How To Counter Group Think?

[Daniel Balan]

Right now all my friends and family have been sold on the populist bandwagon. I'm in the center left politics wise. And when it comes to voting in an election, I can't convince anyone to vote for the most spirally developed candidate. As a Romanian, we had elections on 24 November 2024, that the Constitutional Court cancelled, In Romania there is a 2 round election system. If from all the candidates no one gets get in the first round 50%+1 of the votes then the elections progress in the second round where it is a grand finale between the first 2 placed candidates. And the court forfeited the elections because a populist candidate Calin Georgescu whom is a far right populist(Imagine Trump on steroids) won the elections. The court used the Russian Interference reason for cancelling the elections. And we have to redo the elections on May 2025. But the thing is that this candidate used short form tik toks to stir the most sympathy and in those tik toks he basically said everything Trump says. 

Leo once said in a blog post that we should become a candle. By that meaning that we should not sit passively and allow devilry, but we should what is in our power to shed light in the places that have become cloaked in the darkness.

The question is, How do I convince someone to vote for a centrist left candidate, here there was a lady like Kamala Harris, very hollow and sometimes she is unprepared on geopolitical minutiae, but she is very kind hearted and as a current mayor of a small city she transformed that city from the ground up in a positive way. But my friends tell me that she is a "bimbo" and "Stupid" and that she is a "marionette of Soros and Ursula von der Leyen" and that she will make everyone gay and transgender" They prefer this ultra degenerate Trump like figure because he promises BS populist greatness. Exactly like Trump but far more worse. You can't even imagine how "Great" Trump is compared to this guy. I couldn't convince even my parents to vote against this lunatic, they said that she is weak and pathetic and she is not with the Church. Therefore they loved this Trump like guy because all the priests were lobbying for him and that he said the word God every 10 words. Please I feel powerless and I have no counter arguments against people that are mesmerized by RW populists. I feel like I could spent 10 days straight trying to explain that this lady was a good choice and they'd still dismiss my points by saying that I've been paid by woke globalists to do lobbying for this lady.

If @Leo Gura sees this I would like him to do a blog posts on how to counter this group think madness. How do you take one away from the group think? How do I get someone out of this Right Wing ideology?  I feel so powerless..

Edited yesterday at 02:01 PM by Daniel Balan

[ryoko]

We can't force someone to grow, you can tell them where you stand, and at the same time, give them space to grow.

[Daniel Balan]

I don't want to force them to grow. I want them to understand that they have been brainwashed by right wing propaganda, those ideas in their head aren't theirs. Someone way smarter than them poured all that BS into their brain via TikTok. I want to be a candle of light to them, so that they see their path more clearly. They have an anti woke, anti globalist, Nationalist, right wing rhetoric, and I want to challenge them on that toxic ideology. But each time I try to show to them that they are wrong, I have no arguments, I can't find my words when dealing with them, I feel almost cornered because I am like the only one that has not jumped on that bandwagon. I feel like a rabbit in a jungle full of lions. But I feel like if @Leo Gura swapped places with me, he would be able to come to their senses. I feel like I had access to Leo's brain, I could make everyone in my proximity drop this right wing group think.

Edited yesterday at 03:13 PM by Daniel Balan

[ryoko]

14 minutes ago, Daniel Balan said:

But I feel like if @Leo Gura swapped places with me

Nah, they won't take Leo seriously, they might take a right winger seriously though. That goes to show convincing is pointless.

[Daniel Balan]

6 minutes ago, ryoko said:

Nah, they won't take Leo seriously, they might take a right winger seriously though. That goes to show convincing is pointless.

It's not Leo per se, it is his way of explaining and putting things into perspective. Which I severely lack. To me each time I try to convince someone to drop the RW BS I get severely bullied by them for not conforming to the group think. 

 

[Rafael Thundercat]

If someone show he or her is open to perspective is possible but we need to be realistic and see when some minds are beyond reach. Yes, some minds can become so closed that no argument can cut through their Bias. 

[Daniel Balan]

9 minutes ago, ryoko said:

Nah, they won't take Leo seriously, they might take a right winger seriously though. 

But why is that the case? Why someone as myself resonates with everything Leo said about politics, and someone like my father would dismiss him as a woke progresive, but agree with everything with something like Trump would say? Why some people are drown to the kinds of politics that Leo is advocating and why the vast majority is drawn to populist Maga lunatics ? I mean what is in the psyche of a maga lunatic that is so different in comparison to what is in Leo's psyche? This question always puzzles me.

[ryoko]

It's mostly self reinforced values. So, you asking them to accept something evolved, is basically like asking them to die.

[Daniel Balan]

1 minute ago, Rafael Thundercat said:

If someone show he or her is open to perspective is possible but we need to be realistic and see when some minds are beyond reach. Yes, some minds can become so closed that no argument can cut through their Bias. 

I am close minded too! I would never open my mind to Trumpism and RW populism. You couldn't convince me to vote for someone like Trump even if you would try to convince me 24/7. I don't buy this mindless BS.

Because I understand that:

• RW is by far the most corrupt and egotistical of the two political sides. 
• RW is solely concerned about maximizing survival damned be the costs.
• RW is only concerned by the welfare of the friends and family of those who rule, and the average citzen must suffer what they must for the ruler to enjoy what they can. 
• RW is rotten with low educated individuals that have 0 knowledge of history, geopolitics, how governance works, and how economy works. 

Keep in mind that I don't side with the Left totally, there are problems there also, but to me Woke SJW's are light years ahead of Maga Christian Fundamentalists when it comes to cognitive development.

[Daniel Balan]

2 minutes ago, ryoko said:

It's mostly self reinforced values. So, you asking them to accept something evolved, is basically like asking them to die.

Yes but why I was drawn to Leo and many others like him(Daniel Schmachtenberger and many others) in the first place? I grew up among pure stage red and blue Christian Fundamentalists, and I hate Christianity so much I despise that religion so much because I saw that it only gives business deals to those who lick the priests ass. It is the definition of corruption. Given the fact that I had a 10 out of 10 chance to be a maga lunatic, why did I end up to be drawn to people like Leo and many other beautiful minds? What in my psyche made me gravitate towards such ideals when given my environment I should have been the same as my peers in my local comunity? What are the difference in terms of psyche?

[ryoko]

17 minutes ago, Daniel Balan said:

I get severely bullied by them for not conforming to the group think

Just stand firm, they don't know any better. The whole existence of politics is a cancer, right/left is just drama, albeit a transition is happening in people's minds. An illusion of choice, here, that's what most voters are in it for.

 

3 minutes ago, Daniel Balan said:

given my environment I should have been the same as my peers

Environment is vastly different for every individual, brothers who grow up in the same house can turn out quite different.

[Daniel Balan]

1 minute ago, ryoko said:

Environment is vastly different for every individual, brothers who grow up in the same house can turn out quite different.

Maybe even though 2 brothers have the same genetic baggage, they don't stand on equal footing when it comes to cognitive development, I do believe that cognitive development can only be self created! It cannot be genetically inherited. But you have to be born with a certain spark in your mind to be initially drawn to knowledge. 

[Basman]

You need to identify what the base fear is of these right wing people then dissuade that fear with political facts. They are highly insecure and highly ignorant on certain topics which is why they get captured by populism. Right wing populism tends to do a terrible job to actually address what people want which should be the essence of your argument. This approach requires that you have done a lot of research into your countries politics since you need to demonstrate how right wing politics tend to be bad for the country.

There is a subset of people who's mind cannot be changed. Only people who are relatively moderate will be open to changing their minds.

[puporing]

It's very difficult, you can only move the needle a bit at a time. Lower your expectations of how quickly people's minds can change. It's not very productive if there's really no opening for you, you're better off "influencing" people who are closer to you (like a bit more to the right of you as opposed to being radically opposite of).

[puporing]

57 minutes ago, Daniel Balan said:

Yes but why I was drawn to Leo and many others like him(Daniel Schmachtenberger and many others) in the first place?

It's a function of your state when you came here. There's not much explaining besides that there is a "timing" to everything and where you are in your development. Certain people can shift that around a bit (like spiritual teachers), but again not drastically.

[Salvijus]

Trying to convert people to your side is just ego. That's not what the light of the world does. The light encourages others to be indipendant thinkers, encourages to become more honest, more introspective, to question things deep and then gives total freedom for them to come to their own conclusion without interference. Now it just seems like there is a fear in you that people with a different opinion are going to triumph. That fear is ego, not light. 

Edited yesterday at 05:46 PM by Salvijus

[Daniel Balan]

56 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

Trying to convert people to your side is just ego. That's not what the light of the world does. The light encourages others to be indipendant thinkers, encourages to become more honest, more introspective, to question things deep and then gives total freedom for them to come to their own conclusion without interference. Now it just seems like there is a fear in you that people with a different opinion are going to triumph. That fear is ego, not light. 

I totally agree with you. But when everyone thinks a corrupt devil is the Messiah and are queueing in line to vote for him, I feel like it is my duty to shed light onto their ignorance. I have no side! All that is bothering me is that powerful people have gathered behind a devil, and via alternative media have brainwashed everyone I know. They will win regardless of my involvement, I want to know how can I break this magic spell that seems to have hypnotized the people. Me personally I just want to know how to prevent my children, my wife, and my parents from being hypnotized. Group think is hypnosis and I came to the conclusion that I am powerless to fight it when it comes to my close ones.

[Salvijus]

1 hour ago, Daniel Balan said:

I totally agree with you. But when everyone thinks a corrupt devil is the Messiah and are queueing in line to vote for him, I feel like it is my duty to shed light onto their ignorance. I have no side! All that is bothering me is that powerful people have gathered behind a devil, and via alternative media have brainwashed everyone I know. They will win regardless of my involvement, I want to know how can I break this magic spell that seems to have hypnotized the people. Me personally I just want to know how to prevent my children, my wife, and my parents from being hypnotized. Group think is hypnosis and I came to the conclusion that I am powerless to fight it when it comes to my close ones.

If you inspired others to be more honest and self observant, you've done your part. After that leave the chips to fall where it may. Don't stress about it. 

[Daniel Balan]

I feel like I don't do enough! I feel that my lack of action is directly impacting the success of the devils that rule the masses with their alternative sources of media. People are always influenced by someone, there is no such thing as independent thinking. I think that we all are influenced, some by higher consciousness sources some by lower and dysfunctional ones.

Edited 21 hours ago by Daniel Balan

[Daniel Balan]

7 hours ago, Daniel Balan said:

Right now all my friends and family have been sold on the populist bandwagon. I'm in the center left politics wise. And when it comes to voting in an election, I can't convince anyone to vote for the most spirally developed candidate. As a Romanian, we had elections on 24 November 2024, that the Constitutional Court cancelled, In Romania there is a 2 round election system. If from all the candidates no one gets get in the first round 50%+1 of the votes then the elections progress in the second round where it is a grand finale between the first 2 placed candidates. And the court forfeited the elections because a populist candidate Calin Georgescu whom is a far right populist(Imagine Trump on steroids) won the elections. The court used the Russian Interference reason for cancelling the elections. And we have to redo the elections on May 2025. But the thing is that this candidate used short form tik toks to stir the most sympathy and in those tik toks he basically said everything Trump says. 

Leo once said in a blog post that we should become a candle. By that meaning that we should not sit passively and allow devilry, but we should what is in our power to shed light in the places that have become cloaked in the darkness.

The question is, How do I convince someone to vote for a centrist left candidate, here there was a lady like Kamala Harris, very hollow and sometimes she is unprepared on geopolitical minutiae, but she is very kind hearted and as a current mayor of a small city she transformed that city from the ground up in a positive way. But my friends tell me that she is a "bimbo" and "Stupid" and that she is a "marionette of Soros and Ursula von der Leyen" and that she will make everyone gay and transgender" They prefer this ultra degenerate Trump like figure because he promises BS populist greatness. Exactly like Trump but far more worse. You can't even imagine how "Great" Trump is compared to this guy. I couldn't convince even my parents to vote against this lunatic, they said that she is weak and pathetic and she is not with the Church. Therefore they loved this Trump like guy because all the priests were lobbying for him and that he said the word God every 10 words. Please I feel powerless and I have no counter arguments against people that are mesmerized by RW populists. I feel like I could spent 10 days straight trying to explain that this lady was a good choice and they'd still dismiss my points by saying that I've been paid by woke globalists to do lobbying for this lady.

If @Leo Gura sees this I would like him to do a blog posts on how to counter this group think madness. How do you take one away from the group think? How do I get someone out of this Right Wing ideology?  I feel so powerless..

Probably the best answer is to stop caring about politics, just to mind my own business. At the end of the day it is each and every ones responsibility to behave maturely! It ain't my job to try to educate people, even if those people are my parents.