Sunday, October 16, 2016

You're Doing It Wrong! - A strategy for countering leftists groupthink

                There are plenty of roadblocks when trying to break through to leftists. The biggest one is how the debate was framed long ago. The left are idiots, but the right is evil. That’s why we’ve lost the culture war with the left. Everyone has a good natured, idiot friend. Idiots are tolerable, but Hitler must be destroyed! Every left/right debate gets thrown through that lens and it’s on purpose. The AGW crowd is trying to save the planet, but the evil corporations like Exxon are out to destroy it! Obama is trying to give everyone free healthcare, but he’s opposed by the bigoted, racist right! Take any issue and you’ll see that is exactly how the left frames it. They do not rely on facts, but an emotional appeal. Why do they do that? It’s effective. No one likes to argue facts and logic. Throwing facts at an emotional person only intensifies those emotions. Emotions are easy and convincing. People will abandon logic for the sake of emotion, which is why when given a choice between a dog and his girlfriend, a man will always choose the bitch. She’s been a good, loyal dog and your best friend since she was a pup so it doesn’t matter if she shits inside  and chews up your shoes, because she’s your dog! Besides blond, big breasted, easy going, nymphomaniacs whose dads own a liquor store are a dime a dozen.
Don’t expect to change anyone overnight. I recently had a friend and Bernie supporter that admitted to becoming more conservative. Not conservative as we see it, but as he see it, because the right equals conservative for him. He’s actually moving more towards libertarianism. I’ve been plugging away at my limited circle of friends for years trying to slowly move them over, but people don’t change immediately unless there is some shock to their system. We have a YUGE roadblock impeding us – the established leftist culture in this country. Everyone you’re trying to convince on the left has been brainwashed even since childhood to believe the right is evil. They’re taught it in school, watch it on TV, hear it on the news, and it is unrelenting. Repetition is how they accomplish it. That’s why all the news stories about Trump have the allegations repeated ad nauseum, and less emphasis is put on anything contrary. Repetition works, that’s why so many leftists believe that America is evil and that the world’s problems are because of Western Civilization.  So hammering them with facts is ineffective. It is imperative that we use the left’s tactics against them, because it works and they have been conditioned to be persuaded with emotion and not logic. Keep in mind when you argue with a leftist that you are, and will be racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic pieces of shit that they hope have retarded babies you agonize over aborting. And they will mean that sincerely without being hypocritical about being evil because they are the good guys in their eyes. Good can’t be evil, only the right can be evil and therefore any racist, sexist, homophobic slurs hurled at the right (and you) are excused.
But we can break through. Bernie’s treatment by the DNC in front of all of his true believers has opened a front. The ones paying attention to WikiLeaks have seen that Hillary is not on their side, but are still too timid to red pill. There is a time for combative tactics, but sometimes a softer approach is necessary. It’s like picking up chicks in a bar. Whipping your dick out and seeing who bites might work, but my cousin just had a baby so the chances of that working now have plummeted. You’ll have to woo others, and cucks are like chicks but with less resolve and lower standards. I'm not saying do not ridicule the lefty twerps. We still need to do that. Just like they’ve tried to cow and intimidate the rest of us for having a reasonable position, we should never let them feel comfortable holding their insane views.  However, when trying to persuade you should never give them a reason to think you are evil. It is better that they think you’re an idiot than evil. Once they decide you’re evil, then there is no persuading them. That’s why I’ve been starting out with friends first. They know me. They know I can be an asshole at times, but they know I’m not evil.
There are a few methods I use when converting lefties. I learned these techniques in the Marines and even in rehab. Remember, that they are going to be in an emotional state. Psychotherapists do not hit you with facts during counseling. They acknowledge your emotions first and deal with that first.  One way to acknowledge their emotion is to use mirroring. When you see them ranting and raving and decrying whatever is in the news DO NOT immediately counter with facts like you want to. You have to match their emotion. Just telling them that you understand they’re mad only makes them angrier. You want to defuse that.  So first match their emotion, intensity and tone. They’re upset? You’re upset too! They’re sad, you’re sad. Match your body posture to theirs. If they’re holding your gaze, hold theirs, if they’re mumbling, do that too. Then slowly bring them around. Take your time. A slow strip tease is more enticing than flinging off your clothes and jumping into bed. That's why strippers do one clothed dance before getting naked on stage. Ok, they really do that so you have enough time to go to the ATM before the real show, but the point is still valid. You know that you’re successfully mirroring them when you change your tone or posture and they change theirs as well. That means you have established an emotional and sympathetic bond. Once you have that you can start introducing facts, because they are receptive to you.
Throughout the discussions, the thing you want to be sure to do is to keep the dialogue open. Don’t let them just run away from it or hide. Once the dialogue shuts down you lose all influence. Do not ask them any yes or no questions. Those are closed questions and once they answer yes or no their brains are closed off. Mentally that valve is shut down and you’ll have to reopen it again, losing time and effort. You want them to ask open ended questions that force them to explain their answers. And when asking questions you can plant suggestions into the mix. Do you like Hillary? Close question, bad. Hillary has a history of lying, colluded with Goldman Sachs to sell us out and stole the wealth of Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, how can you support her? It’s open ended; it paints Hillary in a negative light and makes them think of a way to get back on the good side.  But no matter how they answer it, always acknowledge what they are saying and do not shut them down.  Thinking is a process. They’re brainwashed and need to be walked to the truth, but they need to do it on their own two feet. They are mental fat asses fed a sugary diet of organic, gluten free, free range unicorn farts daily, and they won't get there under their own power without enticement. Even Jared needed more than Subway sandwiches to drop that weight - he was enticed by the little boys around the restaurant.

 Finally, never let them get away with making a hard, definitive, absolute statement. If they do, then you should counter with some ambiguity. “All Trump supporters are racists and sexists!” “Yes, some Trump supporters are racist and sexists assholes, but not all of them.” This gives them mental wiggle room. This is the basis for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. To change thinking they have to be programmed to not think in such absolute terms. It is a greater mental leap to take someone from an absolute position (ex. 100% of Trump supporters are assholes!) to a slightly ambiguous statement (ex. 99% of Trump supporters are assholes!), than it is from that slightly ambiguous statement to a more realistic statement (5% of Trump supporters are assholes). Taking them from the absolute position is hard, but the rest can be stepped down.  We have less than a month to go. All we need is to plant the seed of doubt about how they’ve perceived Trump and start seeing the real Hillary.  

About Me

Why "Smart Grunt"? It's either better or less profane than my numerous nicknames.