I really like Portuguese people. They don’t meddle in your affairs, but they’re for the most part kind and decent, especially the regular working-class person.

The problem with them — and most Europeans I’ve met — is they are so severely brainwashed it’s hard to take. They believe the news to an extent almost unfathomable to all but the most sheltered neoliberal boomer Americans.

It’s really frustrating — you are having a conversation, getting to know someone, but you start to see they are part of a weird religious cult, and it dawns on you they are not persuadable or open-minded.

It’s not important that you are able to persuade a particular person of your particular views — sometimes my persuasion attempts are poor, and in any event, some of my views are probably wrong.

But it is essential someone be *persuadable,* that there is a possibility of getting somewhere, of recognizing truth if it presents itself. Otherwise you are talking to a wall.