Emotions Versus Facts in the Counterjihad

Sunday

The same man who shared the business card idea (see the post here) also wrote an article I'd like to share with you because he's doing what we're all trying to do (educate our fellow citizens about Islamic doctrine) and running into the same barriers we are. I like his insight about the process. Here it is:

Something struck me the other day when listening to a local radio show on finance; the topic was pricing one’s home for selling and weighing “emotion” versus “fact.” The radio host’s friend had a home for sale that had lingered on the market for some time. The expert knew the price was too high but didn't want to directly make that point to his friend. He asked him if had looked at Zillow or other websites comparing comparable homes in the neighborhood. The friend acknowledged the sites showed his home and other similar homes well below his asking price based upon all the “facts” that goes into these estimates.

The real estate expert, thinking he had demonstrated to his friend that facts were clearly aligned to justify a new lower price, was given this emotional reply: “I know it is worth more; those sites are simply wrong!”

Having had this discussion in my household, I remembered the “emotion” involved with selling one's home for less than what one “feels” it is worth. To move from the “I’d rather stay than sell at that price,” I had to recognize the emotion in the decision and move slowly into reality…the emotional investment disagreed with my concept of “reality”…other forces than “I feel” make up reality around us. However, in our society today, “feelings” are equal to “reality.” The real estate expert knew his friend was wrong because facts supported the reality of a lower price. He didn't lower the price and his home didn't sell.

When I talk to people about Islam, one gets to the emotional gatekeeper in each of us at various points. Some immediately bristle at the thought that something they honestly know very little about (which they don't admit to until you question them) but have an emotional stake in the concept: "all religions are equal" throw out the generic arguments, "there are Christians who do horrible things too," "all Muslims aren't terrorists,” “I know a Muslim and he isn't a terrorist,” or other ad hominem replies.

As Guy Rodgers, Executive Director ACT! for America likes to say, “the facts are on our side.” There are plenty of “Zillow” websites that highlight the facts that the orthodox Islamic ideology followed by many Muslims is proving to be the greatest threat to our national security. Move slowly with the “facts” because emotions are what we base many of our decisions on in life. These facts won’t automatically satisfy our friends, any more than the “facts” couldn't convince the homeowner to lower the price, even if it meant admitting his emotions were preventing him from accomplishing his goal (selling his home).

For me, I took an oath when I was in the military, “to protect and defend the Constitution.” For 20 years I wore the uniform and communism was easy to understand…it hadn't wrapped itself around a religion like Islamism. Once I began studying Islamic history (thanks Citizen Warrior and other sites/authors), emotions were replaced with facts and data that show the clear objectives of Islamic ideology; a single unified caliphate with no specific timetable but with many coordinated/uncoordinated actions, all leading to the same goal, a world under Islamic Shariah rule.

Even writing that last statement, an “emotional alarm” goes off inside my own head that says, “this can’t happen”…but I return to what I know from “Zillow” and the facts and reply calmly, “It is unlikely to happen in my lifetime (I’m 59) but it most certainly could happen in my children and grandchildren’s lifetime based upon the history of Islam.” So what do I do about it? Throw my hands up and merely complain? Or take action? Rant to my friends and allow my own "emotions" to turn off would-be converts?

I owe it to them and to the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives and bodies for the freedoms we all share. I can’t allow my emotions to keep me from doing what the facts clearly show is a threat to our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Most importantly, I can't allow my emotions to come out in conversations in a way that turns my listeners off. Get engaged, join ACT! for America, Oak Initiative, Tennessee Freedom Coalition or other like minded groups in your area or start one up if there isn't one to channel that emotion into useful action.

2 comments:

Citizen Warrior 12:30 PM  

One of the distinctions in the article that I thought was worthwhile was the PRESENTATION of facts in an unemotional way. Islam is such a powerful threat, and so real to those of us who have looked into it that when we talk to someone who doesn't see it, the tendency is to get very intense and excited or angry because of frustration or exasperation, and that hurts our cause.

We need numbers. Recruitment to our cause should be our top priority. And if it requires us to calm down, then that's what we ought to do.

Citizen Warrior 12:18 PM  

Babs Barron emailed this comment:

Thanks, Citizen.

We know that our view of the world is conditioned by the language we use to describe it. I share your concerns about the too-ready confusion between feelings-based information and hard fact. This is more and more commonly resorted to in our media, and our children are simply not taught enough to be able to distinguish between emotion and fact. All of these should be taught firstly at home and then throughout their time in education.

How often do people say "I feel that..." when they ought to be talking in terms of "I believe that..." or "I think that..."

And I am sorry to clang on, but we also seem to have underplayed and often lost the facility to NAME accurately what is going on - firstly to ourselves and then to others, without ambiguity.

I am not a religious person, but I am interested in the psychology of the narratives in the Old Testament. I believe it's significant psychologically that man was given the the task of naming the animals and other things in his world and that this gave him power over them. In like fashion, if we ordinary citizens NAME publicly and unambiguously what is going on when Islam is weaving its fascination trance over us, and continue to do so whatever the furious reaction from them, we can get our power back and kick start our hypnotised politicians into subverting that of Islam over us.

Article Spotlight

One of the most unusual articles on CitizenWarrior.com is Pleasantville and Islamic Supremacism.

It illustrates the Islamic Supremacist vision by showing the similarity between what happened in the movie, Pleasantville, and what devout fundamentalist Muslims are trying to create in Islamic states like Syria, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia (and ultimately everywhere in the world).

Click here to read the article.


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