fandomhigh | So You Say You Want a Revolution: Week 3, Period 3

Aly was finishing writing on the whiteboard as the students came in, but she turned with a smile once everyone was seated. "Morning to you. I hope you all came with your tongues well-exercised and ready to charm." She made a little face. "And pretend that didn't sound terribly dirty. What we're talking about today is persuasion. Nearly everyone needs to talk people into seeing things their way once in a while, but in a revolutionary situation, it becomes much, much more important. You don't only need to convince people to join the revolution, but you need to convince bakers to help feed your troops, talk guards into leaving a window unlocked, spin the issues for journalists to write about, and even persuade your own people to stay disciplined and wait for a plan instead of running in willy-nilly.

"It's a sad fact, but a good 70% of a rebellion is going to be planning, and you need to make sure you know how to use that time to talk your fellows into to your excellent ideas." Aly flashed a smile at that. "Because you'll all have them right?" She pointed to the whiteboard. "Two things are up there. First is a 8 point guide to persuasive arguments. The examples under the points are from a speech by French leader Charles de Gaulle. If you don't know about him, take some time this week to look him up. He was quite a character. But what he did in this speech is walk into a room full of French soldiers who were ready to fight to the death to keep Algeria a French territory. He walked into that room and gave a speech about the benefits of Algerian independence, and by the end of it, the entire room was on their feet cheering for something they'd have scorned an hour earlier. In this world, at least, it's considered one of the greatest examples of persuasive speaking ever, and a copy of it is on each of your desks to reference."

1. Always focus on the end result. Your purpose is to make someone think something or make someone do something. Everything you do should have the intention of reaching that goal. Aristotle noticed that using logic (logos) is perhaps the worst way to accomplish this. Arousing a strong emotional bond to your point of view or fear and doom to the opposing views (pathos) and tying your position to deeply-rooted, commonly-held beliefs (ethos) is the key to success.
* Note: Examples are from Charles de Gaulle's speech in Algeria, 1958
2. Relate to your audience (whether it be one or many). Start off your speech by finding common ground. People tend to like other people who are similar to them, and people tend to trust people they like.
* Example: "I have understood you. I know what has happened here. I see what you wanted to achieve."
3. Artfully weave traces of what you want to convince people of into the "sweet-talking" in step 2 above.
4. Use heavy, pathos-drenched words like "good," "evil," "freedom," "liberty," "right," "wrong," etc.
* Example: "I see the road you have opened in Algeria is one of renewal and fraternity."
5. Elaborate on what you said earlier. You must repeat what you said for the audience to remember it, but say it differently and don't use too many specifics.
* "I say renewal in every respect. And I say fraternity because you offer the magnificent spectacle of men who, from one end of the spectrum to the other, irrespective of their community, commune with the same ardor and stand hand in hand.
6. Put words in the mouth of your audience. Once they are hypnotized by your sweet words and passion, you can easily to plant your ideas into their brains, but do it subtly and do it right.
* "Never more here and never more than this evening, have I understood how fine, how great, how generous is France." Note: After saying this the crowd applauded vigorously even though before the speech not one person there had considered the idea of Algerian independence.
7. Solidify your words by confirming your audiences most deeply held beliefs. Use their emotions to make your point.
* "Vive la republique! Vive la France!"
8. Remain composed at all times.

Aly went through the points on the board, referencing the examples in the speech and making fun of the comments about arousing passions. "So that's the technical way to look at this. A more mundane example for you guys is to the right of the board. It's just three friends chatting, but read it and watch how Annie manipulates the boys into doing what she wants."

Annie: I haven't seen you guys in a long time. I'm glad we get to hang out like this.
Auggie: Yeah.
Ben: Definitely.
Annie: I've been working so hard this week, I haven't had time to have any fun at all. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen a movie in ages.
Auggie: Which movie are we going to see?
Annie: I don't really care. I heard Space Battles got really good reviews though. What did you guys want to see?
Ben: I don't care either. That sounds good.
Auggie: Yeah, that sounds good to me too.

Aly waited a moment to let the class read the example then said, "Okay, do you see how Annie established a bond with her friends, subtly made them feel pity for her and then expressed a universal truth - she hadn't seen a movie in ages. This is a good way to convince people of your position. The key is never to say flat out that you want to see Space Battles. Just imply it. Then her friends don't feel like there's an expectation that they cater to her wishes. People are stubborn. Tell them what to think, sure, but don't insult them by doing it obviously."

She glanced around to see if there were any questions or people who looked like they weren't following. "Got it? Any questions? Then let's try it out. We've got two exercises today. First I want you to sit in your groups and talk about when being able to persuade someone might come in handy when planning a revolution. Specific examples are great, but I'd like a nice list of how it would be useful. Then get together with one or two others in the class - you don't have to stick with your group at all here - and put these techniques to use. No point in knowing when you need to persuade if you can't actually do it, right? So practice makes perfect. You'll be trying to persuade the other person to come around to your way of thinking or to do something for you. You get bonus points if they actually go through with it. I know I don't need to say no magic if you have a sort that'll work for this, right?"

Waiting another moment or two for questions, Aly flashed a grin at the class. "Get to it then. I'm around if you need me."

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Have a chat about who you'd need to persuade to get your revolution viable and on the road. Who needs to be persuaded while you're fighting the establishment?

Percy was tapping his pen and thinking while he waited for his group. Hopefully they'd be better at this persuasion thing then he was.

"Insulting people's ancestors, their intelligence, and their sister usually works pretty well to get them to do what I want," Makita admitted cheerfully. "Although being known for cracking heads together works well too."

"I can imagine the second one is effective," Cally said dryly. "But I would think insulting people would make them less likely to do what you want."

"They want to prove you wrong, don't they?" Makita asked. "Injured pride can be a damn good motivator, and if that's not enough, sometimes they'll do it just to make me shut up."

"So it's a very specific sort of insulting," Cally said, forming a better picture. "Implying that they're not capable of doing whatever it is you want."

"Exactly," she confirmed. "Things like, 'why did I think you wanted to do something to help?' usually do well, or with guys, you can imply that someone else would do a better job anyway."

"And it is a very good way of losing their loyalty as well," Faramir pointed out.

"If they were loyal, they would have done what you told them to do the first time," she pointed out. "If I have to verbally beat them into submission this time, but they do it and see I was right, then next time they'll be more willing to do it my way without the yelling."

"And if they are not loyal to you, then you cannot afford them to get angry instantly," Faramir said. "You are leading a rebellion, an insult might send them to the other side and you would be stopped before you have even gathered support."

Faramir shook his head. "You can be stern with your men, you can scold them for a job badly done. However, you are their leader. You do not insult them. If you wish for them to respect you, then treat them with respect."

Re: Group Exercise [Rev 9-15]

onlymistaken - 2010-09-16 00:42 (UTC) - Expand

Luke still didn't want to go too in depth about what specifically he'd rebel against, but he was willing to help other people out with their ideas. It seemed safer that way.

"I don't think my idea of revolution is viable," Elphaba said with a sigh, sitting down with her group.

"What, the animal cruelty thing?" Luke asked. "Why not?"

"I'm not very convincing," Elphaba said, resignedly. "People don't typically trust me. Or find me trust-worthy."

"Join the club," Nico piped up from where he'd sat, trying not to radiate anything unfortunate. "I've found the best way to get people to trust you is by doing stuff to help them out first."

didntchewgrass.livejournal.com - 2010-09-16 01:50 (UTC) - Expand

"Seriously, I'm staging a revolution for better food. I think everyone should be with me no this." He so missed camp.

"What kind of better food are we talking about?" he asked. "Because I don't do that whole sushi and caviar thing."

"Nah, I want a McDonald's and maybe something to make the doughnut shop seem to actually be run by a god that cares about his biscuits. No wonder gods fade." Really.

"The doughnuts aren't that bad," Luke said. "Though, you're right, he is in no way a god. They know how to do indulgence way better than that."

Ino toyed with her hair as she waited for her group. Really, there were just so many ways to persuade someone and she was relatively fond of them all.

"I hardly know where to start unfortunately. I either have to convince a bunch of xenophobes to talk to humans, convince the nobles to give up some of their power, or all of it, or the people to claim rights thus far denied to them."

And she was gonna be queen.

"This is pretty much what I was up to this weekend," Karla said, tapping her sheet. "Convincing a bunch of stubborn males that I really was who I said I was and that they should help me. Damned convenient timing, for a class."

"Did you succeed?" Leda asked. She hadn't forgotten that she wasn't the only one with problems back home.

Karla smiled a bit. "Yeah," she said softly. "I kinda did."

anarchist-queen.livejournal.com - 2010-09-15 21:11 (UTC) - Expand

glacial_queen - 2010-09-16 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

"Public support," Rinoa said firmly. "If the local tavern owner is with you, but he can't join the movement? Maybe he'll be in a place to do you a favor. Let you hide in the basement when troops sweep the town, or offer a distraction. The more people on your side, the better."