I agree that it is important we speak out any way. I have had a few people approach me kind of sideways to say that well, there are some left wing things they don’t agree with and maybe, someday we can talk… And, I know that I would never have been exposed to certain ideas if I had not had a friend or two online who was very open about their non-left wing beliefs. These were friends I had picked up not in real life, but simply online since they seemed interesting. It is important too that people see we don’t have horns, and yes, we are intelligent and well read and there are reasons we think as we do.

But, I do have to pick my battles. For me, so many of my social crowd is very radical, and this is very hard. To be honest, I am not entirely sure what to do, but it is good to read you and see you have made it work. One also has to learn to laugh when people get that look on their face of shock.

I am still in the process of “coming out”, and will be for some time.

I’ll read these articles, very interesting…

It is sad to hear conservatives who are not willing to bear a little social unpleasantness to establish cultural beachheads.

I am a religious American Jew who moved to Israel – to the West Bank.

I work in hi-tech – a bastion of ultra-secular Left wing Israelis.

Over the Oslo era I have weathered huge amounts of left wing condescension and condemnation. As you may have heard, Israelis are not shy or polite in conversation….

Lefties WILL fill any cultural void we leave them. And the pervasiveness of left-leaning media messages creates the assumption that unspoken opinions lean left.

Sorry – time to speak up.

2) Often the most important thing in these discussions is to “deconstruct” the framework of politically correct assumptions that queer the debate before it even starts .

Beware of sentences that start with “surely you’ll agree that…”

These are attempts by the leftie to deputize themselves as gatekeepers of acceptable opinion – and turn the discussion into a litmus-test.

The point of the conversation is to grab these assumptions – about “tolerance” or “fairness” or “women’s rights” or “racism” – and drag them out in the open, and show how far they have been shifted from their plain, original meaning.

Many non-political “low information” people are not aware of the subtle shifts in meaning that are used as levers of social change…. it just sounds *nicer* to talk about “single-parent families” instead of “bastards” and “broken homes.”

Sticking to the facts is also a useful rhetorical device – but it often doesn’t work in casual conversation.

What DOES work is getting people to see how their emotional buttons are being pushed to shift their opinions and sell them socialism.

This approach has the great advantage of side-stepping the labeling that is used to blacklist conservatives – while focusing the discussion on how language is being misused:

“I also value equal opportunities, but you still haven’t explained just what that means – and why an unqualified black student should be admitted before a qualified Asian student….”

Number One Rule – waste NO time trying to “prove” that you are tolerant, nice, fair – if you find yourself doing this, you have let the leftie conduct the discussion within their PC frame, and appoint themselves judge over your opinions…. THAT is the very thing you should be discussing.

I have no idea how to change the mind of one of the free-stuff constituency. The long range prospect doesn’t bother them. They think there’ll always be somebody to give them free stuff. I’ve pointed out to a couple of the aforementioned relations that something or other hasn’t worked out and the response is either “Bush”, or, “they’re greedy”. I ask how calling, say, a doctor who retired early rather than work for Obamacare “greedy” brings him back to work. Apparently it isn’t necessary that the accusation bring him back to work. Making the accusation is, all by itself, just as good.
It is difficult to see how trying to deal rationally with such people is ever going to work.

One of the mind games that progs play is that conservative ideas are as illegitimate as the expression that 2+2 = 7. In other words they have convinced themselves and the low information middle that only they have the correct answers. Silencing us is their only real strategy because the facts are not on their side. We can’t let them intimidate us or shout us down.

I don’t know how many people have seen the ABC TV show, “Last Man Standing,” with Tim Allen. It mocks liberal ideas and a lot of our PC culture in a fun way. I hope a lot of people are watching. It’s a good-natured way of exposing people to conservative ideas. So far he hasn’t been shut down. I think he’s the money behind the show, so unless his ratings are low, I don’t see the network canceling. We need more people like Tim Allen who are pushing back in the MSM.

I agree with Geoffrey Britain that we need to encourage conservative billionaires to start buying newspapers, funding TV shows, and getting more involved in mass communications. The narrative is where the battleground is. We’re behind, but we have to keep on keeping on.

http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2012/12/10/the-last-of-the-just-in-belgium/

‘The Last of the Just’ in Belgium
by Roger L Simon
PJMedia.com
December 10th, 2012 – 12:00 am

EXCERPT:

“When you look at the faces of the others in the room visible on the video, you don’t exactly see ‘profiles in courage.’ I would wager, however, that if you asked each of them individually whether they favored equal rights for women and homosexuals, as well as separation of church and state and liberal democracy and Enlightenment principles in general (all anathema to Shariah), they would uniformly say yes. Further I would imagine they would all be appalled at the idea of a global caliphate under Islam, and therefore the end of Belgium as a sovereign nation, the very intention of Shariah.

“Still, political correctness – leavened, to be sure, with a modicum of cowardice – overwhelmed their good sense and allowed the decent and courageous man to leave by himself.

“If you ever wondered how Hitler happened, you have part of your answer on this video.”

Check it out . . . M J R

Re speaking out in public
When Breitbart died, I was at a dinner at which most of the table believed Breitbart a hater. I could not fail to honor Andrew Breitbart by failing to speak up. As graciously as I could, I made a 40 second case for the proposition that Andrew Breitbart was not a hater. I gave evidence. Everything came out very nicely. I was pleased. I looked at the table. Three dinner guests were physically repulsed that anyone would defend Andrew Breitbart. No one was comfortable, except me. I was very happy with the 40 second speech, and with the evidence proffered.

re motivation
In recent months, when I have spoken of politics in public, the leftists in the conversation have not been interested in solutions. Rather, they have mainly been interested in expressing their outrage, and in seemingly feeling virtuous over expression of outrage. Several consecutive leftists have stated some version of the following: “I am not a person who looks for solutions. I identify problems.”

re effective conversation with lefties
In last 18 months, have had success w/these ground rules:
1. I am not trying to change your opinion. You choose your own opinion.
2. I want to ensure that you understand what conservatives truly believe – as opposed to a caricature of what we believe. After all: you cannot truly criticize us .. unless you truly understand the opinions which need criticism!

At the very beginning it was a shock in both respects. But many years ago it ceased being a shock intellectually. But emotionally it is, because I’m standing there in a crowd of people (not online, but in person) who are pretty much, in many cases, suddenly very hostile to me and even on the attack, and I have to stand my ground.

I keep thinking I’m prepared for it, but in certain ways it is still very stressful. That’s what I meant by “shock.”