What are you doing?
Not: what SHOULD be done.
But: What actions are you taking?
About Islam, the PC, EU, UN.
Activism: nothing happens
until there is ACTION.

What are you doing? That's how I've been responding, more and more often, when someone says what SHOULD BE DONE, what NEEDS TO BE DONE. The government should do this and that. People need to do this or that (about Islam, about the PC, about Sharia, about the UN or the EU, about the mainstream media).

- GREAT POSTER AT THE END -
TAKE IT, SHARE IT

Note: I'm all in favor of figuring out where we want to go, what we most likely need to do to get there, what the first steps or next steps are likely to be. This is essential. We don't get a new political party unless we plan it. We don't get active re the indoctrination happening in the schools unless we see that something needs to be done. We don't work to get people to recognize the threat posed by Islam and mass immigration and open borders unless we recognize what is happening and how important it is to get the word out.

I remember a slogan from long ago: If you don't know where you're heading, you'll end up somewhere else."

All the same, as I started by saying, recently I've been answering people who tell me what we need to do, by asking the question: What are you doing?

Why? My experience is that lots of people are stuck at, This is what should be done. That's like only talking about where you want to go, but never packing, never buying a train or plane ticket.

By the way, many people are doing all kinds of stuff. Yes, absolutely. They put loads of time, energy, money, into doing big things and small. Congratulations to you for all you do. Amazing how much we have accomplished, the most part in a decade or two - against a force most of us did not know existed.

However, the most common response I've had to the question - What are you doing? - isn't: "Here's what I've been doing " The most common response: SILENCE. These people have, or so it seems to me, felt good when they were saying what should be done, or morally outraged at those bad people who are not doing what needs to be done. But they had no response when asked what they were DOING. Somehow that did not not seem to be something they were considering: what THEY could do, should do, were doing.

People also state, and restate, that Islam isn't a religion but a cult, that Islam needs to be decertified as a religion, that we need to ban Islamic immigration, that Islamic ideology isn't compatible with Western values.
 
As for me, I don't care if someone thinks Islam is or isn't a religion, if they think it should or shouldn't be banned.

Or I do care.

But for me, that's a starting point, not an end. 

We start from caring, from some idea of what we want, and sometimes, from some idea of what should be done. Next: what, if anything, are we doing to help that come into being?


By the way, when something is presented, often for the first time, by a "thought leader" like Mark Durie or Bill Warner or Robert Spencer, that's DOING. Because they're making people aware, they're motivating people. I didn't know about the 3 choices offered by Islam (Mark Durie, The Third Choice). I had no idea that Islam was 85% political not religious (Bill Warner, Political Islam). I had no idea of most of the content of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (Robert Spencer).

Repetition is also necessary. I'm brilliant at forgetting. So are most people.

But at one point repetition isn't enough. I know Islamic ideology. So does the other person. We don't need to affirm what's in the Quran to each other. What are we doing - for example, to spread the knowledge? What have we found effective? What have we found ineffective?

CitizenWarrior, by the way, wrote a book on Getting Through, because much of what they were trying was not successful. So not only did they work at finding effective strategies for getting through to people, they've shared what they learned.


What we're doing can include talking with friends and family and neighbors, can include sending something to people who aren't very aware, can include speaking up mildly when someone says something we know is not true, etc. 

At different times we may take different actions. When we start being aware of the threat posed by Islam, we're likely to focus on learning. Later, we may be trying to figure out what else to do - which often isn't easy. At one point, doing may be joining a Facebook group. But if we never go beyond Facebook, at some point (unless we're in a very dangerous situation), that's likely to be way less than we could do.


Something I've heard more than once: Nothing happens until there is ACTION. We didn't get votes for women without ACTIVISM.

I don't mean we need to do anything heroic. Just that we need to do more than tell other people what they should be doing!!


At the bottom, there's a poster you're welcome to take, print, pass around.

In the meantime, I've started a Facebook group for people I call activists. In other words, we care to DO something. The group is LiveFreedom - a place where you can post about whatever you're doing, thinking about, trying to figure out.

Here's the link if you'd like to join:
https://www.facebook.com/groups


By the way, at the very end here, some great quotes on needing to be able to learn and change.

And now, all the best to all who care and dare,

Elsa


PS. Next time: an interview with Daniel Scot, born in Pakistan to a Christian family. He knew from very early that he wanted to reach Muslims, evangelize Muslims. He's been doing this for over 50 years.

PPS. By the way, coming to thoughts one hasn't had before: that's action. For example, I was just hit by a difference when people have a negative evaluation of Israel and when they have a negative evaluation of Islam. My actions: first, the realization; second, sharing the realization (which many other people may have had before me):

People negative about Israel tend to shout it out - bold, loud, public. They organize, like BDS. They get major speakers into the universities. On the other hand, when people have a negative evaluation about Islam, they often need to be much more careful, and many people are fearful about expressing their knowledge. When they do, they are often called names. They may lose friendships and jobs. They may be hit by lawfare. Very few people shout it out.

A quote attributed to Voltaire comes to mind: To learn who rules over you, simply learn whom you are not allowed to criticize.

Well, that absolutely definitely is not Israel (despite all the conspiracy theories)!!!


PPPS. More ways to connect:
Facebook - WorldTruthSummit:
https://www.facebook.com/WTS
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Elsa_is_Elsa
@Elsa_is_Elsa


PPPPS. You may have noticed, at the top, that now there's a DONATE button. One of the many things I'm trying to figure out: Is there some way that this work I'm doing can become something that earns money? Suggestions welcome.


PPPPPS. Some great quotes:

"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." - George Bernard Shaw

"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind." - William Blake

"Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind." - W. Somerset Maugham

"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

And also:
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough. We must do." - Johann Wolfgang Goethe

"Think about What. Think more about How." Goethe, again

AND FINALLY, THE POSTER:

What are you doing?
Not: what SHOULD be done.
But: What actions are you taking?
About Islam, the PC, the EU, the UN.
Activism: nothing happens
until there is ACTION.

For lots more, come explore
http://elsasblog.com
and
http://ElsasEmporium.com


posted Oct 23, 2017

What do you do?
Not: what should be done.
What actions are you taking?
About Islam, the PC, the EU, the UN?
Activism: nothing happens
until there is action.

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