De-Framing

Getting others to think the way you want them to think requires that your frame prevail over theirs.  The more successfully you frame a debate, the greater your chances of prevailing.

However, it’s often necessary to de-legitimize your opponent’s frame before you have any chance of asserting your own.  Your ultimate goal is the dialectic, a reasoned debate in which both you and your opponent pursue rational truth.  Rarely will you be able to achieve this during a single conversation.  Ultimately, you must earn both trust and respect to be able to talk to sombody instead of at them.

The requisite tool for this is rhetoric, the manipulation successful intellectual and emotional framing of the debate to your own advantage.  Rhetoric is like a firearm, a force for evil when used by an adherent to lies, the ultimate good in the hands of one seeking Truth.  Be the latter.  Ensure that you understand not only why you are correct, but how you conceivably could be wrong.  Also, attempt to understand how somebody else could come to contrary conclusions.  Like all great Lies, leftism is built on some very fundamental Truths.  These Truths have become warped and are therefore evil, but they are Truths nonetheless.  As you learn how the Truths have been distorted into Lies, you learn how somebody could be bewitched by them.  This enables you to help others draw the distinction in their own heads between the Truths we should all believe (school shootings are beyond awful) and the Lies that leftism has warped them into (Gun-Free School Zones!).

But before you can do that, you need to be able to say what you need to say in the way you need to say it.  Sometimes you have to resort to three second slogans, but often you don’t.  Leftism has infiltrated every layer of our culture; it’s what we assume.  Calling the lie to these assumptions often requires some explaining, and its the job of the competent leftist to ensure you never get that chance.

As you try to make your intial points, immediately become cognizant of how your opponent responds to them.  Does he sneer, make funny faces, or shake his head as you talk?  Does he even let you speak without interruption?  Does he use a condescending tone that belittles your points, even though the actual words he uses are complete nonsense?  None of these should be barriers to anyone observing the conversation who seeks Truth, but all of them are.  Neutralize them as soon as you have the opportunity to do so.

I will often spend far more time ensuring that I will be able to actually make my points by neutralizing my opponent’s non-verbal frame than I will actually making the points themselves.  I make the beginning of the battle entirely about the location of that battle, that location being one in which I can say what I need to say in such a way that it will be fairly considered by any observers.

And the best way to neutralize a non-verbal frame is simply to call attention to it.

“You’re great at addressing me like I’m an idiot, but you didn’t actually reply to a single point I made.”

“Wow.  You must be right.  After all, you’re making a face like somebody farted.”

“Laughter.  Yes!  Proof that Obama’s actually trying to reduce the deficit.”

“I admit you really sound like you know what you’re talking about, but you don’t.”

Laughing, sneering, and condescesion have nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not you make any sense, and nobody admits that such BS influences them.  Nevertheless, these non-verbal DHV’s (Demonstrations of Higher Value to the non-Game initiated) do subconsciously lead listeners to think that the person using them possesses some sort of superior wisdom.  It frames them as the alpha, and if you don’t respond to them, you’re usually at a disadvantage.

However, even if your listeners see through your opponent’s BS, calling him on it throws him off.  Unless he’s making an obvious idiot of himself like Al Gore in that one debate with Bush and therefore hanging himself, calling attention to somebody’s condescending tone forces them to stop using it.  It takes them out of their comfort zone.  This gives you power.

If you’re not sure what sort of effect he’s having, I recommend calling him on it.  Many think that Ryan did the right thing by not calling Biden on his eterno-clownface during their debate, and it’s true that many people were put off (he did look like a dipshit).  However, had Ryan called him on it, all those who disliked Biden’s expression would have respected Ryan for doing something about it, and many who were subconsciously tricked by Biden into thinking Ryan was talking nonsense would have  instead consciously realized that Biden was grinning at some seriously inappropriate times.  Instead of the debate being a draw, Ryan could have elevated his alpha-status and won the debate.  He missed a great opportunity.

Among the more difficult non-verbal frames to handle is volume.  Bill O-Reilly, Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity, and Rosie O’Donnell (see how non-partisan I can be) are among the masters at drowning out their opponents.  It matters not how logical you are if nobody can hear you, and if you strive to make sure you’re heard by being even louder, you’ve played directly into their hands by arguing exactly the way they like to argue.  Sure, it can be entertaining to watch two monkeys screaming at each other, but unless you’re the host or a master loudmouth yourself, advantage:  the other guy.  You might inspire your allies, but you’re unlikely to win any new ones.

However, males often find themselves feeling less manly when facing a loudmouth and therefore try to win on the loudmouth’s terms.  It feels like shirking away from a fight.  You’re not being out-alphaed if you win the fight on your own terms.

When facing a loudmouth, I concede no ground.  I fight every interruption.  I start out resonably:

“Can I finish my point, please?”

If they continue, I push a little more:

“Is this a conversation or a lecture?  Should I just get a seat and allow your belicose wisdom to pound itself into my soul?”

If I still get interrupted:

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.  You’re just loud.  That’s it.  Loud.”

“You’re absolutely terrified to let somebody else make their point, aren’t you?”

“Are you physiologically incapable of adult conversation, or are you just as ass?’

In short, no matter how long it takes, throw them off the loudness game.  You will either disarm them, or if you calibrate properly, you’ll bring most observers over to your side.

Drawing a connection between their loudness and fear of other views is great for males, the word “screech” works wonders for females (also the perfect word for arguments with wives and girlfriends–nothing brings about a quicker change in tone).

You may find yourself talking about how rude they are for several minutes before you actually spend any time directly advancing your cause.  That’s fine, because when you get the chance to actually make your points, you’ll be able to make them effectively.  People will have the chance to listen.

(Regarding loud and hostile crowds, I have the perfect way to disarm them entirely.  However, I’m not announcing it on my blog when I’m still anonymous.  If you know you’ll be addressing a crowd of blacks or university students, let me know, and if the price is right I guarantee they’ll leave the auditorium in tears.)

There are other non-verbal frames that I didn’t touch on, but these are some of the more important ones.  If you have an obnoxious uncle or something you’re having a hard time arguing with, drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.