A president once described America as a tall, proud city, God-blessed, teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace… a city where, if there had to be walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.
Another president told the nation that all Americans are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country… that the jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants… and that it is wrong and self-defeating to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we’ve seen in recent years.
And the most interesting fact?
The first quote was from Ronald Reagan‘s 1989 farewell address. The second was Bill Clinton, 1995 State of the Union.
If you got that backwards… you’re not alone. A university actually ran this experiment using presidential quotes on immigration. Didn’t tell the students who said what. They condemned the quotes they assumed came from the other side and were stunned when the video revealed the actual source.
Every time. Same result.
So, what just happened?
Before your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for reasoning and logic, had time to evaluate a single word of either quote… your amygdala had already tagged it. The amygdala is the brain’s emotional alarm system. It processes threat and reward faster than conscious thought. It doesn’t care about context, nuance, or who said what. It only cares about one thing: Does this feel like my team or the other team?
Neuroscientists call it emotional reasoning. You felt your opinion before you thought it. And once the feeling lands, the thinking bends to justify it. Your brain doesn’t say, “Let me evaluate this objectively.” It says, “Let me find evidence for what I already believe.” Confirmation bias.
The kicker is that research shows people are significantly better at spotting bias in others than in themselves.
They call it the bias blind spot.
We attribute our own conclusions to reason and everyone else’s to emotion.
The smarter you think you are, the more vulnerable you probably are.
So, I ask: When is the last time you genuinely tried to argue against yourself?
I don’t mean playing devil’s advocate at a dinner party or posting a sarcastic rebuttal online. I mean, sit down, take something you believe deeply, and build the strongest possible case for the other side. Make their argument better than they would make it themselves.
There’s a term for this. It’s called steel manning… the opposite of a strawman. Instead of weakening the other side’s argument to knock it down, you strengthen it. You give it the best version of itself and then see if your position still holds.
Most people never do this, as it’s often terrifying. Because if you build the other side’s argument well enough, you see yours crack.
Nietzsche wrote that distrust is the first sign of strength. Weak ideas ask for belief. Strong ideas survive attack.
If you’re unwilling to challenge your own position, it’s not because your position is strong. It’s because you suspect it isn’t.
I’ve sat across from people in criminal organizations who, when it came to the most dangerous members, weren’t the ones who never questioned anything. They were the ones who never questioned anything and were proud of it. That kind of certainty doesn’t protect you. It imprisons you.
I’m not asking anyone to change their mind on immigration. But if your ideas on it can’t survive being questioned by you… The one person who should be most willing to examine it honestly… then what the hell are you defending?
An idea? Or an identity?
Don’t abandon convictions. Just pressure-test them. Put them through the fire. Let them either break or temper.
The goal isn’t to think less. Just think deeper.
And if my idea fails, discard it without pity. But if it endures… it was never asking for your trust. It was demanding your transformation.
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About the Author
“I don’t try to change minds… just deepen them.” – Tegan Broadwater
Tegan spent 13 years with the Fort Worth Police Department, including two years assigned to the FBI working deep undercover inside a violent Crip organization. That operation, detailed in his book Life in the Fishbowl, resulted in 51 convictions. He has since founded Tactical Systems Network, an armed security & protection firm primarily staffed by veterans, is a creative writer and musician, and hosts The Tegan Broadwater Podcast. All book profits benefit children of incarcerated parents. Learn more at TeganBroadwater.com
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