Smelling Salt Conservatives, Kindly Retire to Your Fainting Couches

Nothing invokes histrionics from the left [*1] quite like an offensive cast of meme magic. Some favored monikers: Fake News, Cuckservative, Social Justice Warrior, Snowflake, Trigger Warning, etc. The rhetoric is constantly evolving and best when using the left's own labels against them [*2]. Almost entirely pathos, very little logos. Like Shakespeare's famous juxtaposition of funeral speeches in Caesar [*3], a lot of Antony, very little Brutus.

Yet the past has taught the Right that relying exclusively on Brutus and the dialectic path has conserved practically nothing [*4]. However, the past year has taught the Right that a little pathos goes a long way. Actually, the greatest victory since 1922 way [*6]. And, eight months later, still on the same path way [*6]. And to those who fear a Trump waver from core precepts, a brief look at executive orders alone dispels the myth. Ground is rapidly gained not just in getting people in but getting ideas implemented [*7].

And who slid the Overton window further to the right? The entire staff of National Review? Or Pepe the frog? Come to think of it, wasn't National Review more of an obstacle than an ally [*8]?

The rhetorical path to victory remains uncomfortable to many of our so-called compatriots [*9] who ironically use rhetoric to attack the rhetoric of their allies replying to rhetoric by their enemies [*10]. Perhaps the historical claim by the left of dominance of dialectic (prior to the switch to Cultural Marxism) has damaged their egos [*11]? So, shall we pass the smellings salts for our compatriots? No. We're not turning the heat down; so get them out of the kitchen. Retire them to their fainting couches of irrelevance. As Kurt Schlichter, recently emphasized,  soldiers who stormed Normandy didn't become what they were fighting by engaging in a surprise attack [*12]. So what's the harm in matching rhetoric?

Why do the Right, particularly the traditional conservative and neoconservative feathers of the wing, focus almost exclusively on dialectic when debating their enemies? A focus in vein on empiricism and logic to defend against endless rhetoric by leftist activists in journalist clothing. A careful avoidance of any emotionally inflammatory language and/or logical fallacy to the point of attacking any compatriots who venture on that path [*13]. Better to lose with dignity and retire to their fainting couches. We'll call them the Smelling Salt Conservatives (SSCs).

Activist Journalist: Why do you want to take away medical care from people? SSC: Reply with charts on costs of regulations, statistics on the historic impact of policies, etc. Activist Journalist: Well those numbers come from (insert organization funded by claimed conservative). Numbers from (insert leftist organization portrayed as moderate, i.e. Southern Poverty Law Center) say differently. SSC: A long boring explanation of the poison-the-well logical fallacy.

What does the activist journo publish? No dialectic response by the SSC, just anecodotal bits of the target victim-class suffering juxtaposed with journos' claims that the SSC had no real answer. Examples in the media are replete [*14]. What was the point for the SSC?

Dialectic only works when two parties agree to play by the same rules. An exploration of the truth with concessions to empirical evidence, a null hypothesis, and, more importantly, willingness to accept the null in null hypothesis. Agreed immovable goalposts. When asked, "Why do you beat your wife?", even answering the question is a losing proposition. The question isn't dialectic. It's rhetoric designed to throw the opponent off balance. Replying in dialectic is as meaningless as responding in English to someone defaming you in French in front of a French speaking audience that doesn't understand English.

Stop taking the time to draw a long bow when the enemy is two feet in front you with a dagger.

You can tell what the left is most terrified of by guaging their response [*15]. They want you to draw the long bow; they're terrified of the dagger. Charts and data bore them and, more importantly, their audience, to death. The pathos of their virtue is too satisfying to deny themselves. People have kids to pick up. Meals to cook. Appointments to attend. Deadlines to reach. Few have or will make time to research data from multiple sources and listen to a dialectic on the best policy. A 10-second review of a meme or a 30-second review of a clip that invokes laughter or contempt has far more impact than an article (admittedly like this one even) would have in persuading the masses. To the leftist activist posing as a journo, you'll always be the person standing in the way of society putting bread in the mouth of the starving, giving medicine to the dying patient, providing housing for the shivering homeless, or providing jobs for the ethnic minorities that statistically skew to leftward voting (and not the others)[*16].

None of this is to say logos doesn't have its place. When anyone engages in or proves willing to speak to you in dialectic, speak back in the lanuage spoken to. Relying almost exclusively on logos/dialectic, however, is meaningless if your goal is victory.

And we'll be careful not to take pathos too far. Yet enemies have doubled down on their rhetoric in reply to our use of our own against their's. If you catch prominent members of the Right showing bloodied effigies of duly elected leftist heads in solidaratory with ISIS propaganda videos [*17] or see us fund a public play depicting the rape of Elizabeth Warren or Tulsi Gabbert akin to Caesar the murder-porn sponsored by the New York Times [*18], you'd be right to shame us and pass the smelling salts.

Until then, ask the SSCs to kindly take a nap on their fainting couches and shut the hell up while the rest of us effect some real change.

[*1] http://ussanews.com/News1/2017/07/02/liberals-media-go-crazy-after-trump-tweets-cnn-body-slam-video/
[*2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/wapost-stop-using-fake-news-failure/
[*3] https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Julius-Caesar-Brutus-and-Mark-Antony-Speech-FKMSN2KTJ
[*4] https://www.amazon.com/Cuckservative-How-Conservatives-Betrayed-America-ebook/dp/B018ZHHA52
[*5] https://newrepublic.com/article/138897/democrats-biggest-disaster
[*6] http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/politics/democrats-georgia-elections-analysis/index.html
[*7] http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-executive-orders-memorandum-proclamations-presidential-action-guide-2017-1
[*8] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430137/donald-trump-conservative-movement-shouldnt-support-him
[*9] https://townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/2017/03/08/twitter-is-proving-to-be-trumps-achilles-heel-n2295260
[*10] http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/06/to-disrupt-like-the-left-or-not-to-disrupt-that-is-the-question-reader-poll/ i.e., Ben Shapiro, "It takes real bravery to fight against others' exercise  free speech [disrupting the left's murder-porn rendition of Shakespeare's Caesar] , right, you snowflake trolls?"
[*11] http://bunkermag.org/what-is-dialectic-and-why-care/
[*12] https://m.townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/06/22/spare-me-the-principles-lecture-n2343749
[*13] http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/06/to-disrupt-like-the-left-or-not-to-disrupt-that-is-the-question-reader-poll/
[*14] i.e. http://pagesix.com/2017/06/15/megyn-kelly-interview-completely-overhauled-after-backlash/
https://www.infowars.com/cnn-caught-editing-out-eyewitness-testimony-of-illegal-vote-fraud/
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/katie-couric-sued-over-deceptive-editing-in-gun-control-documentary/article/2601698
[*15] https://www.hillaryclinton.com/feed/donald-trump-pepe-the-frog-and-white-supremacists-an-explainer/
[*16] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/
[*17] http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/05/30/kathy-griffin-trump-beheading-mainstreams-islamic-state-propaganda/
[*18] http://truthfeed.com/breaking-nyt-delta-bank-of-america-amex-sponsor-assassination-of-trump/80559/