Ask HN: What's the biggest personal problem you're facing right now?

> She believes crazy things

I understand your frustration, Simone, but these are the times in which what in your area was called, I believe, "Come Cristo Comanda" (expression for "properly"), was replaced as "Obsessive Compulsive Tendency". Superficiality, the bar. Communication level, the shout.

Your resort is discussion.

Removed the illusionary veil, the same figure that twenty years ago shouted "Education, Education, Education" as The Cure - and it is -, now uses the qualification of "idiots" (or similar) for (apparently) people who take decisions he cannot understand. Clearly, education is interaction, communication, and the latter is its opposite.

By the way: you are calling the friend with «extreme ... views», «very intelligent». If she is intelligent, how can she now believe lunacies? She should have become a lunatic to believe lunacies. There is full appearance of miscommunication in your relation. If you are right, you should be able to convince her. If she is, she should be able to convince you. Ask her to convince you. You don't seem to be debating.

It’s oddly distressing to be around others with beliefs radically different than our own. Especially when our knowledge and philosophy are grossly contradicted. It’s often hard to resolve those feelings, and so we tend to try to change other’s beliefs to relieve our own distress. This is pretty exhausting, for both parties and, oddly enough both are trying to do the same thing - change others. I find the concept of “radical acceptance” helpful. It means to fully accept the situation or environment and letting go of fighting it. That doesn’t mean you like the situation but you let go of fighting what you can’t change. And focus your mental effort on what change (if any) is productive.