Before You Educate Them About Jihad, Remove the Barriers to Listening

FOR THOSE of us engaged in stopping the spread of jihad, the biggest barrier we face is the intrinsic bias of the mainstream news media.

It would be interesting if the standards of Truth in Advertising were applied to television news as they sometimes are to television commercials. In that unlikely situation, TV news writers would be required to use phrases and words that convey accurate information – as opposed to the phrases and words they use today.

I want to help you break the code of alarming newspeak so that you can more easily find the valuable information that may (or may not) be part of a story.

Given the disturbing reasons we’ve all been watching so much TV news, it would be understandable to overlook the sheer ridiculousness that is inherent in some of the sensationalism. Occasionally, the way TV news is delivered can be downright funny, and indeed, the ability to laugh at something indicates that we are beginning to gain perspective on it.

(This is an excerpt from the article, Media Fear Tactics, by Gavin de Becker.)

Mainstream media is biased, and that bias has created a mindset in the majority of people in the free world, and that mindset prevents certain information from getting in. And like lemmings in a crowd, they will blindly and faithfully walk over the edge of the cliff to their doom, even though you were there trying to get them to see what is happening.

They can't hear you. Your information isn't penetrating.

What can you do to help your information get through and make a difference? You can undermine their belief in their source of information FIRST. Then tell them what you know.

When your friends bring up a news story about Iraq or Afghanistan or Islamophobia, for example, rather than arguing with them about the content of the news story, it is an opportunity to talk about the media bias in general. And to make the conversation even more engaging (which I highly recommend), tell them about some of the facts you learn on this menu.

Or if you really want to blow their minds, read Weapons of Mass Distortion and share the specifics with them.

I think this may be the best way to ultimately change minds about the ongoing Islamic invasion. Since most people get most of their news from mainstream media, it would make a huge difference if most people understood the level of bias displayed by those media. It would automatically reduce the certainty about the conclusions most people have about the world, and that would open their minds to a better understanding of what's really going on.

In other words, if the person you were talking to understood that they had gotten most of their understanding about Islamic jihad from a deeply biased source of information, that person would immediately listen better to you, especially if you are well-read on the subject.

Legitimately undermine the credibility of a person's source of information, and you have a more open mind to speak to.

Learn more about influencing your friends:

• How to approach a conversation about Islam
• Answers to objections when you talk about Islam
• How to think outside the persuasion box

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Educate (and Fascinate) Your Fellow Citizens: You Are On The Front Line

AS YOU HAVE probably discovered, many people don't have a clue about really how serious our situation has become with the rise of Islamic militancy. Many people think "fighting terrorism" is a politician's ruse, or a way for the military-industrial complex to make money, or a way to get more oil, or whatever.

People who know about the danger of the spreading jihadist movement tend to remain silent. It's a politically heated topic and it is politically incorrect and somewhat offensive to a lot of people to even talk about it. So we tend to keep our mouths shut. People with conspiracy theories and multicultural beliefs tend to be extremely vocal. I don't know why, but people like that tend to be very motivated to push their beliefs on everyone else.

Because when you repeat anything often enough, some people will start to believe it, over time, the conspiracy theorists are gaining converts, and our silence is being filled in with nonsense.

It's time to stop being silent. We need to bring up the subject, and actively help people change their minds. I know this is scary, but it must be done. You can gain some courage with the right kind of know-how. If you don't feel you're very good at persuading people, read the book, How to Win Friends & Influence People. If you've already got a copy, re-read the section entitled, How To Change People Without Giving Offense Or Arousing Resentment. You'll find it very helpful for our purposes.

Another book in the same category (skill with people) is Les Giblin's How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People. Although he covers many of the same principles as Dale Carnegie, he says it in different ways, coming from a different angle, organizes the material differently, and uses different examples. The two of them together are better than one of them alone.

Go even further in your quest to bring understanding to your fellow citizens by being a leader. Read the book, The Charisma Quotient: What It Is, How to Get It, How to Use It, to learn more about how the impact of your personality can lead others.

Another great little book is called, How to Win an Argument: Surefire Strategies for Getting Your Point Across. It has some simple, practical principles you can start using right away. The book is not about becoming a sarcastic, arrogant jerk. It is very hard to win an argument that way, and almost impossible to change someone's mind using those kinds of methods. This book has better ways.

If you aren't very good at starting and maintaining a conversation, Larry King's book, How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: The Secrets of Good Communication is excellent. Becoming a good conversationalist is one of the most important tasks a Citizen Warrior can master.

I can't reiterate enough: This is a war of memes, the stakes are extremely high, and you are on the front line.

What is the most important thing to share with people?

Read why it is justifiable and legitimate to criticize Islam.
Learn more about influencing your friends:

• How to approach a conversation about Islam
• Answers to objections when you talk about Islam
• How to think outside the persuasion box

Read more...

Why Is Islamic Militancy On The Rise?

WHAT CHANGED? Why is militant Islam on the rise? There are several reasons, including increased mobility (so jihad recruiters can travel to other countries, for example), the multicultural and liberal democratic desire to stop dividing and conquering even militant countries, and letting them be, and new technologies like roadside bombs that allow small groups to inflict damage on larger groups.

There is also the added benefit of oil money, which is a large factor in global influence.

But let's look at one of the most interesting causes of the new rise of militancy: A side-effect of media technology such as radio, television, and the internet — unfavorable comparisons.

As long as Muslims lived in their own little village and didn't see much of what was happening in other villages or other countries, they had nothing to compare their situation with, and they could rest content with the fact that their religion was clearly superior, and Islam was the greatest thing ever.

But when they got television, radio, and the internet, they could clearly see something disturbing: Compared to the rest of the world, Muslim countries are backward, poor, third-world nobodies.

Now you would think that when someone sees their beliefs called into question, they would abandon them. And some certainly will. But an entirely different and perhaps counter-intuitive response is also possible: To become zealous believers.

An interesting experiment shows this surprising response from the inside (read more about it in the book, Influence). Two researchers joined a little cult undercover (in other words, the other members of the cult thought these two researchers were genuine believers). This cult had a leader who prophesied that aliens would come take them away right before the earth was destroyed. And the prophesy had a specific date and time.

On the night of the big event, the believers (including the two undercover researchers) sat around in the home of the Prophet, waiting for their alien taxi to pick them up.

Time ticked on. No taxi.

The researchers chose this group because the prophecy had a specific date. They wanted to find out what the believers would do with this obvious invalidation of the core belief of their "religion" (when the prophesy didn't come true).

What happened was fascinating. The believers up until the big event had pretty much kept their religion to themselves. They didn't try to push it on anyone or try very hard to recruit new believers.

But afterward, they went on an evangelistic rampage, working tirelessly to recruit new believers.

The researchers theorized that the recruiting was for the purpose of bolstering their flagging faith. In other words, they had doubts, and you can dispel doubts with numbers. If you and two other people believe in The Great Flying Spagetti Monster, you can be justifiably considered a nutcase. But if 10,000 of you believe the same thing, you will feel a lot more comfortable in your belief. It will bolster your faith. It will give you confidence.

I believe that's what is happening now with Islam.

Islam is going in two directions. There is a strong push to secularize and modernize Islam by some, as Muslims realize one of the reasons they are economically and culturally backward compared to the rest of the world is that their religion has limited them. So they want to change it. They want to alter the religion.

But another push is going in the opposite direction: Rampant recruiting, and upping the ante. Becoming more zealous and trying to follow the dictates of the religion more strictly. Unfortunately, it is a militant religion at its core, and so we see the recent rise of Islamic militancy.

Read more about the specific beliefs of Islam: The Terrifying Brilliance of the Islamic Memeplex.

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The Conspiracy Theories of 9/11

SOME PEOPLE think the U.S. government destroyed the World Trade Centers deliberately. You can find lots of information about this that "proves" it's true. For example, here is a short clip proving that the towers came down because of demolition charges. Supposedly the crashing sound is explosives rather than one floor after another crashing down on the one below it.

A young man was talking to me about it the other day and I said, "It seems very unlikely." He said he had just seen a movie about it that would convince any rational person.

"They explained how the Towers couldn't have come down," he said, "and how the buildings came down like a demolition, so it must have been done with explosives."

I said, "I saw a good program on PBS that interviewed some building engineers and architects, some of them involved in the construction of the Towers, and they explained very clearly what happened and why it happened."

"But it was impossible," he said very certainly.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"The film explained it. They said it was impossible."

"Do you think the filmmakers know more about building structures than architects and building engineers?"

"You don't have an open mind," he retorted. "Those architects were probably paid by the government to explain it away. Why do you think it's unlikely, anyway? Don't you know the government does stuff like this all the time?"

"Does it?"

"Yes! Of course it does! What about Kennedy's assassination?"

"You think JFK was assassinated by the government?" I asked, trying to avoid sounding sarcastic.

"Everybody knows that!" he said enthusiastically.

"So you know for a fact that Kennedy was assassinated by the government?"

"Well, not for a fact, but..."

Unfortunately this is not an unusual point of view, especially for young people. I've been thinking about it. It kind of scares me. There is a craziness and a gullibility and a lack of rationality that seems to be increasing, and it really scares me.

What's missing is the tools to think with. You can probably prove anything in a film, especially when the audience doesn't know much about the subject, or doesn't have the tools to think with.

He loaned me his DVD and I watched it. The "undeniable conclusions" were ridiculous. The proof was absurd. But it was presented in a way that made it seem plausible, if the viewer doesn't have good tools to think with.

The best book I've ever read that gives you the tools to think sanely about things like this is How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. What tools am I talking about? Probably the most important is knowing how the mind fools itself, and in what specific ways reality can be deceiving. It is important to realize what you are being presented with is missing something, and realizing what is missing makes you more skeptical about what seems like an undeniable conclusion.

A healthy skepticism is vital to an open mind. Gullibility is a way to be close-minded because of ignorance rather than by a deliberate decision.

If you come across people who are convinced there is "no terrorist threat," as Michael Moore says, don't waste your time arguing about that particular issue, but instead sell them on the idea that they should read the book, How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. Read the book yourself and understand the principles well, and your lucidity can be an oasis of sanity in a world of conspiracy theories.

All the time and effort put into conspiracy theories is diverting attention away from a very real and very serious issue: The increasing encroachment of jihadis into the free world. Let's help limit the diversion when we can by promoting good tools to think with.

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Peaceful Verses of the Qur'an Have Been Nullified

Non-Muslims are confused. We hear seemingly sincere Muslims quote peaceful, tolerant verses from the Qur'an. And we hear terrorists quoting violent, intolerant verses from the same book. We hear that Islam is a religion of peace. And we see that much of the violence in the world is perpetrated by Muslims.

What's the deal?

There are some peaceful, tolerant verses in the Qur'an. But the violent, intolerant ones have nullified them. The Qur'an itself explains what to do with conflicting verses. If two passages conflict, it says, the one written later is better than the one written earlier. This is called the principle of abrogation.

The bad news for non-Muslims is that almost all the peaceful passages were written earlier, and the violent ones were written later.

The entire Qur'an was written by one man over a period of 23 years, and his revelations changed over that time. They became less tolerant and more vengeful. So that explains part of the confusion: Peaceful and tolerant verses are accurately quoted, and so are the intolerant and jihad-oriented verses. But there's more to clarify here.

Jihad warriors are sanctioned by Islam to practice deceit against non-Muslims. So some of the peaceful verses you hear quoted are being quoted by violent killers who know full well the verses they are quoting have been nullified. But they're using deceit as a weapon of war against the non-Muslims.

Another group who quotes peaceful passages from the Qur'an are those who wish to reform and modernize Islam. They have decided the intolerant and violent verses are invalid.

And finally, both the Islamic reformers and the jihadists assert quite emphatically and completely sincerely that Islam is a religion of peace. The reformers mean what we think they mean. The jihadists mean: Once all governments are run by Shari'a law, the world will be at peace; therefore Islam is a religion of peace.

Please share this email with everybody you know who doesn't know the above. It is short and to the point and can help clear up our collective confusion. No good policy decisions can be made in a state of confusion.

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