- "Great works are performed not by strength, but
by perseverance." --- Samuel Johnson (English poet, critic and writer,
1709-1784)
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- Note: The following article appears in the current (Sep/Oct
2006) edition of The Barnes Review under the title, "Conversing with
the Politically Correct."
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- Tired of being the odd one at family gatherings?
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- Sick of friends who apologize for you to others by prewarning
them that you are a "white supremacist" or a "racist?"
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- Having trouble meeting girls?
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- If married, do you have the sense that your wife slowly
is slipping away? That your children are vaguely ashamed of you?
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- Tired of being angry and upset about any or all of the
foregoing, but unwilling to "go over to the other side?"
Get in line.
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- The good news is that you have lots of company.
The bad news is that you keep shooting yourself in your foot. I've
been there. I know.
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- Today, I have a healthy and robust family life with a
wife of twenty-one years who respects my opinions and even shares a great
many of them. My kids are proud of me, despite occasionally being
tarred with the brush that regularly is used on me. We all are plugged
into normal society, with normal friends (in my case, all things are relative,
of course), normal interests and normal pastimes. We all love each
other a lot. I'm a lucky guy, for these are the things that
really matter. But is it really just luck?
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- Often, I remark to my children that the world is full
of morons, a phrase that has become a mantra for us and turned into one
of our longest-running family jokes. But it isn't really a joke
not in the sense that I mean it.
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- It is simply amazing how stupid everyone can seem to
be, isn't it? Even close friends and family members can seem like
empty-headed dolts when politically-incorrect concepts come up. It
is a powerful urge to take them straight on and overwhelm them with the
sheer strength of your logic, so that is just what you do. And, every
single time, you end up dusted, muttering to yourself about how the world
is full of morons. Does any of this ring a bell for you?
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- There's an old joke that goes: "I can win
any argument, just ask any of a number of my ex friends!" What?
You're not laughing?
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- Well, listen up. There is hope.
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- Dare to Be Normal
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- One of my closest friends brought me up short one day
long ago when, in response to my chiding him for moving into one of those
vast, rambling plastic apartment complexes: "Eddie," he said,
"character is something that comes from within. We don't wear
it and we can't live in it." When you hear a fundamental truth
like that, it validates itself with an internal ring of authenticity, doesn't
it? Some things simply do not require proof.
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- Just look at so many teenagers and young adults, yet
to discover their own inherent character (or lack of it) - putting on odd
clothes and hairstyles in an attempt to distinguish themselves from their
parents and teachers. Body Piercing. Tattoos. Profanity.
Anything to be different, it seems. Anything to be an individual.
Anything to have character. They haven't learned what my friend so
effortlessly knew by instinct.
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- In fact, their odd appearance and demeanor gets in the
way of getting along with the rest of us, doesn't it? Consider
why would it be any different for you?
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- Dare to be normal. Look and act like everyone else
and they will assume you are one of them. You are, you know.
There is very little difference among us, when all is said and done.
Go along to get along. No, not ideologically, though moderation might
serve you better than extremism in that arena, as well. If you truly
want to persuade others, then be as acceptable to them as possible, so
that you can get close enough to plant those seeds of dissent into their
psyches.
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- Go for the Easy Kill First
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- Because we all are pretty much the same (even liberals,
believe it or not), our pushable buttons all are in the same places.
Choose your points of entry with care when approaching others on politically-incorrect
topics, to ensure you get initial agreement and acceptance. Once
you have gotten someone to say yes a few times, it is much easier to keep
them saying it.
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- Even liberals have strong feelings about unfairness.
Consider just how unfair are things like affirmative action, hiring/school
admission quotas, slave reparations and the like. Go for the easy
kill first. You'll be surprised at how easy the more difficult kill
becomes after you have gotten them saying yes. Get someone voicing
displeasure with their kids' education being crap because half their classmates
belong in remedial institutions is a big step toward getting them to see
what's wrong with miscegenation and unlimited immigration.
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- Listen
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- Ever notice how you seem to develop your thinking and
your positions while you are busy talking? We all do that.
Employ that fact as your main strategy. Get the other person talking
and keep them talking. Get them to say what you want to say so that
they actually end up defending their new-found position against your devil's
advocate questioning.
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- We all love to talk. We all love to be listened
to. What is your objective, after all stroking your own ego
or persuading others? Listen. It's easy. It is the basic
strategy of true persuasion.
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- Nudge Them into Position
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- Persuading another can be likened to a tugboat guiding
an ocean liner into her berth: you must apply constant pressure, pressure
which barely is felt by the other. Otherwise, you create your own
opposition and force them to defend (and, often, adopt) a position contrary
to the very one to which you seek to bring them. You know what I'm
talking about because you've done it far too often, haven't you?
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- The primary technique employed in the strategy of persuasive
listening is to ask leading questions - questions which suggest the very
answer you seek. Questions to which you already know the answer.
Questions which you know the other person will answer in a certain way,
thereby taking the first steps down a path you have charted. Make
it topical, if possible, so that the other person has some knowledge but
has yet to harden into a position about the subject. For example:
"Hey, did you catch the Academy Awards? Did you see Mel Gibson's
'The Passion of the Christ?' What happened?"
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- A second technique is to share some compelling and honest
portion of yourself, thereby forging a bond of intimacy and trust which
compels the other person to respond in kind: "I feel like I've
let my son down, somehow, simply because I can't afford to send him to
my alma mater, due to the amount of out-of-state tuition they want.
Did you know that illegal aliens get that requirement waived?"
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- Ask the leading question or share yourself succinctly,
then stand back. You will be amazed at the results.
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- Overcoming Objections
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- Sales people talk about handling a prospect's "considerations,"
enroute to closing a deal. Consideration: "This car's
pretty old." Response: "Yeah, but she sure
does run well. They don't make them like this any more, you know."
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- You will have to do the same. Consideration:
"I take people individually, one at a time." Response:
"Society doesn't, you know. It passes out favors to whole groups
and we're not in any of them." Or: "When was
the last time you had the favor returned by any of them?" Or:
"Is it simply coincidental that Blacks are fifty times more likely
to commit violent crimes than Whites? Fifty times! Do you believe
in coincidence? There's something more fundamental than social or
economic injustice going on there."
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- Bread on the Water
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- Don't look for on-the-spot conversions. You won't
get them. But, that doesn't mean you haven't made a difference.
Everything you say goes into the hopper. The more credibility you
have with another, the more weight they accord to what you say.
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- People are kind of like a balance scale: Keep adding
weight to the light side until, all at once, it suddenly swings into a
different position.
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- Be satisfied that you were heard. Be there when
they come back for more.
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- New America. An idea whose time has come.
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- My name is Edgar J. Steele. Thanks for listening.
Please visit my web site, www.ConspiracyPenPal.com, for other messages
just like this one.
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- Copyright ©2006, Edgar J. Steele
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