7 Ways We Protect Our Denial.

There are many ways our Warrior Instinct protects us from
becoming aware of our instinctual behavior.
Here are seven of the most popular ones.

- Ignore you.
- Talk over top of you.
- Simple flip.
- Attack the messenger.
- Justification by comparison to an opposite extreme.
- Try to silence you.
- Kill you.


- Ignore you.
The simplest and easiest answer. However, since our Warrior Instinct is
combative in nature, we won't be able to stop here, if you keep talking.


- Talk over top of you.
This has become a favorite for TV hosts in recent years.
They have people on their shows who they disagree with,
and they talk over top of them as they try to answer questions.
It looks very childish, and for good reason.
Only a child would believe that if they can't physically hear you,
then that means what you are saying is wrong.
"Blah, blah, blah, I'm not listening, I'll put my hands over my ears and I can't hear you."
You get the picture.


- Simple flip.
Perhaps the most child-like of our defensive behaviors.
We simply take what you just said and try to flip it back on to you.
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
And so on.

But these days it can be on the order of:
"I think they are guilty of treason."
"I think YOU are guilty of treason!"
“They threaten our security.”
“YOU threaten our security!”
Etc.


- Attack the messenger.
We question your credibility.
If we can make it look like you can't be trusted as a messenger,
then we can dismiss your message.
Even if your message is something that you didn't come up with yourself,
even if it is something that many other credible people have said before,
the fact that YOU are saying it now,
coupled with the fact that YOU are not a credible messenger,
means that WHAT you are saying is wrong.

Another way to attack the messenger is to pick apart
what you are saying and find one small piece of it that we try to prove wrong.
If we can make it seem that ONE part of what you are saying is wrong,
then in our mind that means EVERYTHING you are saying is wrong.
If one, then all.
That is one of the core beliefs of our Warrior Instinct.

And, we can focus on HOW you are talking rather than on WHAT you are saying.
If you stumble over your words, (possibly because we are talking over top of you),
we will pick on you about that.
“Well, look, you can't even talk, so why would anyone listen to you?!”

Assumption of an absolute.
“So you're saying that ALL people ALWAYS...”
This usually shows that we are getting desperate in finding ways to
shut you up.
If we can make it look like you are assuming some kind of absolute,
then that means you are crazy and not to be trusted.
Our Warrior Instinct operates out of absolutes,
so we are likely to hear one
even if you don't actually say it.
This defense usually leads us into the next one:


- Justification by comparison to an opposite extreme.
“Oh, so were supposed to just stand there and let him kill his own people?”
Warrior Instinct sees the world in terms of black and white.
There are only two choices.
My way, (which obviously is the right way),
and any other way, (which is obviously the wrong way).
There is no possibility of a third way, let alone five or six
or maybe twenty ways to handle a situation.
Oh no.
The way to handle this is my way, (which is usually the first thing to pop into my head).
And if you question it, then I will defend it by comparing it to some opposite extreme
that is so obviously wrong, that my way looks right by comparison.


- Try to silence you.
“Well, no one is forcing you live here!”
"Love it or leave it!"
Because, if you leave, then I don't have to hear you anymore, and my denial is protected.
Or,
I could just punch you in the face, and then you will be quiet.
Which usually leads us closer to the next defense: physical violence.


- Kill you.
It sounds extreme, but it happens every day.
Our Warrior Instinct acts out of extreme beliefs, and an extreme view of reality.
Black or white. Friend or foe.
Dead men cannot contradict you.
If we do something that we know is going to cause us to face consequences,
and someone else has the power to make us face those consequences,
then the best thing we can do is to kill them.
Then we won't have to face the consequences of our own behavior.
We will threaten, bully, force, kill, invade, obliterate, and drop the nuclear bomb
to avoid facing consequences of our own behavior.


We act out of instincts.
Survival instincts.
The way they help us survive, is by operating below our conscious level of awareness.
If we were aware of them, they wouldn't be instincts.
They would be conscious choices of behavior.