Hegelian Dialectic
Consider the following:
Two buddies are in a pub.
Jessie leans ovet to Frank and sez "I think you're gay, dude."
Frank replies by saying that he in fact is not gay.
Jessie pushes the issue asking why it's so rare to see Frank with a woman...
The exchange carries on like that until both are roaring drunk and Frank picks up the only woman left in the pub (who's also, um, a little less than attractive), just to prove that he's not gay. This is also the result that Jessie had in mind when he started the exchange.
Now, us normal folks would say that Frank was just suckered into taking home an overweight ugly woman.
Our friends on the left call the exchange "Hegelian Dialectic" and they use it as an agressive method of control. It's based on the following (in it's simplest form):
Thesis = the accusation (J to F: You're gay)
Antithesis = the rebuttal (F to J: I am not gay)
Synthesis = closure (F proving that he isin't gay)
It's extremely effective and by using it, you can make a person act irrationaly by simply making an irrational statement towards them. It's the whole reason the PC culture (below) has taken hold.
Two points:
PC'er to normal person: You're a homophobe!
Normal person to PC'er: I am not!
PC'er to normal person: You won't let then get married, you're a homophobe!
Normal person to PC'er: Fine, whatever, let them get married, just quit calling me a homophobe!
Sound familiar? How about this scenario:
Lib-left: GWB hates black people (irrational statement)
GWB: No, you're wrong, I love black people!
Lib-Left: GWB hates black people, look he's oppressing them! They've been flooded and he's not helping!
GWB: No, look, I'm giving them all $2,000.00 debit cards. See, I'm a good Guy (irrational action - note that the card program was stopped because they realized it was a bad plan.)
Closer to home:
Lib-Left: The conservatives want to destroy healthcare! (irrational statement)
Conservatives: No we don't, we love healthcare!
Lib-Left: No, they want to destroy it. Look! They want to make changes. They'll destroy it!
Conservatives: No, they're wrong. Look, we've changed our policy, we're not going to make any changes. In fact, we'll throw even more money at it! (irrational action - they softened their policy on repairing a system in dire need of repair)
Here's one that's really recent: "Stephen Harper needs to be removed as leader!"
Is it a rational statement? Nope. Not right now anyway. It makes no sense. But the lib-left media's pushing the idea anyway...
I mentioned earlier that you have to have an "end result" in mind when using this technique. In the case of the homosexuals, it was marriage in particular and a celebration of their lifestyle in general. In the case of GWB, it was, and still is, money for those poor black folks. In the case of the conservatives, not just keeping the sacred cash cow called healthcare alive, but fat as well.
As for Steven Harper needing to be replaced: Sometime very soon you're going to see someone slip in a "change" that Stephen can make in order get the complaining to stop. Remember how the whole BBQ circut thing got started when some pundits declared Harper to be too angry?
Who does it work on? All of us! I'd like to say that only weak-minded individuals are susceptable but that's not the case... Depending on how long and loud the irrational statements are being shouted, we all crack.
Scott Adams (Dilbert) often mentions that it is the most insane amoung us who define our reality. I think he's right in this case.
I noted earlier as well, that you have to be first. You have to initiate the debate or scenario. This puts the opponent on the defensive... Instant moral high-ground for you... I don't know why this aspect works but it does.
How does it work overall?
Fear.
As humans we're social creatures. We need community. We don't want to be shunned or labeled. We wan't to be liked.
Somewhere way deep down is a little trigger that makes us act irrationally simply for the sake of being liked. We thought we got passed it when we came out of high school but we didn't. We only learned to control it better. With adolesents we call it peer pressure.
How do we combat it?
Ideally, an individual can try to ignore the irrational statements. That doesn't work for long though. Bush and Harper both have to cave in to public opinion... Conservatives in Ontario have to cave in to their peers because of employment or social issues (that is if they let themselves be known as conservatives - note the abundance of OT conservative bloggers that don't post their real names)
Here's an effective method but most would be too scared to try it:
Don't respond to their irrational statement and make a statement of your own (preferably rational but not required)
How we deal with our freind Megan Walker-Williams is a perfect example.
MWW has a habit of entering a blogs comment threads and spewing her drivel. Here's how we make her go away (example taken from a comment thread on Anonologue's blog):
The best method, I've found, to deal with MWW is to ask her why she's so racist... Ask her why she feels the natives should be segrated from us... Ask why she feels the need to keep the entire native population dependent on the welfare state... particularly in light of what we're seeing comming out of NOLA... Ask her why she feels that her people don't have to work for things the way we have to... Ask her why she feels that her people aren't obliged to pay taxes like we have to... Pure racism...Shuts her right up...Richard Evans Homepage 09.17.05 - 3:12 pm #
Hmmmm...Over on Angry's blog, you Richard Evans defended Kate McMillan's proposition that Canada needs to recreate residential schools for Aboriginals.While it is true that most of the Conservatives on-line understand that there is a severe problem with Kate's statement, and only a handful have said privately or on-line that they think her statement is disgusting...You Richard Evans, are in the unique class of a couple of Klanish Conservatives in openly defending her proposal.Thanks for giving me the opportunity to point this out.Kate, Analogue, Richard Evans and Jeffie: Paul Martin's Dream Team agitprop artists... false-flag recruiting for the Liberals in the Blogworld since 2004!MWW Homepage 09.18.05 - 10:47 am #
Notice how MWW neatly sidesteps her racist views......Jeff Homepage 09.18.05 - 11:45 am #
Yes, I too noticed how MWW avoided answering for her racist views.Anonalogue Homepage 09.18.05 - 12:18 pm #
You guys are right...I do in fact hold views which can be construed as racist; I was a staunch supporter of David Ahenakew, in fact. My racist views can also be inferred by my blind support of The Indian Act, which, of course, is racist. I have been hesitant to discuss this because it would make my existence appear foolish, on the whole. I harbour feelings of lust for Stockwell Day.Edited By SiteownerMWW Homepage 09.18.05 - 1:01 pm #
"Over on Angry's blog, you Richard Evans defended Kate McMillan's proposition that Canada needs to recreate residential schools for Aboriginals."Only to the point that we could get the kids away from the negative influence of racist individuals like yourself MWW and assimilate them into our culture thus making them productive citizens... As opposed to the segregated, welfare sucking, dependant lower class that you wish to instill. Why do you do it Mehgan? Why do you push so hard to keep your people down? Is it an industry for you? Do you benefit financially from the endovor? Please enlighten me...Richard Evans Homepage 09.18.05 - 7:49 pm #
More often than not, it makes her go away. If she does hang around, she turns to childish insults and asking where an individual lives so her husband and brothers can stop by for a "coffee" (yes MWW I still have that e-mail). - _as a side note: Kate at SDA has an extremely insightful article on this particular individual...)
When it gets to that point, you win.
Remember: Those who seek to use peer pressure to make you do something are also going to be susceptable to that same peer pressure...
Anyway, just thought I'd share something I've learned over the past several months. Happy Blogging.
Two buddies are in a pub.
Jessie leans ovet to Frank and sez "I think you're gay, dude."
Frank replies by saying that he in fact is not gay.
Jessie pushes the issue asking why it's so rare to see Frank with a woman...
The exchange carries on like that until both are roaring drunk and Frank picks up the only woman left in the pub (who's also, um, a little less than attractive), just to prove that he's not gay. This is also the result that Jessie had in mind when he started the exchange.
Now, us normal folks would say that Frank was just suckered into taking home an overweight ugly woman.
Our friends on the left call the exchange "Hegelian Dialectic" and they use it as an agressive method of control. It's based on the following (in it's simplest form):
Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis
Thesis = the accusation (J to F: You're gay)
Antithesis = the rebuttal (F to J: I am not gay)
Synthesis = closure (F proving that he isin't gay)
It's extremely effective and by using it, you can make a person act irrationaly by simply making an irrational statement towards them. It's the whole reason the PC culture (below) has taken hold.
Two points:
- When you use it though, you have to have the end result in mind.
- You have to be first with the irrational statement. Watch...
PC'er to normal person: You're a homophobe!
Normal person to PC'er: I am not!
PC'er to normal person: You won't let then get married, you're a homophobe!
Normal person to PC'er: Fine, whatever, let them get married, just quit calling me a homophobe!
Sound familiar? How about this scenario:
Lib-left: GWB hates black people (irrational statement)
GWB: No, you're wrong, I love black people!
Lib-Left: GWB hates black people, look he's oppressing them! They've been flooded and he's not helping!
GWB: No, look, I'm giving them all $2,000.00 debit cards. See, I'm a good Guy (irrational action - note that the card program was stopped because they realized it was a bad plan.)
Closer to home:
Lib-Left: The conservatives want to destroy healthcare! (irrational statement)
Conservatives: No we don't, we love healthcare!
Lib-Left: No, they want to destroy it. Look! They want to make changes. They'll destroy it!
Conservatives: No, they're wrong. Look, we've changed our policy, we're not going to make any changes. In fact, we'll throw even more money at it! (irrational action - they softened their policy on repairing a system in dire need of repair)
Here's one that's really recent: "Stephen Harper needs to be removed as leader!"
Is it a rational statement? Nope. Not right now anyway. It makes no sense. But the lib-left media's pushing the idea anyway...
I mentioned earlier that you have to have an "end result" in mind when using this technique. In the case of the homosexuals, it was marriage in particular and a celebration of their lifestyle in general. In the case of GWB, it was, and still is, money for those poor black folks. In the case of the conservatives, not just keeping the sacred cash cow called healthcare alive, but fat as well.
As for Steven Harper needing to be replaced: Sometime very soon you're going to see someone slip in a "change" that Stephen can make in order get the complaining to stop. Remember how the whole BBQ circut thing got started when some pundits declared Harper to be too angry?
Who does it work on? All of us! I'd like to say that only weak-minded individuals are susceptable but that's not the case... Depending on how long and loud the irrational statements are being shouted, we all crack.
Scott Adams (Dilbert) often mentions that it is the most insane amoung us who define our reality. I think he's right in this case.
I noted earlier as well, that you have to be first. You have to initiate the debate or scenario. This puts the opponent on the defensive... Instant moral high-ground for you... I don't know why this aspect works but it does.
How does it work overall?
Fear.
As humans we're social creatures. We need community. We don't want to be shunned or labeled. We wan't to be liked.
Somewhere way deep down is a little trigger that makes us act irrationally simply for the sake of being liked. We thought we got passed it when we came out of high school but we didn't. We only learned to control it better. With adolesents we call it peer pressure.
How do we combat it?
Ideally, an individual can try to ignore the irrational statements. That doesn't work for long though. Bush and Harper both have to cave in to public opinion... Conservatives in Ontario have to cave in to their peers because of employment or social issues (that is if they let themselves be known as conservatives - note the abundance of OT conservative bloggers that don't post their real names)
Here's an effective method but most would be too scared to try it:
- Get right there in the mud with them...
Don't respond to their irrational statement and make a statement of your own (preferably rational but not required)
How we deal with our freind Megan Walker-Williams is a perfect example.
MWW has a habit of entering a blogs comment threads and spewing her drivel. Here's how we make her go away (example taken from a comment thread on Anonologue's blog):
The best method, I've found, to deal with MWW is to ask her why she's so racist... Ask her why she feels the natives should be segrated from us... Ask why she feels the need to keep the entire native population dependent on the welfare state... particularly in light of what we're seeing comming out of NOLA... Ask her why she feels that her people don't have to work for things the way we have to... Ask her why she feels that her people aren't obliged to pay taxes like we have to... Pure racism...Shuts her right up...Richard Evans Homepage 09.17.05 - 3:12 pm #
Hmmmm...Over on Angry's blog, you Richard Evans defended Kate McMillan's proposition that Canada needs to recreate residential schools for Aboriginals.While it is true that most of the Conservatives on-line understand that there is a severe problem with Kate's statement, and only a handful have said privately or on-line that they think her statement is disgusting...You Richard Evans, are in the unique class of a couple of Klanish Conservatives in openly defending her proposal.Thanks for giving me the opportunity to point this out.Kate, Analogue, Richard Evans and Jeffie: Paul Martin's Dream Team agitprop artists... false-flag recruiting for the Liberals in the Blogworld since 2004!MWW Homepage 09.18.05 - 10:47 am #
Notice how MWW neatly sidesteps her racist views......Jeff Homepage 09.18.05 - 11:45 am #
Yes, I too noticed how MWW avoided answering for her racist views.Anonalogue Homepage 09.18.05 - 12:18 pm #
You guys are right...I do in fact hold views which can be construed as racist; I was a staunch supporter of David Ahenakew, in fact. My racist views can also be inferred by my blind support of The Indian Act, which, of course, is racist. I have been hesitant to discuss this because it would make my existence appear foolish, on the whole. I harbour feelings of lust for Stockwell Day.Edited By SiteownerMWW Homepage 09.18.05 - 1:01 pm #
"Over on Angry's blog, you Richard Evans defended Kate McMillan's proposition that Canada needs to recreate residential schools for Aboriginals."Only to the point that we could get the kids away from the negative influence of racist individuals like yourself MWW and assimilate them into our culture thus making them productive citizens... As opposed to the segregated, welfare sucking, dependant lower class that you wish to instill. Why do you do it Mehgan? Why do you push so hard to keep your people down? Is it an industry for you? Do you benefit financially from the endovor? Please enlighten me...Richard Evans Homepage 09.18.05 - 7:49 pm #
More often than not, it makes her go away. If she does hang around, she turns to childish insults and asking where an individual lives so her husband and brothers can stop by for a "coffee" (yes MWW I still have that e-mail). - _as a side note: Kate at SDA has an extremely insightful article on this particular individual...)
When it gets to that point, you win.
Remember: Those who seek to use peer pressure to make you do something are also going to be susceptable to that same peer pressure...
Anyway, just thought I'd share something I've learned over the past several months. Happy Blogging.
posted by Richard at 05:21
<< Home