C'mon Kelley! What the hell kinda gratuitous sexism is that?! Carrol has his virtues, but representative of the mean, median or modal man ain't one of 'em (as I'm sure he'd agree; there being no such damn thing). And as for arguments changing minds, well, next to changes in material circumstances (like the end of all hope down the Australian Labor Party route or the consumption of thirteen shots of Jamesons) I can't think of anything that's changed my mind more often and more profoundly than arguments. Seven years ago I thought Foucault was a very important thinker, that Habermas was the march of Marxism through the 20th century, and that Raymond Williams had greatly expanded upon Gramsci's thinking.
I'm better now.
Cheers, Rob.