Letters that WORK

[snot]

This is from a TED talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/omar_ahmad_political_change_with_pen_and_paper.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-04-27&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

First he says, write a paper letter, and write it BY HAND.
And write once a month.

Then, "in paragraph number one, what I'm going to tell you to do is very simply this: You appreciate them. You may not appreciate the person, you may not appreciate anything else, but maybe you appreciate the fact that they got a tough gig. When animals are going to make a point, they make the point. They don't spend a lot of time dicking around. So, here you go. Paragraph number two, you may actually have to get very blunt and say what's really on your mind. When you do this, don't attack people, you attack tactics. Ad hominem attacks will get you nowhere. Paragraph number three: When animals are attacked or cornered, they will fight to the death, so you have to give them an exit. Most of the time, if they have an exit strategy, they should take it. Obviously, you're intelligent. If you had the right information, you would have done the right thing. Lastly, you want to be the nurturing agent. You're the safe place to come in to. So, in paragraph number four, you're going to tell people, "If no one is providing you with this information, let me help.""

Makes sense, but helpful to have it spelled out. MORE tips at the link, where you'll find a transcript as well as the video.

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. These are great tips, both for LTTEs and persuasive writing in general.

We get nowhere attacking people.

I do a bit of freelance writing (mostly copywriting) on the side, and very quickly you learn how to sell things. I don't want to take it too far off topic, but if you look up tips for marketing and sales, both human and in written form, you will learn a lot about persuasion.

You have to make people want to take on your position. You have to sell it to them. There's a reason politicians call their opponent "my opponent", instead of calling them out by name. They want to keep the attention focused on them. Keep to your main point, tell people why they should adhere to it, don't go off on a tangent about how this person wants to make you puke or that person it a dumbass for adhering to *their* position.

For example, instead of saying "Prominent hometown politician x wants to get rid of social security, and they should be tarred and feathered for doing so" which will make people who may be right-leaning or have been thinking about taking that position say "hmm... that's good, if this person supports getting rid of social security, and they're popular, it must be a good idea and a popular one at that." Don't do that. Spend your time telling people why Social Security is GOOD and RIGHT and JUST and how, perhaps, prominent hometown politician y wants to strengthen Social Security.

I'm very happy to rec this thread.

[krazykikikat]

2. Sticky

I recommend this thread be stickied, and expanded upon. It can be difficult to write a persuasive letter, and since letter-writing is one of the core practices of activism, it'd be nice to have a home thread for techniques and advice.

[Steely_Dan]

3. This Is Excellent...

I wonder what it would be like to have this approach on the "General Discussion" section. You know...have people treat each other with respect, but still get their point across. Can I repost this o the GD?

-Paige