In addition to writing for my own blog, I also enjoy posting on a few conservative sites here and there around the net. It is always nice to hang out with like minded people and discuss the news of the day and how our ideas apply to current events. But of course you cannot help but notice that on conservative sites you also get at least a few lefty trolls. These trolls always have the same basic approach. Their posts are usually designed to inflame and to incite, rather than to inform. I have seen this quite a lot, and if you post regularly I’m sure you have seen it too. It is impossible to have a rational discussion with such people because reasoned debate isn’t their goal. They have an agenda to push, and that requires covering up the truth, rather than bringing it to light. It is intended to get an emotional response from you. It is a distraction; a shiny object.
So in thinking about the recent election I suggest that if you are a conservative activist who is outspoken on such sites you need to change tactics a bit, if you have not already done so, because trying to debate with the left is a massive waste of time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere. Conservatives need to stop wasting their effort on these trolls. Seriously. We have more important tasks that face us in the next 2 to 4 years. (and beyond) We know what the trolls want; to yank your chains and waste your limited resources. We also know that they are not open to truth. Ask yourself if you think they deserve any more of your effort? No? I didn’t think so.
Our real target needs to be those people who are in the middle. Many of them don’t know much about conservative ideas, and many are under the sway of The Elite Media Monoculture. I have read, and I am sure that many of you also have seen, that a majority of those polled on election night think that the poor economy is still the fault of G. W. Bush. The media has defined the narrative for many of these people who don’t know any other story. And since they have heard only part of the story, they voted according to what they did know.
Now it is true that Bush is not entirely blameless with regard to the economy and during his time in office he did make mistakes. But after four years of a new administration it is just not rational to claim that our situation today is only the result of policies of four years ago. Since then we have seen dramatic changes in economic policy. And those have also had their effects. Where we are today is the result of even bigger government, more regulation and the prospect of ever more taxes on the productive. These things add up and the slow economy and high unemployment are the result. But many people still have not made the connection, and that’s why we got the results we did in the recent election.
Those people have been tricked by the left into voting for policies that work against them. They believe that the current administration is correct when it says that they are fixing the problems and it is just a matter of time. But it will be harder and harder to hold up that lie over time. Those people need to hear the conservative message clearly articulated, so they can understand what is really happening. They can be reached, but it will take all of us to make a consistent effort to get that message out over the propaganda of the media. And make no mistake; the left media propaganda that we get from the typical lefty troll is designed to keep those people ignorant and to piss you off if you are a conservative. It is a lie and you need to stop giving this stuff your attention because you are just feeding it otherwise.
I am therefore going to make a point going forward of posting at least some of the time on news sites where those middle of the road voters can be found. No, I’m not leaving here and I will continue to post in those places where I already hang out, but we conservatives already know this stuff. Those others need to hear what we have to say. We need to change the minds of those who are open to seeing the truth. And that means venturing out beyond the safe confines of conservative sites into those areas where we can get a wider hearing. The leftists would like us to just shut up and go away. Well, I’m not going to cooperate with that and neither should you.
