Preaching to the Choir

Recent studies show how people try to convince their ideological opposites that there is a very good reason why conservatives and liberals quite often seem to be talking past each other, and despite a great deal of earnest public debate, relatively few people are effective in persuading their ideological opposites to change their views. At times, it even appears that debating with each other backfires and results in both sides hardening their opposing views. The lesson for trial lawyers is that they should be more effective advocates and should keep in mind that the target audience (the jury, the judge, etc.) may have very different values.