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We’ve Been the Silent Majority for Too Long
“We have always spoken out against the Left and it never works.” That’s what I’ve been told by my fellow Ricochettis for years, and my response is, really?
My disclaimer is that I’ve only been following politics for about the last 15 years, and rabidly for only five years, and the perception I have is that we’ve spent a lot of time complaining about the Left and their co-conspirators (known as the media). But when have people of the Right spoken out in a way that they’ve been heard? I have the impression that we’re residing in one giant conservative echo chamber where our protestations, condemnations, and statements of misery have been bouncing off each other as we bang our heads against the wall in frustration.
For a long time, I think our silence came from our belief that politeness was important, that we didn’t want to behave badly the way they did. I get that. I’m a pretty polite person myself, and even if I disagree with people, they may not even know I dislike them. But who were all the people who spoke out vehemently about conservative values and the Republican Party in a way that didn’t sound like boilerplate and just plain ordinary? Who attacked the Left for their lies and their failures? How did I miss it?
But please don’t tell me that conservatives have always spoken up or spoken out about injustice and the new and exciting ideas we offer, and that no one listened. That’s one of the reasons that Trump was elected; he was going to drain the whole Washington swamp. People finally wanted to vanquish the feckless people in Congress and the decaying bureaucracy.
We have to speak out now, and we need to find creative ways to reach the rest of the Silent Majority. They are out there, waiting for us to tell them the truth.
It’s never too late. But please don’t tell me that you’ve been doing it for years and that no one listened or paid attention.
So what are your suggestions to reach our friends and colleagues? I’m listening.
Published in Politics
I went to Bible Study and spoke out against rabid feminism and race baiting when it creeped into the study.
One man took a prophecy against Jerusalem that referred and described her as the whore of babylon and went off on how biblical imagery shows they had no problem with violence against women…
I can’t keep my mouth shut. I find it physically painful. I typically think before I speak and try to be careful with my words, but if the Spirit says speak, I speak.
However, raising my kids has pushed me out of public life. I’m perpetually tired and trying to maintain sanity in simply caring for my kids. 3 is hard. How do people DO this?
When I reenter public life, I hope my time here puts me in good standing.
I was thinking the same thing today, remembering the Silent Majority. Nixon was so right about it,
The Left is lying. Outright lying. They’re now re-fighting the Civil War–which Republicans already won–and casting us as the losers! I’m thinking come On! People have got to be on to this! But where are those people?
I went online and found a group, Citizens for Trump, that’s looking for volunteers. And, I give small amounts of money–I can’t help it; I skip some of the political ads so I won’t end up giving too much! But “we” –If there still is a “we” on the Right…..are doing well with fund-raising.
i’d like to think that people who know me, as a friend or colleague or family member, would give some consideration to my views just because they know me to be literate, well-versed in history, and a person of good will. But, “the stone’s in the midst of all.”
I wish I had a suggestion for you, and I’ll read all the comments here to see if anybody else does.
Anyway thanks for the,post–it’s always nice to feel in sync with someone.
Thanks so much, Hypatia! Maybe we can motivate each other and identify new opportunities for promoting our ideas and a desire for truth!
Back in the dark ages, long before Ricochet, I used to frequent political chat rooms and mix it up with the libs. One of them once complained that I didn’t respect her opinions (which I didn’t). I told her, “Of course I don’t respect your opinions. If I did, they’d be my opinions. I respect your right to have them, though.” It’s too much work, now, though.
It’s pretty hard for most of us to have a conversation with the other side. That’s why I think we might want to focus on our own who haven’t taken sides and might be interested in truth and reason. I’m really uneasy about just sitting back, but I honestly don’t know where to begin. Thanks, Randy.
Bless you for making such important priorities, Stina. If any suggestions come up for you for us to carry the conversation out to our colleagues, I’d love to hear them.
Conservatism, by its very nature (and name), is solid and steady. It is the anchor which protects against chaos. Systems (biological ones too) need stability to function. They need a mechanism for change as well, but there needs to be a core that resists. Otherwise, we have chaos.
I often tell my friends that in today’s climate, being a conservative is a hard job, but most of us have to do it. Society requires it. Progressives have their job too. The vast majority of gene mutations are bad, but every now and then there’s one that makes us better. That we are at odds with each other is the nature of the game. I try to see my place in a larger ecosystem.
So I think an important thing for us to do-why I joined Ricochet-is to let the silent majority know that we still have a majority. We have to be healthy and strong. Some call it an echo chamber, and that is certainly true, but it is also a network where we articulate our concerns, and strengthen our arguments. And we buck each other up, because we have to stay strong. It’s our job.
Well said, gossamer. My plea, though is that we stay strong AND find new and better ways to tell the silent majority we are here AND somehow get them engaged, to enter the conversation. Ricochet is a great way to do that. Any other suggestions?
My husband reads and comments at the New York Times; he is known there as a Trump supporter, and he virtually always disagrees with the Times, but recently he had the rare experience of agreeing with them about something, and he stated that he agreed with them. He was immediately attacked; his attackers received many likes, he received none. They didn’t attack anything he said in that particular comment, they just made it clear that because he supported Trump, nothing he said mattered. More recently, he posted a series of questions about Afghanistan: he wasn’t taking a stance either way, just asking questions. Someone accused him of invading Afghanistan.
Commenting at the Times is good for a laugh, and as a learning experience, but there doesn’t seem to be much hope of reaching those there. I will say this, though: I never understood just how unhinged some of our liberal betters are until my husband started reading their comments to me. It has been a learning experience for us.
G-d bless your husband, Judithann. Now that’s interesting; he makes comments on on-line articles? I wonder if he did it often enough if over time some people might recognize him and grudgingly appreciate him? He could only do it if he has a strong ego and sense of humor. But it makes me wonder if conservatives posting with balance and objectivity might have an effect? I wonder where I might go to do that? (I don’t subscribe to the NYT and won’t.) Can anyone suggest websites that have a mix of commenters where Conservatives could post? Or are all of them too looney?
I think @judithanncampbell husband is a conservative warrior and is exactly what is needed. He will never reach the core NY Times audience. They will never applaud him. But there are conservatives out there that he does reach, he just doesn’t know it. But it helps to connect the silent majority. So as long as we are not looking at these posts as a way to win “likes”-which I admit is one of the things that makes one happy at Ricochet- I think it does send a signal to other members of the silent majority that you are not alone. So @susanquinn, perhaps that is one thing we can do.
I don’t know the answer to this question, but I wonder if maybe we spend too much time thinking and writing, and not enough time marching. When 15,000 people turned out in Boston to protest 1000 (?) people at a free speech rally, that was powerful and scary if you believe in free speech. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just show up and be counted.
I was raised in the pro-life movement, and we grew up marching in D.C. every year: going to that March was always a huge morale booster. On a more local level, our local pro-life group has a Mother’s Day dinner which is attended by roughly 700 people every year-in Western Mass. If I remember correctly, the local pro-choice group can’t get even half that number to turn up at their events.
When people are isolated, they are more likely to become discouraged and then silent. When it becomes clear to people that lots of other people feel just as strongly as they do, that will strengthen any movement.
A march, huh? Gosh, in these times that’s kind of scary. Lots easier to sit in front of a computer! I’ve got to think about that. Very important point you’re making. There’s some group north of here that has marches or rallies. I need to pay attention the next time I get a notice!
Hippies are winning by peer pressure more than anything else. The fewer conservatives who speak up for themselves, the more courage it takes to do so. As Judithann says, conservatives are increasingly isolated.
It’s too late in the game to avoid risks. If people don’t take those risks now, their children will face greater risks for expression later.
We don’t need new methods; just courage.
You may be right, Aaron. It’s just that I’ve never been an activist, so maybe you could suggest “old methods”?
The only frame of reference I have for activism is the local pro-life group I grew up in, which has existed for over 40 years. It basically involves 5 or 10 hardcore volunteers who organize everything, and hundreds of people who are willing to show up a couple of times of year, thousands of people who are willing to give money, and tens of thousands-at least-who are willing to sign a petition at the state fair every year. If you build it, they will come, even in Massachusetts :)
But, you probably don’t have to build it: someone else probably already has. If you look around, you can probably find a local group in your area to get involved with. In my opinion, the most important people in all of this are the hundreds who are willing to show up a couple of times a year. People are very busy with jobs and kids and elderly parents: most of us can’t be hardcore volunteers, but showing up a couple of times a year is so powerful.
There are uses for public displays, celebrations, legal foundations, journalist alliances, and whatnot.
But mainly conservatives just need to speak up in face-to-face conversations at home, at social gatherings, at work, at school, and everywhere else. That’s not a method. It’s simply life. Don’t let yourself be cowed into silence when confronted by nonsense.
I agree with this, but :) A big part of getting involved is to meet like minded people; the consequences of disagreeing with liberal friends and even family can be dire. In many or most cases, it isn’t so much a lack of courage that causes people to remain silent: they don’t want to lose or damage relationships.
I have a huge extended family; when I was growing up, they were all democrats, and there was some tension around the fact that my parents voted republican. If we hadn’t had friends in the pro-life movement, it would have been totally unbearable-maybe not for my parents, but for me.
People absolutely should speak out, but not unless and not until they are capable of dealing with the consequences, because the consequences can be really hellish. People who have relationships with other conservatives are far more likely to be able to deal with those consequences.
The Atlantic, for one, still has moderate readers.
Every now and then I get involved at Reddit. It is dominated by young persons who are immersed in the Leftism of Big Education. Sometimes I think I made some progress, and sometimes I think I wasted my time. But sometimes I think I have picked up some useful information that is not widely known but would change many attitudes about a Fake News item, and so I give it a try. I have learned that a surprising number of these young people are willing to go along with libertarianish positions. I am no libertarian, but sometimes that is a useful way to pull some of them away from Leftism.
Conservatives don’t have perch in the media, foundations, academia, popular culture or polite empty conversation, so all they have is sound principles a supportive history, traditions, and the best of western thought behind them and in most contemporary exchanges, the truth. If they are silent, they don’t exist, or exist only in books those other folks don’t read, so you are right.
Excellent suggestion, Judithann. I will begin the search forthwith! Thank you. And thank you for setting such a great example. I’m inspired.
Well, I can only speak for myself, but I offered these suggestions here in Ricochet nearly five (5) years ago (generated all of 14 comments, while a thread on Young Earth Creationism spawned more than 1,000 comments…), and I shared them elsewhere as well. So I think I can tell you that I’ve been doing it for years and that no one listened or paid attention. :-)
And, I can tell you I will continue to do it for years…and no one will listen or pay attention. (Of course there’s always the distinct possibility that they’re bad ideas…but I don’t see anyone else coming up with anything.)
These are good points, MJ. I think we can assume that it will be impossible to quantify how many people we reach or if we reach them. I think the idea is to create a mindset, and also as @aaronmiller says, be willing to be honest with others and do our best to be productive in our discussions. In all this effort, relationships are important, to preserve and honor.
I doubt that they are bad ideas, and I wouldn’t assume that no one listened. (Well, I didn’t because I wasn’t here 5 years ago!) It just is going to take time, and now in some ways we have fallen behind. I think we are working to create an atmosphere of respect, discussion and a demonstration of our values. You set a fine example for that!
I maintain my personal blog over at RushBabe49.com, where I post my opinions about the things that are going on. I have few followers, and the posts that get the most action are my photo challenges and travelogues. But I still keep Calling-all-RushBabes going, and will until I can’t any more. Non-WordPress bloggers can register on my site so they can comment and follow me. @percival and @trink already do, as does Foxfier. Right now, I have a big post on China in the works. Here are links to some of my recent posts.
https://rushbabe49.com/2017/08/13/we-knew-the-managements-of-facebook-and-google-were-liberal/
https://rushbabe49.com/2017/07/27/a-clear-case-of-media-malpractice-democrat-national-committee/
https://rushbabe49.com/2017/07/04/independence-day-celebrate-the-miracle-that-is-america/
And the reason conservatives don’t march is that we are too busy earning our living or raising our own children. The marchers are predominantly college “students”, government employees, and aging hippy retirees. Hey, all you hard workers out there are paying for the marchers!
A good bit of our problem derives from the very nature of conservatism and the attitudes of modernity. Our lives and understanding of the cosmos have been recently revolutionized by technical/scientific progress. In what I believe to be the greatest intellectual error of our times, progressives believe that these same scientific/technical principles can be applied to society. Remember “scientific socialism?” Nowadays, what happens is that grants are given out by the government for “studies” which “prove” the latest progressive social experiment and it receives the imprimatur of “science.” Never published, though, are the studies which find the opposite or which fail to support the current received wisdom.
Coincident with this error of belief is another: the strong bias in favor of acting as opposed to refraining from action, generally. This view has become the default for much of the population, including many conservatives. Again, it is derived from the stunning material progress which has been made and is then promiscuously applied to social policies. This is a good part of why, for example, medical costs are so high. Refrain from acting and you may well face a lawsuit for “negligence” – not doing enough. Never mind that most illnesses are slow in their progress, self-limited or already lethal by the time they are diagnosed. i.e. taking one’s time – watchful waiting – is a sensible and cost-effective strategy, but is seldom used for fear of litigation based upon unrealistic expectations; the expectation that every human problem has an immediate technical solution.
The power of these beliefs is demonstrated, for example, by the sudden abandonment of meanings of biological facts which have operated for most of recorded history. Already, acceptance, belief in, and positive approval of the “new and improved” views of human sexuality and gender are de rigeur – it is unacceptable to even hesitate and question this sudden reversal of what was taken for elemental by our ancestors. This pattern of change also highlights the left’s need for historical revisionism. While conservatives understand that society evolves (only Darwinian evolution allowed!) slowly and cautiously (if it is to survive in peace), liberals are apoplectic at the realization that their ancestors were not already imbued with all the sensibilities they so proudly wear in public on their sleeves.
Instead of civil discourse regarding social change, we face stigmatization and name-calling. Formerly, the media pointed out the fallacy of such ad hominem attacks. No more, as they have taken sides. Facing continuous derogation is difficult to stand up against, particularly when the other side offers rolling absolution for any behavior which was formerly deemed to be not very good for society at large. Standing in front of the steamroller of hedonic license is also challenging; most of society, it seems, wants to do whatever feels good at the moment. Saying, “wait, let’s think about that,” is not very popular and hedonic license is easily conflated with liberty to products of today’s
propagandaeducational system.Well now is the time to really speak out.
Check out this youtube video by a member of the Charlottesville police:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFNOfG7Zbzc
Police: Charlottesville Was ‘Inside Job’ To Ignite Race War
“A Charlottesville police officer has come forward to express his anger at being told to “stand down” by the city mayor during violent clashes between protesters. He also claims the protests, which pitched “white supremacists” against members of Antifa, were “set up” to further the agenda of the elites.”
“We [Charlotesville police] were ordered to bring the rival groups together. As soon as they were in contact with each other, we were told to stand down. It was outrageous. We weren’t allowed to arrest anyone without asking the mayor first. We weren’t even allowed to stop the driver as he sped away.“
“The event was being set up as far back as at least May and it went like clockwork.”
Michael Signer, the mayor of Charlottesville, ordered police to stand down during the most chaotic and destructive period of the protests – despite police protests against the orders.
“We wanted to do our job and keep the peace. But these mother******s in charge really want to destroy America.”
“Fox News reporter Doug McKelway was on the scene in Charlottesville and he backs up the police officer’s claims.”
Please tell me why Jeff Sessions isn’t all over this? This is a game changer. The Democrat Left’s hands have been caught in the criminal cookie jar big time , and all Jeff Sessions can do is mumble some pieties about “hatred”.
There is no excuse not to have a wide ranging criminal investigation into this “set up” riot and consequential murder by Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer who has a long history as a democratic activist and as an aide to John Podesta at the Center for American Progress.
Thank you, Susan, but all I do is show up a few times a year: like most people, I do not have the time or energy to be a hardcore volunteer, but I always feel renewed and rejuvenated after going to a pro-life event. :)