It was about a week ago that I saw this thread on Twitter, talking about how the Chinese broke American POWs during the Korean War. It’s too long to reproduce here in its entirety, but I’ll try to bring in some highlights. It’s based on the work of Robert Cialdini, and I had nothing to do with it, so all credit to the original author on Twitter. And absolutely go read the original thread, because as I said, I’m not going to reproduce the whole thing here.
How did the Chinese get compliance from the American POWS? These men were trained to provide only name, rank, serial number. Short of torture, how could the captors hope to get such men to give military information, turn in fellow prisoners, or publicly denounce their country?
The Chinese answer was to start small and build. Prisoners were asked to make statements so mildly anti-American or pro-Communist as to seem inconsequential “The United States is not perfect.” “In a Communist country, unemployment is not a problem.”
Once they complied with these minor requests, the men were pushed to submit to more substantive ones. A man who had agreed that the United States is not perfect might be asked provide examples. He might then be asked to make a list of “problems with America” and sign his name
The big things to understand here are 1) when you see yourself doing something, you change your self-image to include “I am a person who does that thing” 2) when you think others see you a certain way, the same. 3) you will act in ways that are consistent with your self-image
The thing that is absolutely terrifying about all this is we have seen this happening in real time with the Black Lives Matter hashtag and movement. If you’ve bothered to visit the website for the Black Lives Matter organization, you can see all the weird stuff they support. And their founders are on the record as being “trained Marxists“.
We’ve all seen on social media how this has blown up, and how just about every major brand has bent the knee. There’s no doubt that Every. Single. One. of you has a friend that has started posting about this incessantly. And we now see the true purpose. People who were otherwise sane are now biting down on Critical Race Theory when they wouldn’t have otherwise. And Critical Race Theory is nothing but Marxism where Whites are the Haves and everybody else is the Have Nots.
And now, all those people that are hashtagging Black Lives Matter are going to be more open to communism because of the psychology of this. And that’s why there’s so much pressure to bend the knee on this. We’ve all seen the posts. Why won’t you just say “Black Lives Matter,” since it doesn’t mean you support the organization. Why don’t you just say some variation of it instead. Do you think black people should be killed?
The unfortunate answer is that the expression “Black Lives Matter” has been thoroughly co-opted by the explicitly Marxist organization that is Black Lives Matter and we can have nothing to do with it. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego couldn’t bow down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, we can’t bow down to this.
And just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to face the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar, we too may have to face the wrath of the angry mob that has come out. And likewise, our hope is that God will intervene to save us.
It certainly gives a glimpse into the kind of courage it took for some of the heroes of the Bible to stand up in the face of the opposition they dealt with.
“And likewise, our hope is that God will intervene to save us.”
Actually, their response has been incredibly motivating to me over the years. It was faith filled, but didn’t put God to the test.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
– Daniel 3:16-20
Even if He doesn’t — that’s the kind of faith we need.
Their actual Hebrew names, all of which referred to some aspect of the God of Israel, are listed here in Daniel 1:6-7
6 Now among these of the children of Judah were: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
7 unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, Shadrach; and to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
Part of not “bending the knee” would be to study with their Hebrew names.
Well said.
Yup. Don’t accept the starting premise their lies will be based upon, even if the premise isn’t false, because they are masters of twisting logic, and when under stress it’s hard to think straight. I posted something related to this a couple of days ago. And then over at Ace Of Spade HQ I came across this: https://twitter.com/Phil_Johnson_/status/1276019343252262913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1276019343252262913&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Face.mu.nu%2F
Not so much a “racism” problem as “sin” problem. A great soundbite to shut down the fanatics. nature versus nature has been debated forever. They simply denied race difference, and preached multiculturalism, and then simply asserted that it’s racism that causes disparity in outcomes rather than differences or choices.
[…] Don’t bend the knee. You must show loyalty and solidarity to your own tribe. […]
[…] The unfortunate answer is that the expression “Black Lives Matter” has been thoroughly co-opted by the explicitly Marxist organization that is Black Lives Matter and we can have nothing to do with it. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego couldn’t bow down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, we can’t bow down to this. […]