Posted on 05/26/2009 10:32:53 AM PDT by lewisglad
Many of us have friends, family and colleagues who still cling to liberalism, and worship at the altar of Obama. Usually, they are not bad people. They're neither stupid nor pusillanimous -- they're just shockingly ill-informed, having received a lifetime of news and opinions solely from the liberal media.
We want to enlighten our friends, not offend them, and the fact is that one cannot simultaneously insult and persuade people.
So how do you talk to liberals if you want them to begin thinking logically, not emotionally, about issues? Insults are counterproductive, factual barrages are boring, and most people get defensive when they feel you're attacking their values. Nevertheless, here are a few ways to find the chink in a liberal's intellectual armor and, possibly, effect a sea change in his thinking.
1. Understand what a liberal perceives as insulting -- and then avoid it.
We're all agreed that people are going to shut down if you start a conversation by calling them blithering idiots. In any event, you're too nice a person to call your family, friends and colleagues names.
Be aware, though, that, with liberals, personal insults don't stop with the actual person (or his mother). For liberals, the political is personal. This means that liberals will take it as a personal insult, not only if you call them morons, but also if you call their leaders morons.
While conservatives spent eight years hearing "Bush lied, people died" or "Cheney is evil", responding with reasoned facts aimed at real dialogue, even the nicest liberals don't operate that way. If you open a conversation by saying, "Pelosi is an idiot," or "Obama is the Manchurian candidate," you can expect tears, yelling or a punch in the nose. Any persuasive conversation will be over before it's begun.
2. Show that you are sympathetic to the liberal's goals.
The best way to start a conversation with a liberal is by speaking liberal language. Show that you think that the person's ultimate goal is admirable or that you recognize the person's concerns.
A perfect conversation starter might be "Gosh, universal healthcare would really be great." The beauty of this statement is that, in a perfect Star Trek-style world, free of money and greed, it's true that free, comprehensive healthcare, preferably with Dr. Beverly Crusher's magical little tricorder device, would be great. It would also be really great if all men looked like Dave Beckham or all women like looked like Angelina Jolie. It'll never happen, but it sure would be great.
Another honest conversation starter is "My kids are really worried about global warming." If your kids go to public school, this statement is absolutely true. It also implies, without actually saying so, that you, like all liberals, recognize that humans, especially American, are responsible for the imminent destruction of earth's atmosphere.
With conversation starters such as these, your average liberal will begin the conversation by agreeing with you -- and, as every con man knows, you want the mark to get used to saying "yes" to you. Interestingly, what works for con men can also work for honest brokers. It's a good technique, so use it.
3. Provide the liberal with facts from non-threatening sources.
In many conversations over the years, I've discovered that my liberal friends don't have many politically relevant facts at their finger tips. Liberals know, for example, that "prisoners were waterboarded at Gitmo." The details behind this ultimate fact tend to elude them. Most don't realize that only three high level Al Qaeda operatives were ever waterboarded. Nor do they know that the waterboarding took place in the immediate wake of 9/11, when we had almost no information about Al Qaeda's networks and feared an imminent, and even greater, second attack.
Mostly, though, liberals know conclusions, which they erroneously identify as facts. For example, they know that huge numbers of Americans have no medical care; they know that Obama was a top student at every school he attended; and despite their support for the military, they know that most American troops are ill-educated, violent hicks. As it happens, each of these statements is factually wrong (see here, here and here) and, instead, reflects only an emotional conclusion.
In any conversation with a liberal, therefore, you need to get out the facts. But remember: In pursuit of this goal, attribution is everything. Never say to a liberal that you heard something on Rush's show. This is true even if the fact originated with a liberal Rush was interviewing. Mention Rush and your conversation is over. Finito. Done. Your liberal will shut down.
Instead, always attribute your fact to a comforting source. I like to say, "You know, I read in the New York Times that [insert actual fact]." The beauty of this approach is that the fact may often be found in the New York Times, although it will have been buried in a squiblet at the bottom of page B32, where no one looks. If your friends googles your fact, voila!, she'll get a link to the Times.
Alternatively, attribute your fact to an unnamed knowledgeable, but unthreatening, source. If you're talking about health insurance, and you want to talk about the cost differential between insurance in Texas (a low regulation state) and California (a high regulation) state, say that you got this information from a claims adjuster you met at a party. You've gained credibility and the curious liberal can later find corroboration on the internet.
4. Don't lecture; instead, seek enlightenment.
When conversing with a liberal, I channel my inner dumb blond. I don't use a barrage of facts, nor do I lecture. Instead, I assert politely that I've learned the fact and then I ask the liberal to explain to me what the fact means. I do this even if I know perfectly well what the fact means. (And yes, women can do this more easily than men.)
A good example of this approach in action is universal health care. After you've said, "Gosh, universal healthcare would be really great," you should then follow-up with several "please enlighten me, Oh Great One" questions.
Thus, you might say, "England has managed care doesn't it? It's so funny, but I just read in the New York Times that there's a dentist shortage in England, so people are pulling out their own teeth. Are you sure that won't happen here?" This will either lead to bluster, an insult to British oral hygiene, or a good conversation about how important competition is to entice the best and the brightest into a profession and to keep innovation alive.
Another useful fact/loaded question is this one: "Someone told me that universal health care is kind of like social security -- it works best when there aren't a lot of old people, ‘cause they're the most expensive. I wasn't sure about that. What do you think?" When your liberal starts waffling on, throw into the conversation how you read that, in England, they're discussing euthanizing elderly demented patients, because their care is too expensive.
If you just keep politely throwing in unpleasant facts, followed up by respectful requests for enlightenment, your average liberal will either become tongue-tied, or, if intelligent, work his way through to the correct answer. With managed care, for example, he might conclude that, if you remove all competition and have only one provider, rationing begins, quality plummets, good people pull out of the system, and people suffer and die.
5. Strike when the iron is hot.
To have a successful conversation with a liberal, you need to find an opening that triggers a thought cascade in that particular liberal. Even though liberals are beginning to have buyer's remorse, human nature means they're just as likely to be in denial and defensive as they are to be regretful and receptive. Still there are conversational opportunities, and you must seize them.
I recently visited a die-hard Democrat who had just received her copy of Time Magazine, which had a picture of Michelle Obama on the cover. Now, my friend happens to be very beauty conscious so, in a completely non-hostile way, I scanned the cover and said, "I don't know. She's a nice looking lady, but I don't get why all the news stories keep describing her as beautiful."
I had opened the floodgates. Just like the courtiers in The Emperor's New Clothes, this friend had been trying to convince herself that Michelle was beautiful -- and she couldn't. Finally, though, in response to the media's implicit question of "Who're you going to believe -- me, or your lying eyes?" my friend, with a sigh of relief, could go with her own eyes. I hastened the eye-opening process by showing her Sally Quinn's ridiculous Mother's Day article about Michelle's arms, which left my friend reeling. For the first time ever, my friend is beginning to suspect that she's been had.
6. Don't undo the good you've done.
And if it ever happens that, after you've spoken with a liberal, the liberal actually agrees with you, just be sure to avoid one of the most poisonous phrases in the English language: "I told you so." Instead, quietly agree with your friend's wonderful insights, and have another conversation on another day.
I think in most cases it's a long process, made up of many disparate elements coming together over time -- rather than a "road to Damascus" type thing. My own feeling is every little bit helps, and you don't know what seed you drop may flower long after! :)
If you nudge them enough, they will scream and then sprint out of your life.
Use the islamicly approved “taghiyeh” or lying as an art to promote and protect your mindsets (theirs, religious, yours whatever you choose)
To start with are the euphemisms they use. The word “liberal” they apply to radicals, and have done so since radicals captured control of the Democrat party. And those who today are called “conservatives” by liberals, are actually moderates. In effect, “conservatives” are anyone opposed to radical change, which the radicals call “right wing”.
I have my own Newspeak-English dictionary:
- objective :
- reliably promoting the interests of Big Journalism. (usage: always applied to journalists who are members in good standing; never applied to anyone but a journalist)
- liberal :
- see "objective," except that the usage is reversed: (usage: never applied to journalists; always applied to anyone but a journalist)
- progressive :
- see "liberal" (usage: same as for "liberal"). moderate: see "liberal." (usage: same as for "liberal."
- centrist :
- see "liberal" (usage: same as for "liberal").
- conservative :
- rejecting the idea that journalism is a higher calling than providing food, shelter, clothing, fuel, and security; adhering to the dictum of Theodore Roosevelt that: "It is not the critic who counts . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena (usage: applies to people who - unlike those labeled liberal/progressive/moderate/centrist, cannot become "objective" by getting a job as a journalist, and probably cannot even get a job as a journalist.)(antonym:"objective")
But your definition of "conservative," which as it happens I independently thought of not long ago, belongs in that lexicon.
- right-wing :
- see, "conservative."
- conservative :
- opposed to radical change of the sort which promote the idea that assigns authority to "liberals" while leaving the responsibility with those who work to a bottom line and therefore are subject to second guessing.
Now, my friend happens to be very beauty conscious so, in a completely non-hostile way, I scanned the cover and said, "I don't know. She's (Michelle Obama) a nice looking lady, but I don't get why all the news stories keep describing her as beautiful."
Won't work. The moment you say "I don't get why all the news stories" they will immediately sense that you are questioning the veracity of liberal "popular knowledge." A better way to do it would be to push cover after cover of MO in her face and gush over her like you've never seen a woman so beautiful. If you can pick out points of style that you know your friend doesn't care for and oooh and ahhh over them that will help too.
But the best you can hope for is that your friend will then secretly and guiltily hate MO for her looks and anyone who compliments her. Most likely your friend will just hate herself for having "evil" thoughts. People who believe that unicorns crap Skittles aren't going to follow logic and facts far enough to open their minds.
Sympathetic doesn’t mean agreement with. We want to change their minds. We also have to keep in mind that we get farther with politeness rather than buying into their stereotype of what they think a conservative is. Think “big picture”.
Change can certainly come from within - and I applaud such transformations. But I have wasted my last breath on trying to persuade my fellow Hollywood komrads.
I dunno. I worked for a young liberal man 24 Yrs old. He was outside the church at which he just attended a wedding. A car drove by and shot into the crowd hitting my boss in the groin. Later I talked to him from his hospital bed and asked him why something like that could happen. He said he felt sorry for them because they were poor and obviously were angry because white middle class people were in their neighborhood. I couldn't believe that logic but now that I am older, I understand. It's a liberal disease.
[2. Show that you are sympathetic to the liberal’s goals.
What if I’m not? ]
It is actually a great way to devastate a liberal. You say something like: I hate global warming, THOUGH it is kind of scary that most of Earth history is glacial.
Agree while disagreeing.
It throws them off guard.
It’s impossible to speak to mentally ill people who live in a parallel universe
To only slightly change the subject, the ACLU is seeking to remove a memorial cross erected by WW1 vets 75 years ago.
[in CA, I think]
If they win this case, it is claimed that they intend to go after the other 140,000 such memorials, nationwide.
Do they *really* believe that tearing down any “sign” of God will make Him “go away”?
Liberalism IS a mental disorder.
bttt
Sounds like your boss was a world class idiot.
“The basis of the liberal worldview is the belief that man is basically good. Everything extends from that - from the concept of elites making better decisions than individuals, to the idea of a perfectible society (given enough power).”
This is why I can never be a liberal. I’ve experienced too much of human nature to believe that people are basically good.
“My ultra-liberal, Prius driving, algore adoring, man-made gorebull warming believer stopped by the house some time ago and told me my outdoor clothes line was against the HOA ordinance.
“I told her “I am trying to stop gorebull warming, so I am using the sun instead of my dryer in the house”. She left in a huffy fit. She doesn’t even LOOK at me when I am outside now.”
Next time she deigns to talk to her, tell her how her Prius’s cradle-to-grave environmental impact is worse than that of a Suburban. :)
Next time she deigns to talk to YOU, even.
That's how my former roommate, the Vice President of College Democrats, thought he would change people's minds.
How many teeth does he have left?
LOL! Very good.
You said a mouthful there.
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