Activist project ideas: is the Pen mighty?

[lib_wit_it]

Originally posted here:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8793845&mesg_id=8800241

(snip) ost of the RWers are just as you say--hypocritical, deceitful, deluded, vicious, and thin-skinned whiners. However, on any discussion online there are many, often more, people reading than commenting. Some of those people are bound to be undecided. At least a few can be convinced by a good debunking of the claims of the RWers.

I don't always do a great job because of the nature of the beast. The RWers, that is. It is difficult to remain civil and level-headed while dealing with these beasties! However, allowing their disinformation campaign free rein is a mistake.

What if we progressives (a large number of us) began responding to each instance of the lies and distortions with dispassionate, factual rebuttals? Perhaps not even engaging them personally--just listing the facts that disprove their assertions? I've actually gone through periods of doing just that, and I end up feeling far more at peace.

Whereas either engaging in a direct dialog (either working very hard to remain calm or allowing myself to lose my cool in a heated back and forth and ending up regretting it), or just letting the lies sit out there out there unchallenged both leave me feeling like I've neglected or screwed up an important duty or at least an opportunity.

If only we had an index of current RW talking points with our own well-written, cogent rebuttals to draw on, it could allow for a bit of distributed activism any of us with a little free time online could engage in. While RWers seem perfectly comfortable parroting one another to the word, we tend to balk at such conformity. However, that lock-step sort of controlled messaging does seem to be more effective.

Another case in point: the massive forwarded email dissemination of RW squawking points. I believe this has been an extremely successful strategy for the RW. I'd bet that a ginormous number of Americans get a heck of a lot of what they believe to be political news or facts from these massively distributed emails. I can't tell you how many times I've had people who don't know me very well send me that crap, yet I don't know if I've ever received a progressive-friendly message from anyone who wasn't already close enough to already know darn well I was a liberal.

If my theory is correct, then many "Undecideds" are getting fed propaganda from the right, but nothing from the left. This seems a situation in need of addressing by our side.

I would love to see a poll or study to get some details on how much impact these emails have and where they originate. I'd bet anything it's a coordinated effort.

[krazykikikat]

1. Never thought of it, but I think you're right.

I think we should be sending stuff out. I think we need to work very hard to make it look professional though, because that's the first thing I notice when I get those RW e-mails: they just look like sensationalist crap. And I think you're right that it does help to sway those who are undecided. My mother-in-law gets quite a few of the RW chain letters, and she sometimes passes them on to me when she finds the topic shocking enough. I'm usually too lazy to do the research and disprove them, but I've tried to tell her not to believe everything they say.
The only LW mail I get is from my mom, and it's usually links to articles or forwards from LW organizations such as HRC, CREDO, and Obama's administration. These are obviously good sources, not something cooked up by some random malcontent and written in bold, colorful print. If we begin sending chain mail, I think we should look to these organizations for a model.

[Toon Me Out]

2. & the Rethugs have put a lot of effort into hijacking...

...Yahoo News' comments section. Their "responses" are often more like lengthy blog
posts--or the "email dissemination of RW squawking points" you cite--than real comments.
Their repetitive, spam-like comments frequently lack any connection to the actual news story featured,
so they're obviously robo-posts from some twisted organization or a few dedicated nuts. My question
is, why would Yahoo routinely allow it?

[robotamadeus]

3. Digital Activism

I just got a good book called Politicking Online.  It has alot
of stuff about activism.  I think with the internet any kid in
his parents basement could cause a great political revolution.

[hugh manity]

4. Great points! What about implementation?

I get RW email junk from people who KNOW I'm liberal...as if their rhetorical mumbo-jumbo is going to sway my opinion or change my mind. It is ALWAYS an uninformed opinion passing as fact. I am a new member here and have been furious about how conservative, grass-roots mobilization seems to VASTLY out-number and out-do anything coming from the left...which is basically nothing. I'm talking about everything from talk-radio to email threads here. I agree with everything your post has said, and I notice this was posted quite a while ago. It seems that we need a centralized/coordinated way to fight back ourselves, but what type of method would be the most effective? We should all be actively discussing this and trying to implement something rather than letting the RWers have all the fun at OUR expense!