You just have a few minutes to talk, or you don't want a discussion to devolve into an argument. Or you are teaching your kids what you believe, and you don't want them thrown off course by someone else's input too easily. Where do you turn? To the time-honored use of innoculation information.
Innoculation information is data you supply someone that prepares them to encounter beliefs other than their own. In its simplest form is consists of simply acknowledging the other viewpoint. "Yes, Timmy, we believe the astronauts landed on the moon, but some people think it was just a trick." Now your little boy isn't surprised or shaken when he hears this opinion from someone while you're not around.
But you can do better than this. If you actually give someone an argument that runs counter to the other opinion you are trying to avoid. A good example would be "Yes, I know Dan Brown put a little information about Jesus being married in his book 'The DaVinci Code.' But did you know that got the facts all wrong about the Dead Sea Scrolls?" And there you go. Before someone even picks up the book they are aware the fictional character's arguments are flawed. This greatly increases resistance to ideas as they are encountered. Of course this requires you as an opinion leader to follow two ethical principles: make sure your beliefs are sound, and make sure you can support your opinions.
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