Hopefully I'm not quoting just for the sake of quoting, but I think this story shared by Seth Godin shows how extremely difficult is changing someone's worldview.
The story talks about convincing people to do business with you, but translates perfectly to the world of politics, religion, and race.
Most interactions we have easily fall into debates instead of discussions, but still, even discussions are not enough to change someone's worldview. We remain sentient beings who absorb information through feelings. I believe that we still need to "feel it to understand it", and that can only be achieved in real-life experiences not just around a coffee table.
RE: Debate vs. Discussion