The Difficulty in Keeping Dissidents Engaged

We dissidents have a rough time, sometimes.

Not only do we risk public vilification, losing our jobs, and losing our entire social network, but we also have to deal with the fact that a lot of other dissidents hop in and hop out of this line of work without what even seems like a second thought.

The sad reality is that it is difficult to keep dissidents engaged. 

Why? Well, there are numerous reasons for this. 

We walk along a tight path filled with many sharp vines waiting to catch a person who veers off even a little. 

Here are just a few (four) of the main reasons that come to mind:

1) I think the first and the most obvious is risk. A lot of young guys get into this and don’t mind the risk. But as they get older, or get families, that risk glooms ever more menacingly. 

This is why you see so many dissidents as “leaders” who are not married. [Which is hilarious, because these are the last people that should be leaders. The Bible says one of the first things a leader should have is their own house in order. If you can’t even build that house, you probably shouldn’t be a leader. But that is a side tangent.] It is easier for the non-married to stick with it, given they have no real responsibilities or progeny to account for.

But, it is what it is. Let’s take who we can. We don’t have a lot of married guys as leaders because a lot of them leave when the risk becomes too much. What is that old saying about the kitchen getting too hot? It applies here.

2) Then there’s the “general life” reason. Sometimes, life just gets in the way. Economic hardship comes, and you have to make a living. No time for this. I get it. There’s been times where I’ve ducked out of this, too. But I must be an addict, because I keep coming back.

3) Another less discussed reason is a lack of a dissident support network. Which is also a huge one. Various groups have recognized this need and have been trying to fill this gap, but it is still difficult. It is hard to stay engaged and, like you, are making a difference in silence.

This is why I treasure every comment and email I get, even the hate mail. At least it means I’m reaching someone.

Nonetheless, the most successful dissidents are the ones that develop formal support networks. Even anonymous ones, as long as they are viable and not feds. 

4) Perhaps one of the biggest reasons of dissident disengagement, however, is the pathway problem. Dissidents come over here to this side of politics because they learn truth. This means they are first willing to accept truth. That already puts them in the minority.

If people stay on that path, I firmly believe that it has to end with Jesus Christ. He is Truth personified and perfected.

So, most dissidents start with a political lens. They may even come before that with an economic one. But eventually, with enough intellectual curiosity, they continue to learn and go deeper. They want the big questions answered. But the biggest questions always lead us to spirituality. Politics does not have the answer.

So, those that eventually go the full length—that spiritual route—find God. And a lot of them then focus more effort on Him over politics. 

Which, of course, is a great thing. But it doesn’t mean you need to abandon your countryman. Which, I feel like is often what happens. Half of the spiritual finalists go internal, and do not see the commands to love your neighbors (which means to stay in the fight). 

Conversely, some guys get to the spiritual part and they go even harder fighting for their people.

So, some leave and some go even harder when they reach the end.

This is a difficulty in keeping dissidents engaged. I think we do a disservice by not talking about this more openly, and not encouraging people to go that full route for God, but then to stick with us. Because I think what they would actually find at the end is what God asks of us. The dissident should be even more fired up to fight for their people.

But since we don’t talk about it, they are left in the dark. They find what they find and then they leave.

While that pathway is not great, it is at least better than the weirdos. Some dissidents take the political route until they hit the spiritual progression, and then they become nutjobs.

I’m talking: Economics -> Politics -> Spirituality -> Weird Pagan Cult. Not a good look.

You all know what I’m talking about. The political dissidents that make up their own religions, adopt some weird pagan Odin bullshit, or fall in hard-core on the enlightenment science voodooism. 

These people follow the same progression. They probably start with economics, go to politics, and then hit spirituality. But they’re just too weak to accept the full truth in the spirituality department. So, they go crazy due to the hyper-focus on the material.

I think the human biodiversity guys, the ultra-antisemites waving Nazi flags and wearing stupid costumes, the dissident evolutionists, and similar groups fall in this category.

It is hard to keep dissidents engaged when they become insane. It is also hard to keep the non-insane dissidents engaged when they see and learn from these freaks. All of these things contribute to a lack of engagement long term with dissidents. 

At the end of the day, it is always the same pathway: Dissident politics to dissident spirituality. One rejects the modern anti-Christendom material structure of the elites, and the other rejects the modern anti-Christendom spiritual structure of the devil.

Some move on this pathway quicker than others. Some become stagnant. But from my time in this sphere, it seems like this is the pretty usual trend. There may be a few anomalies here and there, but I’ve noticed this consistently.

Read More About This Pathway Here: The Slow Process Of Becoming A Dissident & The Dissident Life Cycle.

Frankly, it is getting tough to continue to watch the newer dissidents take these paths. I don’t like to see our young guys entering the same old errors.

Which I guess is a reason that I’m still here. If I can help direct people to that Christ-focused progression pathway that ends with an invigorated dissident, I have done my job.

Eternity matters a lot more than the kingdoms of this age. But that does not mean that these kingdoms are meaningless. It’s just good to keep it in perspective.

We are not all meant to be theologians. But we all are meant to fight and minister for our people. We still need political leaders, and to completely forgo this domain is to be in error.

If you stay engaged long enough, you will notice what I am saying here. You will start to see it, too.

I think we need to talk about it more openly, so we could keep more of our boys engaged. 

Being a dissident is a difficult and dangerous task. We risk a lot with little benefit, especially in our own lifetime. 

But speaking, the truth is worth it. What we do is critical in keeping the torch of civilization alive. And if we truly love our neighbors, we are commanded to continue to fight for them. 

Stay engaged. Stay winning. Don’t get caught up in any of these vines.