How do YOU wake up friends and family?

[Christian Liberty]

I haven't been able to decide if that will actually work but it seems the only option.

The older generations are so far gone it's damn near impossible to break through to them. They are so caught up in the false right-left paradigm they can't see how fucked everything is.

I've started to come to the conclusion (which was given to me by an elderly liberty fighter a long time ago that I initially refused to accept) is the best thing to do is just forget them and do what you can. Let them get slaughtered. It's hard to let that happen but people will only learn if they make the mistake themselves. Make your position known completely and then be done with it. When we are proven right at least we might get listened to next time...

What do you mean "Let them get slaughtered" exactly?

BTW: I don't think they will get slaughtered. They'll get their entitlements, courtesy of my generation, and then die, and leave my generation and probably yours as well (Don't know how old you are) with the mess.

It's very tough, especially with women in my experience. With my girlfriend I got her to start questioning her second religion (statism) by talking about school choice when we were looking for a pre-school for our daughter. You have to start with things that interest her and which affect her, and start by just planting seeds. Don't get into too many details, but make her start asking you questions.

I'm curious how statist she was if you think she was a statist?

 

[eduardo89]

I'm curious how statist she was if you think she was a statist?

I'm not an anarchist or extreme libertarian like you, I live in the real world. I'm a paleoconservative and a minarchist. I believe that government should exist, but it should be as small and local as possible. 90% of what the government does today should be handled by the private sector: education, healthcare, mass transit, air traffic control, etc. I do think that there is a proper role for government, such as national defense on a federal level and things such as law enforcement on a local level.

 

[Christian Liberty]

I'm not an anarchist or extreme libertarian like you, I live in the real world. I'm a paleoconservative and a minarchist. I believe that government should exist, but it should be as small and local as possible. 90% of what the government does today should be handled by the private sector: education, healthcare, mass transit, air traffic control, etc. I do think that there is a proper role for government, such as national defense on a federal level and things such as law enforcement on a local level.

I'm not anarchist either, just so black and white with minarchism that I resemble one

 

[paulbot24]

I start by not referring to it as "wake up", and avoid terms like ignorant, naïve, brainwashed, sheeple, etc.

I don't use these terms with my friends and family. I already annoy them with how much I talk about liberty. If I started insulting them by calling them brainwashed and using words like sheeple, it would be over. I say things like "wake up" and "the masses" on here because I know you guys can handle it. Don't worry, if I want to get into a "libtard" kindergarten conversation, I know to just head over to Huffington Post.

 

[Champ]

This topic of speaking with friends and family is a tough one. I've never spent so much mental and emotional energy on trying to do one thing, which really equates to the same end result of trying to convince a wall that the government is out of control. Not much. I wish I had an answer to this question in the proper way to breakthrough to people you care about, but it's hard to undo 20, 30, 40, or whatever amount of years and decades worth of indoctrination at every level of life in this country.

The only thing I know for sure, is people don't want to be told or explained the truth. They want to come upon it on their own volition and feel as if they have made their own personal breakthrough on a topic. I've seen some steady results over the past 6 years with my loved ones, but it's largely due to the media and the political climate slowly changing as a result of the libertarian movement and people like Ron Paul advocating fresh new (old in actuality) political policies. The NSA leaks have helped in this department.

As I've personally become aware of more of what's going on, I've felt more inclined than ever to express these things to close family in a more adamant way and some people have been more responsive since I've taken that approach, but there is still such a large gap between their beliefs and the reality of the country they are living in, that I fear I am too late in my attempts.

I think the single best thing that has made any kind of breakthrough was explaining the political system, how the game is rigged, how there is only one political party in this country and that both parties achieve pretty much the same goal, under the guise of having completely different platforms. Both are guilty of creating wars, government expansion, reducing civil rights, and supporting an atrocious currency system without hesitation. I showed them both the RNC and DNC youtube videos of the parties ignoring the people and passing the measures they wanted to as proof of this. I explain the time for politics has ended, and the people have to do something at this point to take back this country because it's not being run by the people anymore, but by the few select people actually in power doing the string pulling. They have responded to this thankfully, but we've got a long ways to go yet.

 

[KingNothing]

I would like to know myself. I can't even get my Wife on board, she just doesn't want to hear about it.

I think that all of my closest friends and family are ambivalent towards politics but respectful of my opinion and see that our issues mean so much to me that they just go along for the ride and vote the way I ask them to.

 

[Suzu]

Recently I discovered a not-too-lengthy video that really says it all, and it's easy for the non-politically-minded to follow, too. You will want to download it and make it into a DVD that can be copied. It's also available on this DVD that you can buy. Watch it:



I've found that if you want someone to watch a video, it's best to sit down with them and watch together. Tell them you want to hear their opinion about it after they see it. Believe me this one opens minds!

 

[DGambler]

This is something that has worked for me: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...cy-with-the-mainstream-R-s&highlight=neighbor

 

[enoch150]

Don't talk about what you think is most important. Just use whatever they're interested in and build on it. Maybe slip in something about NSA spying if they're talking about phones. Easier with tv shows. Pick your moments, don't bludgeon them with stuff. Time is on your side.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

In my experience, logic always wins. When discussing an issue with someone, I let them voice their opinion and then will proceed to ask them a series of questions that will cause them to back themselves into an illogical corner, thus showing the inconsistency of their view. Once they have throughout confused themselves I then present the alternative view demonstrating its logic and how it lines up with the founding principles of the country.

 

[jjdoyle]

In my experience, logic always wins. When discussing an issue with someone, I let them voice their opinion and then will proceed to ask them a series of questions that will cause them to back themselves into an illogical corner, thus showing the inconsistency of their view. Once they have throughout confused themselves I then present the alternative view demonstrating its logic and how it lines up with the founding principles of the country.

Logic, can't win over stupidity from my experiences, even though it is usually RIGHT. You can ask questions, based on history, facts, etc., and their stupidity just won't have it. You can use their OWN words, and ask them to explain their OWN words...and you get no response. Yet, they continue own in their stupidity.

 

[Mani]

This is a good question.


Everyone is a bit different. SOme people, like my parents. I don't bother. They were independents once upon a time (when I was young), now they are old and they are Fox news bots. They just repeat whatever is said on fox news. It's completely useless to speak with them. The older they get the more Foxnews robots they become.


With the rest of people, I try to find the issue the they can RELATE TO.

Are they big into privacy? *BOOM* NSA, snooping, etc. My cousin freaked out at the amusement park in tampa where they wanted you to look into the camera and do a facial recognition while submitting his ticket. He refused. (This was a couple years ago). Hit him on privacy and stuff.


Do they think police are bullies? Unjust? Assholes? (well...give him a few AF articles, and make sure they are CLOSE TO HOME, in his neighborhood or nearby).

Do they hate stupid Pot laws?

Do they hate war?

Do they think your milk or food is full of B.S chemicals? Mansanto haters? They like ORGANIC foods???

Do they think we are over medicating kids and turning them into zombies? Well well, there's plenty of Big Pharma evils to discuss (school shootings and more).

Do they hate taxes? Or Government waste? Well, there's unlimited things you could discuss.


I try to FIRST find the CONNECTION with people, so they AGREE with you. Now they are not DEFENSIVE, they are "OK, this guy, he has credibility, I trust his opinion. I agree with him."


Then I try to dig a little bit further so if they are open to seeing the light....Soft selling a little bit...Just give them a little. I won't go from, "Man taxes are too high right? Hey that 9/11 shit was an inside job and the government puts chemicals in the water that will make your dick fall off, and they will stuff you in a FEMA camp if you complain about it....I'm serious...check out this video..."

That's not going to work. And I've seen people do that. I was at a Ron Paul meet up many years back, and this guy was a Phd or Md of some kind and he talked a lot of sense....People were paying attention to him. Then he went on a HUGE RANT about CHEMTRAILS and got really intense about the Planes and the chemicals falling from the sky..and he wouldn't shutup about it, and then people walked away...like....WTF is that guy smoking...In his first meeting with tons of people he built up credibility and then lost it all and was tuned out.


I have a friend who read the hunger games and felt uncomfortable that maybe that could be a terrible reality one day. She's a liberal, anti-war, gay rights, into organic foods etc. So I read it as well and it was a good to build rapport. She was open to hearing more, and every day I have her sounding more and more libertarian. She seeing beyond the left/right paradigm. I know I cannot agree with her on every point, She hates guns and she cried for days on Sandy Hook. I don't need her to agree on every point, as long as I can wake her up to all the other stuff going on it's still a win. I don't need a libertarian clone, I just need someone who can see beyond the MSM BS that we are fed everyday.


Some people who follow their politics closely and listen to Hannity and Rush day and night...They may not be open. I think they enjoy the Red team Vs Blue team B.S. just too much. It's like a football game, so the truth doesn't matter as much as winning.

However, I have met people who listened to Rush everyday for years and years, and one day found themselves a bit lost by President Bush's actions, and Ron Paul walked in and something clicked. They began to see things in a totally different light, and of course I was adding my 2 cents all along the way.


The great thing about loving liberty is you can usually find SOMETHING that a Liberal or Conservative or Independent will agree with. Use that as your way to find a commonality, and then gauge if they are open to finding out more....Open to seeing the truth and waking up.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

Logic, can't win over stupidity from my experiences, even though it is usually RIGHT. You can ask questions, based on history, facts, etc., and their stupidity just won't have it. You can use their OWN words, and ask them to explain their OWN words...and you get no response. Yet, they continue own in their stupidity.

In that instance, you are dead in the water regardless of what you do. As I see it, the job of an activist is to influence and persuade voters towards a specific action (i.e. voting for my candidate of choice). I state my case, do what I can to secure the voting decision and if not, then move on to the next one.

 

[DamianTV]

How about this. What did it take to awaken YOU? Not your friends or family, but you? How did you wake up?

(General Question for everyone)

 

[Americans1st]

I am always trying to introduce people to liberty and help wake people up to what is going on in our politics and our world. I have tried many different approaches with family and friends, sometimes successful, other times, well, not so successful.... I am interested to know what are some approaches others have used with their friends and family. I don't want to get to that point to where they are basically like "Uh oh, don't mention _____________ around him." Yet at the same time I am not about to give up. Can people on here give me some suggestions?

Wake up and do what? All of the "awake" do nothing except internet. You need folks in real life meeting up daily doing things. The monsters that rule the world don't do so via the internet. They need no "waking up". They network and get whatever they demand.