Post by NFA on Feb 21, 2021 21:07:12 GMT 8
[ I saw this at theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/02/19/an-american-dissident-sounds-a-trumpet/ the other day and although it is stated to be a 24 minute read it has taken me a couple of days to get it into my head... good stuff... and the extracts below are taken out of sequence]
Understanding and Embracing the Role of the 21st-Century American Dissident
Brent E. Hamachek Jan 27
...
For those of us who still believe in and embrace the ideas of our founding, for those who believe that the individual and their liberty are of paramount importance and prime value, for those of us who believe that free market capitalism is the most moral and just system for organizing economic activity, we need to have an epiphany.
We need to awaken to the reality that we are not a majority.
We are not a vocal minority with the same rights as the majority.
We are now dissidents.
We do not have the same voice as our ever-strengthening oppressors, and we do not have the same rights that they enjoy.
....
What we need to understand as Americans who value individual liberty and free market capitalism is that our role models are not George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Paine.
They can still be heroes, but for the situation in which we find ourselves, they cannot be role models.
Their situation in 1776 does not truly resemble ours today.
Their time is not our time.
Our role models need to be people like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Natan Sharansky, and Andrei Sakharov.
Our role models need to be people like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Natan Sharansky, and Andrei Sakharov.
These were courageous men, true dissidents, who stood up to totalitarianism during the period of Soviet domination.
Their unyielding yet steady courage and resolve helped to make the world understand what true oppression felt like.
People forget that in the early days of Soviet Russia, the country was considered to be a utopian model for many in the West.
The efforts of dissidents like these taught the world a different story.
More importantly, over time it taught their countrymen.
It was their efforts, their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of others like them that eventually led to a bit of an incident in a shipyard in Gdansk.
We have an advantage over those in the past in counteracting this because we have more tools available to us in the early stages to start the dissident process.
It was their efforts, their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of others like them that eventually led to a bit of an incident in a shipyard in Gdansk.
We have an advantage over those in the past in counteracting this because we have more tools available to us in the early stages to start the dissident process.
The bad news is that the oppressors also have more tools at their disposal.
The conclusion is that the process will be long and trying.
...
Here are a few tips to follow on the path to becoming an effective dissident:
• Question everything (and do it in front of others). We all know how silly someone looks when they are asked a simple, direct question and seem to be unable or unwilling to answer it. When we make them do so in front of others, those who are listening start to take notice.
• Make predictions and let them be heard. We who believe in individual liberty and free market capitalism know what happens when both are strangled at the hands of the oppressive. We know what happens, but the average citizen does not. This means we can predict things that will happen and share those predictions with others. If generations of people can come to believe in horoscopes because of vague similarities between predictions and actual events, then they can certainly be made to believe in something when the predictions are specific, and the events clearly take place.
• Ask questions of those who are closest to you—don’t argue with them! When you are with friends, family, classmates, coworkers, parish members, anyone who you find is in favor of suppression, ask them questions. Ask what they support, ask why they support it, ask them if they have considered X, Y, or Z. Force them to choose words to defend their beliefs. Don’t try to force words upon them.
• Know that there will be martyrs as we move forward; call them such and keep track of them. Martyrs are those who fall to the abusive powers of the system. We are going to have the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people destroyed over the upcoming years. Let us make it a point not to lose track of them. We need to create lists, memorial “walls,” if you will, that keep track of those who lose jobs, who lose scholarships, who lose their freedom, who might lose their lives. Eventually the lists of names will have weight. Weight is a destructive force, especially when being carried by a bloated and oppressive state.
• Work within the limits of the system. It is more important to get something done than to have everything destroyed. Don’t waste your time trying to be heard where you will be immediately silenced. Don’t take on hopeless causes. Act as water would and follow paths of least resistance. We all know the destructive nature of a single dripping pipe in our home. Let the messages and actions flow where they can without containment.
• Understand that your focus must be forward. Look where you are going, not where you have been. This is a warning directed to those who are obsessed with what was the clearly disturbing election process in November of 2020. It is also directed toward those who have become obsessed with various conspiracy theories over the past several years.
Without passing judgment on any of those claims or beliefs, I would suggest that if you want to prevail, your dwelling on those things will not help the cause. You are not going to convince those in the circle below us to join us based on claims about that which might have happened. You will only convince them by having them understand what is happening now and what is likely to happen next. Leave the past and join the present. You are needed.
• Do not expect instant gratification—steel yourselves for a long process. We got here over a century of decline. We will not reverse this in a couple of years. Pace yourself. Find ways to enjoy this gift that is life while still acting in your role as dissident. It does no good to abandon the joy of life while trying to improve life.
• Call yourself a dissident and wear the label with honor. The other side, the oppressors, has long been winning the battle of language. It is time for us to take some control. Let us take the word “dissident” and ignore however and whoever else might have it in use and claim it for our own. We are the people who are dissenting from the prevailing direction of the country. We are the ones who are dissenting from limiting individual liberty and free market capitalism. Let us be united, clear, and unapologetic. Let us come under one term so we can speak with one voice and create a unified front for all other Americans to see.
• Recruit members from our passive side into our active side. There are millions of people who will agree with us but who lack the willingness to join a dissident movement. As previously stated, we cannot force them, and we cannot reject them. We can, however, attempt to recruit them. Individually, in small groups, through our postings, we can try to get people to find the will inside themselves to join. This is our version of the “Great Commission.” We need to go forth and bring others in. Having their support is helpful; having their active assistance can be the winning edge over time.
• Remember that you are trying to fight for the restoration of the United States of America, not a restoration of the Trump presidency. While this might seem obvious, I don’t believe that it will be to all people. It is easy to lose track. Many people in America have had a political awakening because of the pro-America candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump. For that, we should be grateful.
However, as we move forward, we must keep in mind that what we are trying to restore is something that is 230 years old, not something from 2015 to 2020. Place his picture on your wall if you’d like, but you will not be able to have people in the ring below us come to support us if they believe your ideas and your loyalties are attached to a man and not to a set of principles and values.
• Learn to dine with new “friends”—remember they do not eat red meat. We are in the habit of mostly communicating about politics within the safety of our own ideological and philosophical circles. This is comfortable for us. We are going to need to get uncomfortable and start to engage people in the circle below ours who do not generally agree with us. That means that the kind of content we typically share, and the tone that we choose (especially on social media), not only will not work but will be counterproductive. “Red meat” can be served only to those who have a taste for it. Content that is both “leaner” and “sweeter” will be more appealing to the people we need to engage and persuade.
...
• Question everything (and do it in front of others). We all know how silly someone looks when they are asked a simple, direct question and seem to be unable or unwilling to answer it. When we make them do so in front of others, those who are listening start to take notice.
• Make predictions and let them be heard. We who believe in individual liberty and free market capitalism know what happens when both are strangled at the hands of the oppressive. We know what happens, but the average citizen does not. This means we can predict things that will happen and share those predictions with others. If generations of people can come to believe in horoscopes because of vague similarities between predictions and actual events, then they can certainly be made to believe in something when the predictions are specific, and the events clearly take place.
• Ask questions of those who are closest to you—don’t argue with them! When you are with friends, family, classmates, coworkers, parish members, anyone who you find is in favor of suppression, ask them questions. Ask what they support, ask why they support it, ask them if they have considered X, Y, or Z. Force them to choose words to defend their beliefs. Don’t try to force words upon them.
• Know that there will be martyrs as we move forward; call them such and keep track of them. Martyrs are those who fall to the abusive powers of the system. We are going to have the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people destroyed over the upcoming years. Let us make it a point not to lose track of them. We need to create lists, memorial “walls,” if you will, that keep track of those who lose jobs, who lose scholarships, who lose their freedom, who might lose their lives. Eventually the lists of names will have weight. Weight is a destructive force, especially when being carried by a bloated and oppressive state.
• Work within the limits of the system. It is more important to get something done than to have everything destroyed. Don’t waste your time trying to be heard where you will be immediately silenced. Don’t take on hopeless causes. Act as water would and follow paths of least resistance. We all know the destructive nature of a single dripping pipe in our home. Let the messages and actions flow where they can without containment.
• Understand that your focus must be forward. Look where you are going, not where you have been. This is a warning directed to those who are obsessed with what was the clearly disturbing election process in November of 2020. It is also directed toward those who have become obsessed with various conspiracy theories over the past several years.
Without passing judgment on any of those claims or beliefs, I would suggest that if you want to prevail, your dwelling on those things will not help the cause. You are not going to convince those in the circle below us to join us based on claims about that which might have happened. You will only convince them by having them understand what is happening now and what is likely to happen next. Leave the past and join the present. You are needed.
• Do not expect instant gratification—steel yourselves for a long process. We got here over a century of decline. We will not reverse this in a couple of years. Pace yourself. Find ways to enjoy this gift that is life while still acting in your role as dissident. It does no good to abandon the joy of life while trying to improve life.
• Call yourself a dissident and wear the label with honor. The other side, the oppressors, has long been winning the battle of language. It is time for us to take some control. Let us take the word “dissident” and ignore however and whoever else might have it in use and claim it for our own. We are the people who are dissenting from the prevailing direction of the country. We are the ones who are dissenting from limiting individual liberty and free market capitalism. Let us be united, clear, and unapologetic. Let us come under one term so we can speak with one voice and create a unified front for all other Americans to see.
• Recruit members from our passive side into our active side. There are millions of people who will agree with us but who lack the willingness to join a dissident movement. As previously stated, we cannot force them, and we cannot reject them. We can, however, attempt to recruit them. Individually, in small groups, through our postings, we can try to get people to find the will inside themselves to join. This is our version of the “Great Commission.” We need to go forth and bring others in. Having their support is helpful; having their active assistance can be the winning edge over time.
• Remember that you are trying to fight for the restoration of the United States of America, not a restoration of the Trump presidency. While this might seem obvious, I don’t believe that it will be to all people. It is easy to lose track. Many people in America have had a political awakening because of the pro-America candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump. For that, we should be grateful.
However, as we move forward, we must keep in mind that what we are trying to restore is something that is 230 years old, not something from 2015 to 2020. Place his picture on your wall if you’d like, but you will not be able to have people in the ring below us come to support us if they believe your ideas and your loyalties are attached to a man and not to a set of principles and values.
• Learn to dine with new “friends”—remember they do not eat red meat. We are in the habit of mostly communicating about politics within the safety of our own ideological and philosophical circles. This is comfortable for us. We are going to need to get uncomfortable and start to engage people in the circle below ours who do not generally agree with us. That means that the kind of content we typically share, and the tone that we choose (especially on social media), not only will not work but will be counterproductive. “Red meat” can be served only to those who have a taste for it. Content that is both “leaner” and “sweeter” will be more appealing to the people we need to engage and persuade.
...
Winter is coming. Don a warm jacket, pick up a megaphone or a keyboard, start thinking up questions, and be prepared for a good deal of darkness to precede the light.
