Sunday, April 08, 2007

Secrets of Persuasion for Truth Activists - Part 2

Preface: If you are not really angry about the lies and propaganda that the government and corporate media are telling, don't read this essay. Go read up enough that you get mad first. Then come back and read this. Without a healthy dose of righteous anger, you're not going to have the passion and sense of urgency which often helps in effective activism.

You walk out of wherever you ate lunch and a bunch of kids with black shirts, nose rings and spikey purple and green hair yell at you angrily:
DIE, YOU MURDERER!

YOU SHOULD HANG FROM A NOOSE FOR YOUR EVIL SINS!
Are you likely to chat with them and see what they are talking about? Are you going to patiently read their flyers and see what social cause they are protesting?

No.

Maybe their cause is a really good one: maybe you have unwittingly purchased a belt made in China from the rare and endangered snow leopard, and maybe your purchase is helping to drive the snow leopard to extinction, when there are many substitutes to make belts from.

Extreme, over-the-top example? Of course.

But, for two reasons, 9/11 and other truth activists are, to some extent, falling into the same trap these people are.

People Like People Like Themselves

The superficial secret to more effective activism is that people like people who are like themselves.

In other words, the more you look like your target audience, the more people will listen to you. Hundreds of psychological, sociological and marketing studies show this.

So -- to the extent you can -- wear a bathing suit and t-shirt at the beach, a suit in the business district, a punk look at a punk concert, a heavy-metal look at a metal concert, etc.

People Like People Who Like Them

The second - and perhaps more important - secret to effective activism is that people like people who like them. Again, numerous studies prove this.

But you have probably experienced this yourself. If you're feeling awkward at a party - and one person is friendly and obviously likes you while another intensely dislikes you - who are you going to hang out and chat with? The friendly one who likes you, right?

Everyone would answer the same way.

Our hypothetical snow leopard protesters exhibited anger, disdain and even hatred towards you. Forget about their hair, clothes and piercings for a minute: Even if they had been dressed exactly the same as you, they would have turned you off by exhibiting hostility, disdain and hatred toward you.

Believe it or not, 9/11 truth and other activists often do the same thing. (I'm not talking about people like We Are Change, who speak truth to power. The tips in this essay may or may not be effective in persuading the perps or powers-that-be themselves -- I wish people would try them and test their effectiveness in that context -- but this essay does not address that setting. I'm talking about reaching friends, family, co-workers, people in the street, and others close to home).

But how can we like ignorant boneheads who are still denying the truth about 9/11, false flags, or the truth campaign we are fighting for?

Here's the secret: Find something to like or respect about the person. For example, if the person is an ignoramus who is the CEO of a corporation which does not give its workers any breaks, they might not be someone who could ever be your best friend. But you could like the CEO's smile or Italian shoes or cool tie.

Or if the person is a propagandized special forces operative between tours of duty in Iraq, who believes that everything Bush and Cheney say is true, that we are fighting a heroic war on terror against a bunch of bad guys, and that every word in the Bible is true, you might not become the guy's drinking buddy. But you can still respect the amazing physical shape the guy is in, and the amount of discipline it must have taken to get that way.

If you just ask yourself "what do I like or respect about this person" and think about it for a second, you can always find something you like or respect, no matter how small. This works because our brains are incredibly adaptable and flexible . . . if we ask the question, we will get an answer.

And in getting the answer, and finding something we like or respect about the person, he or she will like us more than if we hadn't.

This is not mushy, rose-colored glasses b.s. This is a technique that has been tried and tested by many people for manly years, with solid grounding in psychology and sociology.

In addition, I am not saying that you are going to suddenly stop being angry at people who are being willfully ignorant. Righteous anger is a good an important emotion, to propel us towards action. I'm just saying also pay attention to what you can like or respect about your audience.

Try these two techniques . . they will rev your activism up to a whole new level.

For extra credit: keep track in the back of your brain about any areas of commonality between you and the person you're speaking with. This helps with both the first and second tips, above . . . If there you share an interest or some historical background -- say the same birth place -- you are more like that person, and you will be a little more predisposed to liking the person.




1 Comments:

Blogger The Stark Raving Viking said...

George W. Bush is getting better at acting like he cares, he went out live at the award ceremony for fallen Navy Seal and hero, Michael Monsoor. Bush seemed to cry crocidile tears, but he is getting more and more convincing as having human emotions to the untrained eye.

Sociopaths don't have feeling, they only care about themselves. Someone with serious NPD, Narcissistic Personality Disorder doesn't care either.

Bush makes strange expressions and looks awkward and different because he is. Bush doesn't know how to feel, what expression to have, or how to act, unless he observes others and then copies them.

I talk more about that [HERE]

The CIA has been smuggling heroin out of Afghanistan since the Carter Administration. The cocaine smuggling out of S. America ramped up under Reagan to finance covert operations.

Who is kidding who? Bush is a world drug king pin and should be prosecuted in a world war crimes court and be prosecuted under the same statutes as was Nazi Hermann Goering for waging aggressive war.

-Steven G. Erickson

10:10 PM  

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