Thanks for everyone's reply's.

I was thinking some more on this and I came back to the idea of winning over people by the attractiveness of an argument or an ideal. One example was the 'idea' of Rome, this great civilisation that people wanted to be a part of. Throughout their empire were symbols of their great power, such as buildings, that must have impressed the locals enourmously. Another example may be the British Empire where the idea of being British held weight. Further, the French revolution empowered the masses and delivered the civil code. Lastly, the Moslem Empire and the attraction the new ideas held at that time.

In the contemporary sense, the encouragement of open debate with radical ideas rather than just assuming nobody will listen to them has merit. People will fight for big ideas - religion, freedom, survival etc - and if they are convinced one idea is right and another is not, then they will fight for that cause. Similarly, if they can be encouraged to modify that view, it may be to one side's advantage.

I may be off the mark here, but there appears to be sound reasons for seeking to fight ideas with ideas and I think there are many examples in the past, the American Revoltuion among them, that owe a large degree of succes to motivating power of grand ideas.

Your thoughts?

JD