Misunderstanding and Being Misunderstood are often the cause of fights. This is true among friends, romantic partners, families and even nations. One of the techniques often used during a misunderstanding is to rally the support of friends, family, neighbors and other nations. To do this, you have to tell a story. If you tell the story "well enough", you take ADVANTAGE OF the misunderstanding the one you're fighting against has about you, and use that to be able to say, "See!? See!? This proves our story is true!" One example in World Politics is the fight between several Western Nations and Extremist groups in the Middle East. These newer Extremist groups are *masters* of communication, which is why they are able to rally support rather quickly, while the West has been having a lot of trouble accomplishing the same goal. Fact is, the West HASN'T BEEN LISTENING to the story the Extremist groups have been telling; to get into the mind of a person who already in agreement but just looking for someone to give them the right words is not easy; This is not an isolated situation; it happens everywhere there are Groups. Within any Group above a certain amount of people, there always ends up being SIDES; and it's rare there are TWO sides within a group, but rather MANY. Some examples: a) Many extreme Christian groups in the USA will use the Bible to rally support in this fashion; b) a prominent scientist or group of scientists may use validated but selective Evidence (especially References) to help get funding for a project; and will often disparage other scientists or groups of scientists in the process; This sometimes has a ripple effect in Education; leading Textbooks to not only favor certain ideas but to reduce or eliminate many other ideas that don't cleanly fit. If masterfully done, a competing scientist or group can be set back DECADES in research, as they will struggle to get the funding to continue their work, now that the stacks are against them within that whole system. c) Politicians may quote famous politicians of the past to rally support for an election; but even moreso, using the other's words against them. This doesn't require any explanation as simply watching TV during an election year in the USA and you WILL see this kind of "setting the other party up for failure" in action quite clearly. d) The #1 place this is used worldwide is: Law. The WHOLE SETUP of Law - whatever that system of Law happens to be for; happens in this fashion; not Law in a pure sense; but as with all human endeavors, we are not computers; there's always SOMEBODY who someone else wants to CONVINCE - both FOR something and AGAINST something else simultaneously. And yes; I'm doing it too, right in this writing; it's part of the nature of 'convincing'; Now that I've potentially offended a good portion of readers; if you've made it this far, Here is the results of a study done by the Center for Strategic Communication at ASU. It was funded by the US military intelligence because, well, it's an area that the US military NEEDED more intelligence in - and got it. And now, I quote: "The most surprising is the near absence of the well-known *Verse of the Sword* (9:5) from the extremist texts. Widely regarded as the most militant or violent passage of the Qur*an, it is treated as a divine call for offensive warfare on a global scale. It is also regarded as a verse which supersedes over one hundred other verses of the Qur*an that counsel patience, tolerance, and forgiveness. We conclude that verses extremists cite from the Qur*an do not suggest an aggressive offensive foe seeking domination and conquest of unbelievers, as is commonly assumed. Instead they deal with themes of victimization, dishonor, and retribution. This shows close integration with the rhetorical vision of Islamist extremists. Based on this analysis we recommend that the West abandon claims that Islamist extremists seek world domination, focus on counteracting or addressing claims of victimage, emphasize alternative means of deliverance, and work to undermine the *champion* image sought by extremists." LikeLike * * Share * Lisa Davila, Gary Wayne and Trevor Tidwell like this. * Trevor Tidwell Know thine enemy as thyself. 20 hrs * Unlike * 1 * Kenneth Udut Trevor Tidwell I love proverbs and sayings; they can successfully compress a whole load of complications into just a few, well chosen words. Thank you! That sums it up perfectly. 19 hrs * Like * 2 * Kenneth Udut Trevor TidwellI also surprised myself; I almost never write about politics because I don't care for any of it; but at least I'm understanding better *why* I don't like it; it's the whole process of making someone else MAKE THEMSELVES look bad by tellin...See More 19 hrs * Edited * Like * 1 * Trevor Tidwell As a politically active person, I totally get that. That said, everything wrong in politics, also happens to be the stuff that's most thrilling, intriguing, exciting, and fun about politics. 10 hrs * Like * Kenneth Udut Trevor Tidwell I completely respect that - I don't follow sports * but I see a lot of parallels between sports and politics. I also see parallels in The kind of drama in reality TV - novellas and soap operas in the old days, and, in short, anywhere that you are rooting or booing with great attention to detail xD I tried reading the sports pages a few times in my life, and it read like a testosterone filled soap opera drama, set in the Fields of Battle. And I'm not criticizing any of it * I think the existence of all of these things is marvelous! And, as much as I say "I don't like politics " I know it's not entirely honest. There are causes that I could see myself fighting for - and, I have in the past and even subvertively at present. Fighting for a cause is completely political in nature - collecting negative things about that which I fight against, and collecting things supporting the sides I believe in. The one thing I HAVENT found - is a banner under which to join others. If the urge to fight becomes strong * and I have to create the banner myself? THEN I've just entered Politics itself - and could easily get shredded to bits if I wasn't prepared xD 7 hrs * Like * 1 * Trevor Tidwell Oh it's terrible. I wish we didn't have to fall under party banners in order to get anywhere. I would rather just have a discussion as a whole, than try to keep up with factional conflict management. 6 hrs * Unlike * 1 * Kenneth Udut Trevor TidwellYes - the discussion side of politics is interesting; but the "factional conflict management" (ooh what a great combination of words - I love it and may use it one day) is the part that makes it distasteful. Factional Conflict Management. Wow, 3 words and you've summed up successfully one of the things that I get 'political' about; no matter what the topic is; It's when someone says, "ideal, ideal, ideal, ideal - and this is why MY ideal is better than YOUR reality" So, I find it my duty to point out, "I'm sure your ideals are great; but your REALITIES are just as bad as your opponents" Them: "Oh, our realities have nothing to do with our ideals. Our ideals are AWESOME, but THEIR realities are ATROCIOUS (lists examples)" Me: "But THEIR ideals are also pretty good too" Them: "Oh their ideals? hah! Laughable. I mean... just look at their REALITIES? (cites more examples) 6 hrs * Like *