a picture held us captive

The question to ask is what picture/way of looking does this person have of the topic which makes them believe in the argument they put forward. The argument is almost irrelevant as it will never convince anyone who does not share the same picture which is why everyone disagrees so much. It is the pictures we have of things that decides stuff and a picture is altered by emotion, primarily, and at a distant second, experience mediated by emotion (which is why we only very slowly learn from experience). If the foregoing is true (you will only think so if you share my way of looking, my picture of how life is...) then the way to alter the way people think is to find a BRIDGE from their picture to yours. Such a bridge is a story...