Posted on by Abe Austin

Faulty Premises- Campaign Slogans

What a Man Can Do)

Today we are looking at an example of a campaign that was built on a faulty premise that led to extreme results beyond its original intentions: feminism. This movement has had a few campaign slogans, but arguably the most prominent were the ones that begin with “What a man can do…”

Interestingly, there have been three variations of this slogan, each going further than the last. In the late 19th century it was, “What a man can do, a woman can try.” Then, at the start of the 20th century, under the suffrage movement, it became, “What a man can do, a woman can do as well.” Then, still later, it became, “What a man can do, a woman can do even better.”

Obviously, the last two versions of the slogan are explicitly untrue. In reality, we understand that biological differences make certain things possible for men and impossible for women and vice versa. Of course, the falseness of the statements was part of the design, making them provocative and controversial. One might say these statements were never meant to be taken literally, just as a rhetorical flourish.

Fair enough, but that raises the question, “what are the long-term effects of founding a movement on a faulty premise?” Even if the faulty premise is tongue-in-cheek, can it really portend good things down the road when that is your foundation? Perhaps it is effective at getting the changes that you want today, but what sort of changes are likely to follow later on?

From Twisted Beginnings)

A movement that accepts a lie at its origin is a movement with a twisted foundation. It is somewhat misaligned with reality at the very beginning, and it is sure to become even more misaligned as more and more structure is built on top of it. This is especially true when we realize that yesterday’s rhetoric becomes tomorrow’s dogma. In my experience, there are many that have taken the provocative, tongue-in-cheek message of “what a man can do, a woman can do as well,” and actually believe it literally. They take it as an undisputed fact that men and women are totally equal in all regards, and that leads to some shocking conclusions.

Most recently, this line of thinking was clearly a main contributor to the transgender movement, which fully embraced the idea that there was little or no difference between a man or a woman, and that one could become the definition of the other at will. I think it’s safe to say that such a notion was far from the mind of old-time suffragettes, but this is simply the long-term consequences of the seeds that they, themselves, planted.

This is an example of a campaign built upon an explicit lie, but what about a campaign built upon implicit lies? We’ll look at an example of that tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Faulty Premises- The Trend

A Recipe for Success)

Whenever people decide to push a social, political, or spiritual movement, they justify the changes that they seek by making certain truth claims. They try to get the world to accept that their core premises are true, or better yet get people to realize that they already agree with those premises. And then, if the premises are true, then the logical response must be to make the proposed social changes.

Every movement, whether its premises are true or not, depends on convincing people of them. Thus, the successful movements are the ones that identify what core premises most immediately lead to their desired outcomes and communicate them in a concise, memorable, and convincing way. When a movement is successful, the premise that was taught then becomes part of the societal fabric. It is now an assumed truth, an axiom for ethical and correct behavior, and future generations will be raised to trust it implicitly.

Unintended Consequences)

But that’s where these movements can start to unravel. The original evangelists of the movement may have only wanted to effect one, specific change, but the rising generations will always take things to their full logical conclusion. They will look at the premise and say, “well if this is true, and it justifies this first step, then surely it justifies the second and the third as well.” And so, they push the matter further than the original evangelists ever intended. Indeed, it is not uncommon for earlier-wave members of a movement to express shock and dismay at what their cause has become in the hands of the later generations. Some of them even express regret for having started the movement at all.

This is a pattern that should give us all pause as we consider the changes that we would wish to see in the world and the methods by which we would achieve them. Every one of us ought to give special consideration to the premises that precede those changes, and what their full potential effect could be, and whether they are even true to begin with.

Tomorrow we’ll look at a specific example of one movement that has gone off the rails, the premise that was indoctrinated in society to make it a success, and why that premise logically led to the unintended consequences we see today.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Ascend, Decline, or Plateau- Hidden Movements

Hidden Decline)

In my last post I spoke about my personal experience with living on a spiritual plateau, one where I was basically good, but not making any real or notable sacrifices, not really living any differently than any other “good citizen.” To anyone looking at me from the outside, I was stagnant and consistent.

But that was only from the outside perspective. The truth is, at this time of outer stagnation, I was on a moral decline in my private life, crossing new barriers in my descent into deeper and deeper addiction. So, in reality, I wasn’t holding steady at all. I was in a moral freefall, and every day of external normalcy was just another lie digging me deeper beneath the surface.

My experience has made me wonder how many people really do live on a moral plateau. Is it actually primarily two groups of people, the truly striving and the downward falling, and it’s just that some of the downward falling put on a facade of plateau normalcy?

I do believe that there are some genuine plateau-dwellers, but I’ve definitely learned that people can be making invisible movements beneath the surface for a long, long time before there is any outward sign of how they have degenerated. When their moral life seems to suddenly collapse into a sinkhole, you can be sure that that didn’t just develop overnight.

Hidden Ascension)

But what about the other way around? Is it possible for someone to be improving morally in invisible ways, suddenly thrusting up to new heights seemingly out of the blue? I think so. I believe that we see this exact sort of pattern many times in the scriptures. Think of Moses, fled from Egypt, spending an entire life herding sheep for his father-in-law in Midian. We don’t hear of any great moments of huge moral development during that long sojourn, but it seems likely that he was being prepared, bit by bit, until he was ready to lead God’s people.

Perhaps as Moses abandoned his Egyptian way of life, he learned to surrender any personal plans. Perhaps while tending to the sheep, he developed a sense of leadership. Perhaps in his daily prayers, he developed the ability to obey God in everything, even if he might grumble along the way!

It seems likely to me that Moses was slowly accruing moral fortitude, and then when the divine call came, it appeared to the outside world that he was suddenly surging forward with new spiritual conviction and power!

This is why judgment of the soul is impossible to the mortal man. Only God and our own conscience can tell us how we’re moving beneath the surface, whether we are sinking into secret sin, or building silent strength. One day it may be clear to everyone, but until that pivotal moment, everything is a mystery from the outside view.