Dear Eric: I’m writing about the person who didn’t want to discuss religion with pushy People (“Still Trying to Be Polite”). Your advice was good – to give a general answer and not get into a discussion.

I was a therapist for 40 years and my clients frequently felt pushed into explaining themselves when they didn’t really want to. We used the “Broken Record Technique” when this happened. Pushy people usually don’t take no for an answer. In this case, my client and I practiced saying the same generic reply over and over – never varying: “I don’t discuss religion,” “I don’t discuss religion,” etc. etc. If pushy people see that they aren’t going to get anywhere, they eventually stop.

This is very hard for people who were taught to be polite to others. But this technique is very effective w

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