How to Talk to Liberals/Those on the Fence...

...so that they will actually listen to what you have to say, rather then reflexively tune out.

This came up when I was talking to my brother-in-law, Mike.  He is another politically aware person, who does not just get his news from the approved sources.  As a result, when I mention "Benghazi" or "Fast & Furious", he knows the events behind the news, is conversant with the controversies and issues, and has an informed opinion about the event.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about most people.  They have no knowledge about the events (except PERHAPS a superficial acquaintance with the "facts" - heavily filtered by the established media bias that "there is NOTHING to it - just conspiracy theory"), would require much patient teaching about the events, tend to tune out when the explanation gets over a minute or two, and, when challenged to think, fall back on ridicule of any facts that contradict the standard factoids.

In other words, they have a ferociously and determinedly closed mind.

It is possible to guide people to consider that they are living in a media-saturated false matrix.  It takes effort.  It takes patience.

Most of us want to "unload" the knowledge we have gained through careful attention to the events of our time.

Don't.

It is too much, too soon.

The unaware mind will resist.

Instead, pick ONE topic, ONE focus.

Use it carefully, as a way of creating a breach in the wall of resistance.

In a sense, it is a long war that we face, one that requires patience and a willingness to think long-term.

We have to slowly lead people to consider, just lightly entertain the possibility that their thinking is limited by their reliance on the conventional wisdom.

Once they reach the point that THEY start seeking information, they will find that it is readily available.   The real work is getting people to that point.

Over the next few months, I'm going to be adding to the Conservative Self-Education section of this blog.  I'm going to focus on providing "chunks" of info, coupled with suggestions for how to broach topics, AND limiting the flow to what is manageable.  Consider it to become a "script" for limiting their exposure to a level of SLIGHT discomfort - not so much as to blow them out of the water, but enough to raise concern that they might want to find out more.