fulltimestudent - No need to be defensive, Robert. My questions are not aimed at you personally, but at the ideas presented. And, (for the record) discuss the miserable record of the USA in aggression against much smaller nations, only because of the difference between the rhetoric and practise.
Hi fulltimestudent, I apologize for not responding to you sooner. I was busy and I was trying to figure out how to have a conversation and constructive exchange of ideas with you instead of unhealth communication. If you would like more information about what Steve Hassan might consider unhealthy communication, please watch his video How Big is the Phenomenon of Undue Influence? (2:01).
Since you started using declarative statements about how I feel or how you interpret my responses instead of asking me clarifying questions, I do not feel inclined to continue responding to your comments in this thread that do not directly pertain to the topic of this thread. I prefer to respectfully exchange ideas and make friends.
[My opinion and you are free to disagree with me without making personal value judgements.] I feel that unhealthy communications begin when the first person starts changing topics and/or makes declarative statements about the other person's feelings or actions without asking a clarifying question. The healthy conversations usually stop when unhealthy techniques (i.e., pointing fingers and changing topics) begin, because listening stops, and debating and positioning starts.
After scanning topics that you started, it appears that you have diverse interests with a geographical focus in Asia. Although you joined JWN 3 years ago and did not start threads until ~ 1 year ago, you have started 13 pages of threads since then. I joined JWN 3 years ago and have only started 3 pages of threads. I'm limited to starting 1 thread per day. How many are you limited to?
Thank you for shaing your JW experiences in My PERSONAL Complaint concerning Jehovah's Witnesses and for your pictures and insights of China
I did not take your statements personally nor do I feel that I acted defensively towards your questions. I simply agreed with you that the USA has behaved badly in the past. When you wanted to continue to press your agenda about how the USA has behaved badly towards its neighbors, I decided to ask you a clarifying question to understand what were your intentions.
My intention for this thread was not to bash any one country, but to explore how governments use BITE control techniques to "unduly influence" individuals and populations, how to identify those techniques, how to overcome those types of control techniques. how to uncover hidden agendas of governments/individuals (e.g., who benefits, who is afraid, or who hates), and possibly why governments/people revert to using those techniques.
If your intentions are to solely express your opinions about how badly the USA has behaved to its neighbors in the past, I will not respond to your comments. If you would like to further discuss, how and what can be learned from this situation in Ukraine and the actions of those governments who are involved, then I am willing to make comments.
fulltimestudent - If the west argues that the forcible seizure of government by the present political alliance in the Ukrainian National Parliament is OK because it likely has the support of people in the west of the state, then surely it must also be OK for the formation of independent provincial (breakaway) governments in the east who prefer to align themselves with Russia because that's their preference?
I feel that as long as individuals are not unduly influenced (e.g., coerced) then they should choose their own destiny in a socially acceptable manner as individuals. When a population is voting on significant referendums (such as when changing allegiances, increases in taxes, and approving new types of spending such as entitlements) at least a 2/3 to 3/4 majority of voters need to approve it (with at least an 80% participation of eligible voters) in an election process free from "undue influence" and election rigging. Of course, it gets complicated when the population that wants to leave a country is in the minority of the total population, but is in the majority of the population in the area that affected by the voting.
Do you feel any government/organization should use BITE control techniques to "unduly influence" others? Would you characterize Putin's administration's actions as benign or coercive?
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert