Durable Faith

“As if..”

I am encouraged by the awakening that is occurring in general in the populace about the swift shift in..well everything. There are an increasing number of people jolted awake by alternative news outlets, and information shared by friends who have become truth and liberty activists.Many people are now aware of at least the moral and spiritual rot that is spreading through our culture, the serious decline in the solvency of our country and our currency, and are becoming aware of the increasingly disturbing and provocative actions of our government.

But there are still many hold-out eternal optimists that even when confronted with factual information, logical arguments, and history…merely roll their eyes and dismiss the information without seriously considering it. Their rolling of the eyes communicates a loud non-verbal “As-If”.

This is troubling to the person who is trying to wake a neighbor, to warn them, to enlist their help in halting the downward spiral of our country, economy, and culture. Oftentimes the exchange is between family members or close friends. If the info or advice were about religion, relationships, parenting, career, or any other number of subjects, the speaker would be held as credible. So why, when talking about matters that matter so much, is the most frequent response a rolling of the eyes?

Social engineering experts call this phenomenon ‘cognitive dissonance’; the human coping mechanism whereby we attempt to resolve conflicting information by any means possible, often by rejecting new information irrationally. Often, potentially paradigm-rocking information isn’t evaluated, accepted, or rejected. Such information is just dropped quietly into the abyss of slightly scorned irrelevant disinterest.

Why would people quickly and irrationally dismiss new important information from a person they trust?

“In 1969, Elliot Aronson reformulated the theory by linking it to the self-concept, clarifying that cognitive dissonance arises from conflicts between cognitions when those conflicts threaten a person’s normally positive self-image.”

Doubters may actually get emotional and suprisingly throw out labels such as conspiracy theorist, extremist, racist, un-american, etc. They may wonder why delusional dissidents have the audacity to imply that our currency might fail, that our future might not be anything like our past or present, that our government might be the biggest real threat to our liberty, health, and life…but ultimately, if Aronson is right, they might be reacting defensively because the new information if true, means they could somehow be guilty of complicity in the crimes of the state.

Jesus commented on those who prefer to stay in the dark in John 3:

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light^(AE) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.^{(AF) 20} Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.^{(AG) 21} But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Why will doubters (or optimists as they like to call themselves) often choose to trust the discredited media and the consistently misleading government instead of their longtime friends and family who have spent time researching the subject at hand and have no benefit to gain from the conversation?

Are conspiracy theory deniers and eternal optimists unaware of the patterns of history (not to mention the sinful nature of man)?

As if…bankers have ever devalued currencies to the horrific detriment of the working classes
As if…a tyrant ever emerged from elected office in a first world country with a strong constitution
As if…military apparatus ever fell into the wrong hands and was used against the taxpayers who fund it
As if…centralization of power and ownership ever caused hardship and crimes against humanity
As if…the war criminals of one empire ever landed in positions of authority and power in another empire
As if…a freedom loving people were ever dispossessed of their land after being disarmed
As if…the media could be captured & used as a tool of control to manufacture consent and stifle dissent
As if…authorities would abuse power and arrest and torment innocent people without due process
As if…a soldier following orders could be convicted as a war criminal for obeying unlawful orders
As if…the well-intentioned citizens of a country could unwittingly support evil
As if…the moral response to an immoral government could be non-compliance
As if…the heros of the bible were often those that defiantly chose to obey God rather than man

It turns out that Einstein was right, “the world is not a dangerous place because of those who do evil, it is dangerous because of those who look on and do nothing”. It is dangerous because of our very human inclination to roll our eyes, not just at our friends, neighbors, and relatives, but at history itself.

I know it’s troubling to deal with rolling eyes and labels from someone who you thought respected you. I understand completely. But we need to press on in telling the truth, educating our neighbors and loved ones. Much is at stake.

Cognitive dissonance addicts and sincere doubters need to step up, process the information, do their own research, and debunk the liberty activists if they can, or join us if they can’t.