Benjamin Franklin once said, “A person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” No truer words were ever spoken. When someone feels their beliefs are right, then in their own mind they are right, no matter how wrong they are. If you present them with logic, facts, or evidence that refutes their belief, they will not only refuse to accept it, they will also hold a grudge against you for making them uncomfortable.
That, in essence, describes the current state of political discourse in our country. If you’ve ever spoken to a supporter of the left, a supporter of the Democratic Party, or a supporter of aka Obama, then you know full well what I’m talking about.
Democrats believe in gun control, despite FBI crime statistics that prove that the more guns a community has, the less crime it has. You can quote the statistics to a Democrat. They won’t believe you. You can show them the statistics. They won’t read them. You can present them with all the facts, evidence and common sense reason you can muster. It won’t do you a lick of good.
Democrats believe in the theory of evolution, despite the lack of a fossil record showing any evidence of one species evolving into another. Democrats believe in the legitimacy of aka Obama despite documented evidence of his use of a fraudulent birth certificate and multiple social security numbers from the state of Connecticut. Not to mention his repeated lies on Obamacare, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, Sandy Hook, and the IRS. Democrats believe in the myth of global warming, despite scientific consensus to the contrary. Democrats believe in a whole host of falsehoods and myths. Why?
The answer is because they base their beliefs and their decisions on their “feelings.” And their feelings are formed and influenced by movies, magazines, television, music, advertisements, their teachers and professors, and hundreds of other sources. Aka Obama makes them feel good, so they support him, regardless of how dishonest he is. Guns frighten them, so they support gun control. The idea of God and eternal judgment frightens them more than anything, so they reject Him. The fear that these subjects, and others, stir up in them are so uncomfortable, that Democrats are terrified to even look at any evidence that might cause them the slightest bit of emotional discomfort.
Nothing gets a person’s dander up faster than having their belief systems challenged, and this is especially true when their belief system is founded on emotion and opinion, rather than facts. A person whose belief system is grounded on facts and evidence does not fear opposing viewpoints. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. A man or a woman who understands reality and facts welcomes opposing viewpoints.
On the other hand, those who go through life believing what they WISH were true, or what their FEELINGS tell them might be true, are terrified of opposing viewpoints, and they interpret opposing views as a personal attack on themselves. Because their beliefs are emotionally based they react emotionally.
In fact, the more evidence and facts you give them, the more defensive they become. They’ll call you a bigot, a racist, a homophobe, an Islamaphobe (that’s a made up word coined by the left, by the way), and any other label they can think of. Because they can’t win an argument based on facts and evidence, they resort to name-calling. (Have you ever seen a child whose feelings were hurt scream, “I hate you!”) If Democrats had their way, all opinions counter to their own would be silenced by the state.
Absolute truth no longer exists (to them). It’s no longer taught in home or at school, and it’s no longer promoted in the media, so it simply doesn’t exist. Instead, each individual lives in a state of relative truth. Relative to their own feelings. Someone graduating from a university today with a degree in feminist studies or multiculturalism actually believe that they now know more than the founders of our country who wrote the Constitution.
So how do you talk to such people? The answer is you don’t. At least not directly. Democrats have fragile psyches. In order to communicate successfully with them, a bridge must be left open that allows them a road to retreat and save face. That leaves open communication via alternative channels, such as example, humor, and culture.
It’s been said that if all Christians actually practiced Christianity, then the entire world would convert, and there’s a lot of wisdom in that statement. In order to save our leftist friends, we must show them, through our own lives, the benefit of conservative values. Nothing would do more to win misguided individuals to our side, than the actual practice of those values in our own lives.
(Right along with this thought, is the need for all of us to support those who share our values. And that includes spending our money at businesses that practice conservatism. Every dollar spent on soda is another dollar in the pockets of those who support aka Obama and his transformation of America. Every dollar spent on processed food is another dollar in the pockets of those who would subvert our constitution and betray our country. Every dollar spent on mainstream entertainment, particularly music, movies, television, and anything Disney, is another dollar in the pockets of those who would corrupt our country’s morals and steal our children’s innocence.)
Studies have shown that conservatives live happier, more fulfilled lives, than liberals. Show some of that happiness, spread it around, and your leftist friends will start to wonder what they’re missing.
Humor is another valuable tool in communicating with our leftist friends. People will accept truths, clothed in humor, that they never would otherwise. Reagan was a master of this. The key is that the humor must be compassionate, and not involve ridicule. If you can convey humor without insult in order to make a point, then by all means, do it.
Culture’s influence on society is huge, and the left has used it successfully for decades in order to promote their agenda.
Our leftist friends are influenced by culture and art. Tremendously influenced. People believe what they read far more than what they hear. And they are swayed by movies and television, both consciously and unconsciously. It’s time to swing the pendulum back in the other direction.
John Howard Lawson was a famous Hollywood screenwriter and member of the Communist Party. In his book “Film in the Battle of Ideas”, he wrote: “As a writer do not try to write an entire Communist picture. The producers will quickly identify it and it will be killed by the front office. Try to get 5 minutes of the Communist doctrine, 5 minutes of the party line in every script that you write.”
Lawson also advised writers: “Get that into an expensive scene, a scene involving expensive stars, large sets or many extras, because then even if it is discovered by the front office the business manager of the unit, the very watchdog of the treasury, the very servant of capitalism, in order to keep the budget from going too high, will resist the elimination of that scene. If you can make the message come from the mouth of Gary Cooper or some other important star who is unaware of what he is saying, by the time it is discovered he is in New York and a great deal of expense will be involved to bring him back and reshoot the scene. If you get the message into a scene employing many extras it will be very expensive to reshoot that scene because of the number of extras involved or the amount of labor that would be necessary to light and reconstruct a large set.”
To actors, Lawson said: “It is your duty to further the class struggle by your performance. If you are nothing more than an extra wearing white flannels on a country club veranda do your best to appear decadent, do your best to appear to be a snob; do your best to create class antagonism. If you are an extra on a tenement street do your best to look downtrodden, do your best to look a victim of existing society. . . .”
If you’re involved in culture in any way — a writer, producer, actor, director, cartoonist, artist, singer, anything — then you have a duty to apply the same strategy Lawson recommended. Don’t create art or culture that is 100% conservative, or pro-life, or pro-Christian, but try to get 5 minutes of conservative values into every thing you create.
This tactic can also work in everyday conversation and interaction. Don’t try to sway your leftist friends with a lecture or argument, but throw in little tidbits when appropriate and let them begin to see the truth for themselves. As their eyes gradually open, they’ll think they’ve done it all on their own, and that will be far more effective than if they thought someone else had convinced them.
Remember that many of our leftist friends have been brainwashed since they started school, or even since birth. Many have never been exposed to the truth, or to history that wasn’t rife with revisionism. It’s important to treat them with compassion.
The road ahead of us is long and the journey arduous. It requires patience, long-term planning, and, most of all, leadership.
Who wants to volunteer?
