What good does spreading the word do?

[Deja Q]

Many won't believe, thinking we're nuts.

Others will agree but won't know what to do. (there's nothing we CAN do.)

And the rest? Indifference; too indoctrined into our disgusting "dog eat dog" 'society' that they will soon react out of abject starvation.

Like I've said, live life while you can and enjoy it to the fullest.

[zanne]

1. Sometimes I feel that way, too.

It can be so frustrating, it can make me question my reasons for trying. But we hang in there and take it one day at a time, don't we? I know you won't stop fighting, Hypno Toad.

[evilqueen]

2. while you're doing that

more and more people are dying in an illegal and unjustifiable war. Do you advocate sitting there and just watching that happen? Or are you not obligated to your fellow human beings to try to make that stop?

[Deja Q]

5. Tell me what I can do.

What good does trying to convince lots of people do because they will do one of the three things I've said?

Especially the folks who DO listen. What can we or they do? (and, YES my dear evilqueen, I have told people and they either look the other way in denial OR get very very mad. And telling them hasn't allowed me in turn to sleep very well at night either.)

What have you done, BTW?

I want REAL answers. Not spurious morality.

[zanne]

7. I think we have to pick our battles.

I used to argue (and yell and get flustered) with anybody who wanted to argue about politics. Now I get a feel for the person first. I never argue with people who just like to argue--some people think they're constitutional scholars or something and want to "share" their knowledge of all things political. I also stopped arguing with people who are so right-wing and set in their ideology that they're really not listening to what you're saying, anyway. But there are still some people out there you can have a real conversation with. The trick is to know who they are!

[cascadiance]

20. I think that is the key!

There are a few message boards that I don't even visit much any more, since I think the signal to noise ratio is so great, that mostly people just get off on arguing, and posts disappear quickly and are dwarfed by many RW idiots that don't know how to hold an intelligent conversation.

I feel I'm better served now by focusing my time on trying to get the word out on things that are so neglected by our media today to people who might be receptive to them if the mainstream media were informing them on it. I've done my damndest to try to get Sibel Edmonds known about to whomever I meet and know, and try to get some who are responsive to also take it upon themselves to do the same thing! It is frustrating when so many people you know, who you'd like to feel are informed and are well thinking people don't know much about some of these very important topics!

This environment does do some good, like forcing one to brainstorm and think about ideas on how to get the word out in other ways. Some ideas I have are things like getting more "political" postage stamps through stamps.com/cafepress.com to help promote and heighten awareness of these issues. I'm hoping to do that soon for Sibel Edmonds, but that is a work in progress that needs to cross some hurdles...

http://www.cafepress.com/sibel

[deutsey]

9. I don't see it as "trying to convince others"

I see it as acting out of my deepest conscience. If others are affected by it or agree with it, fine. If not...I don't really care.

For me, that's where true meaning in life comes from. It doesn't always make you popular (in fact, I've found it rarely does), but to live any other way is being false to myself and, living a lie this way either directly or indirectly supports the Big Lie that those in power like Bush need for people to support in order to maintain their power.

That's just me, and I'm inspired by others who have chosen to live the same way (though I'm certainly not on the same level as they are...I'm thinking of Vaclev Havel in particular as I write this, but there are many others, of course).

If you can find a copy, read The Power of the Powerless by Havel. He and his fellow dissidents helped to erode and finally shatter the lies and fears that fueled the Soviet regime's power. They did it through art and poetry and music and building an alternative community around the search for truth and integrity, not propaganda and intimidation.

PS: I'm also reminded of this quote by RFK:

“Whenever a person acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

For me, that action must be rooted in my deepest sense of who I really am and what I truly believe.

[evilqueen]

17. What have I done?

Every night, I am posting news on Radio News America. I also write various op/ed pieces on that site, as well as my own blog. I help publicize various actions, such as the Iraq Audit that Rep. Slaughter is calling for, through pro-bono advertising on some of the sites that I am an admin for. I do the technical back-end for Radio News America, as well. My working day starts around 4pm and ends around 5am, sometimes I don't stop until 10am depending on what's happening.

Radio News America's staff (along with many generous people here at DU) got the first three portapotties down to Camp Casey.

We have a t-shirt design available at our cafepress store, and the proceeds from that go towards helping the Peace movement.

We're a sponsoring organization for the United For Peace & Justice peace march in Washington DC, Sept. 24-26.

I'm a disabled vet and I have a son in the Marine Corps. I live on a very small fixed income, but still managed to donate a small amount to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

I am against THIS illegal war and I am doing whatever it takes to make it stop and bring our kids home.

[Al-CIAda]

18. Go back to your TV then...smell the flowers..whatever.

Leave it to others to fight for democracy and justice. Tune out and go enjoy your life, ta-ta.

[blm]

19. The 3 points I make that grab their attention are irrefutable -

Bush and his cronies fought against the investigation of BCCI which was the world's largest bank and financier of terrorism through money laundering of drugs and arms. They fought the investigation for 5 years. The revelations would have alerted the world to the dangerous EXTENT of terrorism and the dirty dealings of the international financiers who funded the terrorists. Full exposure of BCCI would mean NO 9-11.

Bush2 REFUSED to read the Hart Rudman Report on Global Terror that was handed to him on Jan 30, 2001. Al Gore would have read it immediately and implemented its urgent proposals for real homeland security. No 9-11.

The Bush family has been close allies of RevMoon for over 4 decades and thanks to that alliance, Moon is now in control of over half this nation's fishing industry. Further, it was Moon who funded and empowered the rise of fundamentalist Christians, including Tim LaHaye who shared Moon's interest in mind control techniques.

[BlueJac]

3. It settles my mind

At least I can sleep at night knowing I told everyone I know about Shrub and what he is doing to America. :dem:

[Systematic Chaos]

4. Exactly!

I'm getting more and more vocal with people where I work about this stuff, and hoping that at least a few of them will get educated. That's the only way we can win.

[Deja Q]

6. See post 5.

When I was in the "let's tell everyone" phase, it didn't stop me from sleepless nights.

BTW: It's not all shrub. It's our corporate leaders who buy political preference from our congress as well.

[converted_democrat]

8. What's up with the defeatist attitude????

There are always going to be people that do not want to listen, that's just the way that it is, not much anyone can do about that. However, that does not mean that we should give up. I spread the word far and wide, simply because I know how many people I have reached in the past. Look at the poll numbers, they're not where they are now by accident. I strike up conversations in line at the gas station, the grocery store, and anywhere else people gather. Not everyone likes it, and I can't convert everyone, but I try. I'm sorry you are so frustrated, but I'm not going to stop, and I don't figure many others around here will either. We have come too far too fast, to ever stop now. The peace movement is gaining speed, and the truth is emerging, and giving up is out of the question.

Edit- to clarify

[DanCa]

10. Lead by example and clean your own cup

The people who tend to have Jesus loudest in thier voice, tend have him less in thier hearts. Or god doesn't always need to shout sometimes he whispers. Bah I just need more beer . :beer:

[mopaul]

11. stay the course HT

take daddy bush's famous phrase now used by jr. and turn it around.
WE are the ones who should stay the course.

i feel it too, but we gotta hang tight and hang on.

[coffeenap]

12. I see it as I see voting:

Alone, it is virtually meaningless. But multiplied by millions, it means everything. Each person we touch can possibly touch another. Each thought we plant can take root. We cannot know who hears us but no one will if we don't speak. Please keep going--we need you.

[Beam Me Up]

13. Spreading the word is very important.

It doesn't matter what other people think of us. What matters is that we speak as clearly and as factually as we can. Remember, someone may think you're a kook (or whatever) today and then again tomorrow, when some other piece of information came from another source and fit together with the piece you provided, they may come back to you and say, "Wow, I thought you were nuts but it looks like you may be right." I've had this happen MANY MANY times.

As for what TO DO about it. 1) Educate your self and 2) educate others. It doesn't sound like much but it is THE most important thing to do. Why? Because the one thing fascism fears most is AN AWARE AND EDUCATED POPULATION. They can not control us if there are LARGE numbers of us who oppose them. This is why the military is bogged down in Iraq. That is a metaphor for what can happen here -- hopefully without the violence.

All of us need to begin to understand that WE ARE THE MAJORITY. This is not reflected back to us in the corporate media, but it is the truth. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSE GEORGE BUSH AND HIS POLICIES. More and more simply need to understand A: he does not represent them and their interests. He represents the interests of a corporate oligarchy, which includes the corporate owned media -- which is why they give us a distorted view of everything, including who WE are. B: The military is in the middle east not to protect OUR interests, but to protect the interests and economic hegemony of the elites he represents. And finally, we need to understand that THERE IS ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE. The United States needs to redefine itself and bring about a second American Revolution. More accurately, it would be to return this nation to the democratic laws and principals upon which it was founded.

IF we have THE WILL, if we have enough people, WE CAN DO THIS. And we can do it without every firing a shot. BUT it will take a lot of people knowing WHAT they are doing and WHY they are doing it. It will take a lot of people moving together in one direction in opposition to the direction the elite of this nation would take us. It will mean hardship and it will mean courage, but it CAN be done.

[Writer]

14. Well, you're trying to be a liberal evangelist.

Spreading the liberal logic and hoping others will listen.

Think now to yourself: how open are you to listening to what a Christian evangelist has to say?

[1932]

15. Read the last five pages of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

if you're unsure of the value of spreading the word.

Perkins says that there are lots of things you can do -- activist things, like attending rallies, voting, etc.

But he says that when he looks back at the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the FDR years, he says that there were a lot of powerful people saying that Monarchy/slavery/fascism were good things, but the thing that changed that was that people WROTE. People like Thomas Paine put down their ideas on paper and they convinced other people to that democracy was the better idea.

So, keep writing and talking.

If you think it's not working, the problem is more likely that you haven't refined your ideas well enough -- that you don't know what you're arguing. If that's the case, then, instead of writing, you need to read until you understand what the argument is, and there are plenty of great books out there that are making the arguments very well.

[wli]

16. not much anymore, except maybe assasination by COINTELPRO/DHS/etc.

This isn't even checkmate, this is after it, and our corpses getting gobbled up by the vultures.