In the end there isn’t a lot you can do about it, except learn when to cut bait and move on. I agree with you that it’s still worth trying.
So I tend to cut bait and move on at the point where it starts to upset me rather than the point at which the conversation itself is obviously futile.
However my tolerance before I start to actually be upset is relatively high - most people would be significantly better served by bailing out earlier and I've seen too many people burning out of having such conversations entirely because of not doing that and I miss their perspective so would prefer they set boundaries that work for them.
(in case you can't tell, I like being covering fire and it very definitely earns me more friends I am glad to have than enemies I would have preferred not to have)
Especially if you aren't part of the majority.
There are plenty of issues of basic human decency that can only be changed by talking to the people around you. Stopping entirely can only entrench people in their beliefs and validates the narrative that there are “sides”, and that the other side doesn’t listen.
Referring to an entire group of people as swine is case in point.
Politicians have their place, but so too the common conversation on the street.
Such unfiltered workplaces inevitably become toxic.
It's a very common problem, particularly in tech, which has a very young employee base.
The problem is that listening is a lot less flashy and glamorous than violent self-promotion. As long as the people who are in positions of power have got there by violent self-promotion, they will, from intentional or unintentional self-interest, bias the hiring process towards people like them.