Trying to convert dad on foreign policy

[VonDerBerg]

Hey everyone,

I've been trying to convert my dad who has been brainwashed by years of neocon babble about the necessity of wars in the middle east. Of course, he likes most of what Ron Paul say's except on foreign policy. By his reckoning, Muslims hate Americans because they view us as a Christian nation and "for centuries, Muslims have been telling people to convert or die." I've been emailing him evidence to the contrary (like Robert Pape and Michael Scheuer) but he's adement that if we stop fighting the wars, they'll come to the US and kill us here because they will view our withdrawal as weak. He also talks about how we're reliant on oil from the middle east and wouldn't be able to cultivate our own oil reserves for at least five years according to whoever he's listening to. He hasn't even looked at the emails I sent. He might not even care about my evidence since his opinion about "convert or die" is so strong. Any suggestions on how to combat this?

By the way, sorry if this is the wrong section for this. I'm not sure where it would go.

 

[hammy]

Use this video:


It's really fantastic for dealing with these questions. I haven't had anybody (who actually reads what I write and watches what I send... I know that feeling) refute it yet. It's really shocking.

You could even hit it home with these two classics:




I'm really curious what everyone has to say. In my opinion, this is THE hardest issue to debate. The American public is SO brainwashed on this topic. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think Ron Paul was crazy at one point. Now I see he's the only one who's sane.

 

[Xelaetaks]

I made a thread about this earlier. I think a lot of people are afraid of retaliation if we leave all the other countries. Not saying this justifies war but to many people it seems to be the case. Besides blowback or retaliation I think most people support ending the wars. Was mentioned in the other thread that the majority of Americans support ending the wars.

 

[Karsten]

Parents are the hardest to convert.

 

[VonDerBerg]

Thanks for the videos!

I've been sending him stuff similar to those videos but, like I said, he hasn't been looking at the articles and videos I send him. Eventually he will look at some of it so hopefully there's something strong enough to make him at least question his opinions about Muslims wanting to kill us all just because we're not a Muslim country or because of our freedom, etc.

It really is the hardest issue. People are set in their ways and don't like to be told that they might be wrong, especially after believing something for so long. Even when they know that the media has it's own agenda, they still can't fathom that maybe, just maybe, the MSM distorts the truth in order to get what they want. It makes absolutely no sense. All information the MSM gives to the people needs to be looked at with a skeptical eye. I think some people pick and choose which topics they want to feel skeptical about.

 

[VonDerBerg]

I made a thread about this earlier. I think a lot of people are afraid of retaliation if we leave all the other countries. Not saying this justifies war but to many people it seems to be the case. Besides blowback or retaliation I think most people support ending the wars. Was mentioned in the other thread that the majority of Americans support ending the wars.

That's similar to how my dad feels. He thinks that if we leave their countries, they're going to build themselves back up (since we've been killing all their leaders) and come after us. Then we'll have car bombs going off every other day and buildings blowing up everywhere and bloody chaos filling the streets etc. When I say to him that Ron Paul wants to actually secure our boarders he says "he can't do it. No one has done it." It just goes on and on.

 

[S.Shorland]

You come home one day to find a strange man sitting on a lawn chair in your yard.You ask him to leave and he refuses.You go to force him and he draws a gun.You call the police and find he is the police.Then he's sitting at your breakfast table,eating your food and ordering your wife about.Your sons look to you to learn what it is to be a man.You can't protect them or your wife.You feel shame.Every day this situation continues,your bitterness increases.Maybe try to personalise the 'what if' example in context of his relationship to you? Arabs are just people.People turn to religion in bad times (we bring their bad times).What they follow in their hearts is a different matter.

 

[MJU1983]

"I Like Ron Paul Except on Foreign Policy"*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

SA@TheDC - "I Like Ron Paul Except on Foreign Policy" - YouTube​

Ron Paul | Ron Paul vs. foreign policy partisanship | The Daily Caller

Ron Paul's "Support Them Now" Veterans Day Money Bomb - November 11, 2011 - SupportThemNow.com

Ron Paul Campaign Raises Most Donations from Military in Q2*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Ron Paul Campaign Tops Others in Q3 Active-Military Donations*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

"Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense.
As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first.
We need to keep him fighting for our country."
- Ronald Reagan -​

Related:

War, Ron Paul, and Conservatism - YouTube

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." -Matthew 5:9

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all." -George Washington

"My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth." -George Washington

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home." -James Madison

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." -Abraham Lincoln

"If men do not now succeed in abolishing war, civilization and mankind are doomed." -Ludwig von Mises

"Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means." -Ronald Reagan​

 

[MJU1983]

Thanks for the videos!

I've been sending him stuff similar to those videos but, like I said, he hasn't been looking at the articles and videos I send him. Eventually he will look at some of it so hopefully there's something strong enough to make him at least question his opinions about Muslims wanting to kill us all just because we're not a Muslim country or because of our freedom, etc.

It really is the hardest issue. People are set in their ways and don't like to be told that they might be wrong, especially after believing something for so long. Even when they know that the media has it's own agenda, they still can't fathom that maybe, just maybe, the MSM distorts the truth in order to get what they want. It makes absolutely no sense. All information the MSM gives to the people needs to be looked at with a skeptical eye. I think some people pick and choose which topics they want to feel skeptical about.

Sheeple man, fictional governments best creation...

Send him these:















Or, Tom Woods giving one of his best interviews:

 

[Birdlady]

Most parents don't respect their children. The fact your dad won't even read the emails tells me he doesn't want to be taught anything by his son. My mom is pretty much the same and I've given up on her. It's been about 8 years now. lol I throw out little seeds, but nothing has been sprouting. Last time I talked to her about politics she liked Bachmann, but that was weeks ago. I'm too afraid to ask her again because she will probably say Cain and I'll have an aneurysm.

Your dad pretty much needs a real history lesson about what has happened in the world and why. Most of the times the why is because of covert operations we had been doing in countries or other regions. There are articles about blowback on google. There is some good info in this article you might want to just quote bits and pieces of it though if your dad isn't willing to read much. http://www.thenation.com/article/blowback

 

[CaptainAmerica]

He is probably a baby boomer.First you gotta break his radio,make sure there are no spare radios in the home,then shut the cable off (cut off the FOX pipeline)...then you gotta place an embargo on his Rush Limbaugh magazines and commence truth bombing.

 

[Dzeko_ManCity]

I've attached below the 'Ultimate' video to help change his opinion regarding our foreign policy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZtPzOukjZA

It not only shows Paul's accurate prediction of 9/11 in 1998, but it proves our 'freedom' in America has nothing to do with us being attacked. President Clinton went to war without Congressional approval, and ordered bombs in Sudan and Afghanistan, which resulted in thousands of civilians (mostly children) being killed. Bin Laden warned of consequences, and 9/11 came.

Paul voted to kill Bin Laden, but he was against sending 100,000 troops in Iraq to find one man. He wanted a SWAT team to find him. Now we're wasting millions every hour just in Afghanistan nation-building, and promoting democracy.

 

[Eric21ND]

Neocons are fairly easy to convert once you give them all the information from a source that isn't Ron Paul. Simply send your dad this video and tell him that Scheuer would be Paul's choice for Secretary of State. Then follow up and ask him if he'd feel safer with Scheuer as Secretary of State or Hillary Clinton. The trick is to present someone they deem credible, like Scheuer, who has a vast amount of experience hunting terrorists. Allow them to make the connection that Paul reiterates a lot of what Scheuer speaks about, thus Paul gains the credibility they invested into Scheuer. The conclusion they'll eventually reach is that Ron Paul has a tremendous grasp of foreign policy, since "he sounds like the CIA guy".

Game, Set, Match.

 

[Rudeman]

Maybe go at it from a monetary/economic point of view. We can't afford our current spending and will need to cut, ask if he's willing to sacrafise his future SS/Medicare benefits or have his taxes raised to pay for the military adventurism.

You can also try to point out how everytime we get involved things tend to get worse for us. We help Bin Laden, then Bin Laden becomes our biggest enemy, we help Saddam again he became an enemy, we take out Gaddafi now it's likely someone more radical will take over etc.

Obvously you would probably know what would work best with your dad, for my dad it was the spending/taxes.

 

[Dzeko_ManCity]

Neocons are fairly easy to convert once you give them all the information from a source that isn't Ron Paul. Simply send your dad this video and tell him that Scheuer would be Paul's choice for Secretary of State. Then follow up and ask him if he'd feel safer with Scheuer as Secretary of State or Hillary Clinton. The trick is to present someone they deem credible, like Scheuer, who has a vast amount of experience hunting terrorists. Allow them to make the connection that Paul reiterates a lot of what Scheuer speaks about, thus Paul gains the credibility they invested into Scheuer. The conclusion they'll eventually reach is that Ron Paul has a tremendous grasp of foreign policy, since "he sounds like the CIA guy".

Game, Set, Match.

Two thumbs way up.

 

[enoch150]

Hey everyone,

I've been trying to convert my dad who has been brainwashed by years of neocon babble about the necessity of wars in the middle east. ...He also talks about how we're reliant on oil from the middle east and wouldn't be able to cultivate our own oil reserves for at least five years according to whoever he's listening to.

If he won't read emails, try calling and talking to him. The oil part is easy. Less than 20% of the crude oil we use in the US comes from the Middle East. This reminded me of an old West Wing episode where they had a presidential debate. Sawyer is the moderator, Santos the Democrat, and Vinick the Republican:

SAWYER
I have just a final question on energy, if I could? We're going to be dependent on foreign oil for the foreseeable future, so what would you do to ensure a dependable supply of foreign oil? Congressman?

SANTOS
Let me start by saying what I would not do because it is the most important part of my energy policy: I will never go to war for oil.

The audience applauds.

SAWYER
Please. Please.

SANTOS
And I'd like to invite Senator Vinick to join me in that pledge.

The audience applauds again.

SAWYER
Ladies and gentlemen, would you like to hear yourselves applaud or would you like to listen to the candidates speak? Please. Senator?

VINICK
It's ridiculous to suggest that we would ever have to go to war to secure our oil supply. Oil is a commodity on a world market. You don't have to shoot anyone to get it, you just have to pay for it. By the way, do you know who our biggest supplier of foreign oil is?

A couple of people shout their answer from the audience.

VINICK
No. Wrong, it's Canada. So let's stop the hysterical talk about the evil foreign oil.

SANTOS
You know, if it's ridiculous to even think about going to war for oil, why don't you join me in the pledge?


VINICK
Because it would be like going to war over sugar. Do you want to make a pledge like that, too? You know, the oil exporting countries have to sell it to someone to survive. They need us to buy it. They couldn't cut us off if they wanted to.

Strictly speaking, they could refuse to sell to us. They could sell it to China or someone else. But then whoever China is currently buying from would have extra to sell to us.

 

[WIRP]

It depends on the person, but maybe you can just poke fun at your dad's ignorance if you have that kind of relationship. I mean he basically thinks like a child, and if you assert the position of authority when it comes to being knowledgeable about foreign policy, then that may rub off.

Make fun of him for being so gullible. "Tell me dad, what did Rush Limbaugh tell you to think today". Just laugh him off, and say something like, "when you're ready to man up that you've been wrong, watch this video."

Keep spreading the information to other people in your dad's life. Don't just focus directly on him, but convince other people around him. People need multiple sources of influence to change their minds.

 

[lucent]

Have him watch the endorsement videos by Molotov Mitchell

Ron Paul: American warrior on 'death ground'
President Paul = truly limited government
Ron Paul and Islam

 

[69360]

So your Dad isn't the type to watch internet videos. Tell him that if that if he cares about there even being an America for you and his Grandkids to live in, he needs to vote for Ron. It's getting that bad. Go after it from an economic angle, we are in the largest economic crisis in our nations history. Then add in that Ron will bring all the troops home and station them here for a stronger national defense, something no other candidate is willing to do.

 

[wgadget]

I LOLed at this Drudge Report title:

Iraqi Cleric says US trying to "Occupy Mideast"

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20111103/D9QPESU80.html