybe ultimately more persuasive.

This is Snyder’s shortest chapter so far, an illustration of how straightforward this message is.