Changing Public Opinion Using Facts & Logic

There are many of us who feel that a lot of changes need to take place in this country . We are worried about protecting our individual rights and the rights of others.

Unfortunately a large percentage of the population doesn't seem to be as concerned. These people are often dismissed as being ignorant, blind, or sheeplike. However if we wish to see changes occur in this country, it is imperative that we find common ground with these people, or at least attempt to think as they do. If we are going to open the eyes of people there are a few things we must consider first.


It is important that we try not to look down on these people and push them away, but to reach out to them. Their ignorance is more of a testament to the power and control that the media, corporations, and government wield over our country, rather than their stupidity.

It is equally important that we stick with the facts, and use our logic. I believe that the constant mention of conspiracy theories only hurt our cause. This isn't to say that they aren't true, or that they should be forgotten, or that you shouldn't discuss them among peers, but they shouldn't be used constantly in an attempt to open the eyes of people who remain skeptical. We already know enough facts about our government and these organizations that there isn't much need to bring conspiracy theories into the picture. Conspiracy theories are only theories.. and facts are facts. It is a fact that we invaded Iraq preemptively on the assumption that they had weapons of mass destruction, and yet none have been found to this day. It is a fact that the NSA has been wire tapping citizens of this country. It is a fact that the government has drawn out plans to commit terrorist attacks against it's own citizens in order to create a cause for war (Operation Northwood - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwood). It is a fact that the US CIA overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, in a military coup in 1953, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Nazi's Gestapo (Operation Ajax - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax). It is a fact that the CIA has been involved in numerous other plots to overthrow the democratically elected leaders of other countries including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Congo, Brazil, Indonesia, Greece, Cambodia, Bolivia, Chile, Australia, Angola, Nicarauga, El Salvador, Panama, and others. See where I'm going with this? There are plenty of well documented instances that we can mention without having to bring up conspiracy theories.

It is impossible to prove government involvement in certain affairs. I see people toss around the accusation that the government organized 9/11 constantly. This is not a fact. Again, this isn't to say it isn't true, but you aren't going to open the eyes of some people with speculation.

This post is an attempt to get people to use their logic and reason when communicating with those who are oblivious to the actions of our government. Learn your history, stick with the facts, and use your logic when communicating with people. If not you are only going to make yourself look like a fanatical fool and hurt the very cause that you are trying to support.

This post isn't directed at any particular individual. I'm sure we've all been guilty of doing this, including myself. However if we expect this country to change, then we need to start making changes within ourselves.

 

I agree with the fact that "conspiracy theories" make some of us look foolish, but we need them. Trust me. I don't think that many of us use them to change anyone else's mind. At least I don't. It isn't my place, I don't feel, to change someone else's mind. They need to come to the conclusions on their own. All I really have to go on here is my personal experience. I work with a woman who is 32 years old. She has stated on more than one occasion that she refuses to be informed, whether it be by the regular media or whomever. She refuses to watch the news, or read any type of news paper source. No one can force her to do so. But she says that she prefers to live in ignorance. She would really rather not know what is going on around her (and not just world affairs, what is happening in her own back yard). She states that she lives in "her own little world" and she likes it that way. Honestly, I feel really sad for her, but that is beside the point. I really think that there are a lot of people out there in this country who are seriously this apathetic and ego-centric that they simply can't be bothered one way or another. I guess this really has nothing to do either way with conspiracy theories or sticking to facts. I suppose my only point was that it doesn't matter to many whether we think these things or not. The problem with this country isn't that the conspiracies cannot be fathomed by everyone. The problem is no one gives a shit. It is a sad problem, and I don't have the solution. Sorry. But thanks for the post, you make much sense. Unlike myself who is just babbling.

 

I disagree and say IT IS A FACT that 9/11 was a self-inflicted wound. To me it is a fact. Held up against the reality of what really happened, all this nonsense about Arabs with boxcutters and impeccable piloting skills has just become laughable to me. I think it's pathetic that most people are under such mass mind control that they will believe everything the government and mainstream media tells them without question, no matter how ridiculous it is, while ridiculing those who actually use their heads to question the official version of events that were spoonfed to them by a controlled media that serves only to blind and mislead.

People have been brainwashed into believeing that the media is telling them the truth and the government is telling the truth. An old tactic of the Nazis is the idea that a lie told over and over eventually becomes fact. Some people cannot, no matter how much information they are provided, fathom their government doing such a thing. It's all because of what they have been conditioned to believe, when that conditioning is always very far from as it really is.

 

Thank you both for your comments. I originally posted this on my own forum, but thought that I would post it here also to see what type of response I got. Someone has already replied to me on there, and it is similar, (although different) to the responses you all have given. I don't have much time on my hands so I hope you do not mind if I paste that response here rather than reply directly (which I will do later).

Pressed Rat.. I'm not here to debate whether or not the government was involved in 9/11. I have my own opinion about 9/11, but it is not relevant in this thread. This isn't about your opinion or my opinion concerning that matter. You stated "To me it is fact", but that doesn't mean that it is fact to other people. An opinion concerning the facts does not make for absolute truth.

Again.. I'm not here to debate 9/11, and I don't want it to overshadow the meaning of this post. Here is the post that I referred to above. It isn't a direct response to the two of you, but it should serve to make my intentions more clear.

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I know exactly what you mean. I run into the same type of people you are describing all the time. No one said it would be an easy task though. We have two choices.. either try to reach out to people, or let things continue on their present course. I would prefer the former rather than the latter, even if it is an uphill battle.

I never said that 9/11 shouldn't be investigated. It should investigated with great detail. It should also be discussed in great detail.

What I'm saying is that people shouldn't claim that the government engineered 9/11 as if it is fact, especially to those who do not hold the opinion that the government isn't acting according to it's citizen's best interests. Only a small percentage of people know exactly what happened that day beyond a shadow of a doubt, and most of them are dead now. Therefore any conclusions that we make at this point about 9/11 are simply speculation.

I can't tell you how many people I've seen comment in the middle of a thread and make that claim. Many times it will be a completely off topic comment, not having a thing to do with the subject at hand. Other times it will be their only response to a topic concerning 9/11, and they fail to even back it up with any facts concerning the events that took place on that day.

This thread isn't about 9/11 though, so I don't want to keep going on and on about it. My point is that if you are going to reach these people you must FIRST and foremost deal with the facts. You aren't going to change the mind of someone who already doesn't feel that the government is a threat by repeatedly making these comments. Let's take one small step at a time. You are much more likely to make them question the government if you deal with undeniable facts concerning events which are well documented (such as the ones I have listed above). Perhaps if they can accept those as truth, THEN maybe they will begin to question the role of the government in events such as 9/11.

 

Zero, aside from getting into an arguement over semantics here, I think that we are not all on the same page... Hopefully people can follow me. What you are saying here is that something is "fact" because the government said so and it is on the news. Am I not correct in drawing that conclusion from your post? Because that is what it sounds like to me. It sounds like you are saying that the fact is blah blah happened this way, and if any of us who don't believe blah blah happened that way, it is our burden to prove that it isn't so, but only by using the facts that the original creator of the facts has brought forth? Holy moly I sound like a politician talking in all these circles! How would that even be possible. To clarify I'll use an example: 9/11 (its easy, just deal) So, the government and the media are saying it was whomever they claim did it now they keep changing their minds, when in reality (and for me this is fact too, because fact is fact) our government orchested the entire event. So you are saying that what the government says, is fact? Based on what? Based on popular belief? The only reason it is the popular belief is because that is what people were told by the media and the government, not because people have been able to draw their own conclusions. The government didn't come out and say "hey it could have been them or it could have been us, you decide". Or are you basing on the notion that the government wouldn't lie. Is it because they said so, so that makes it fact? I'm confused on why you believe that what the government and media says is true, is actually a fact. It hasn't even been proven, so how could it possibly be a fact? And then you say we have to use thier facts to disprove what they claim to be fact. This is all a little confusing to me. What are you saying makes something fact?

Remember good ol Christopher Columbus and the whole flat world fact? I'm just saying that just because something is a widespread belief doesn't mean it is true. And if someone were to ask me my opinion or what I think happened in case A B or C, I'd tell them my truth, the facts as I see them. It's kinda like faith. God isn't a fact, yet many people believe He/She is.

I do agree that there are some conspiracy theorists out there who do come up with some wild ideas, but how do you know they aren't true? Just because they are hard for you to believe? Why are they hard for you to believe? Is it because you have been conditioned to think a different way?

And these so called well documented facts that you refer to~ if they are so well documented, and they are indeed facts, why don't more people believe them? After all they are fact right? Could it still be because they only believe what they want to, because some are followers and choose to remain in the dark, no matter how much the facts jump out and bite them on the nose? I'm not saying everyone is ignorant or sheeplike, and I don't discount the brainwashing going on by the government and media, but people still have a choice and they can still do their own research and draw their own conclusions. They just don't bother. That is what I call ignorance.

 

It is important that we try not to look down on these people and push them away, but to reach out to them.

I agree. Reach out to them, and you'll see that they reach an arm out to you also.

But their arm seeks to pull you in, give you a bunch of Jesus, empty your wallet into the Halliburton bin, and pack you off to war. So yes, reach out to them. But when you see their hand reach to meet you half way, whip out a machete and lop off their whole arm.

Conservatives are mostly people who view everything in life on a matter of faith, not evidence. Faith in Jesus, Bush, warfare, gaybashing, and lower taxes- and not much else. I don't think one can reason with people like that.