An extra thought: I once saw someone doing (NSF?) road-tour community outreach for Next Generation Science Standards. She got a lot of questions that were emotional, hostile, rambling, and jaw-droppingly confused. Questions for which I couldn't imagine a constructive response.
I was profoundly impressed by the grace, respect, insight, and "achieving a meeting-of-the-minds response" that she repeatedly achieved. I'd not have thought it possible before seeing it. I wish I had noted her name, or had video.
It's still not something I can do, or even quite imagine how to do. But it changed how I feel when encountering people being aggressively confused. More "I wish I had more of her skill set", less "this seems simply hopeless".
I was profoundly impressed by the grace, respect, insight, and "achieving a meeting-of-the-minds response" that she repeatedly achieved. I'd not have thought it possible before seeing it. I wish I had noted her name, or had video.
It's still not something I can do, or even quite imagine how to do. But it changed how I feel when encountering people being aggressively confused. More "I wish I had more of her skill set", less "this seems simply hopeless".