Local protests, hitchhiking, and collaborative letter-writing
October 11, 2006 10:41 PM Subscribe
Wondering what to do with your disquiet? Check out Protest.Net and see who's taking it to the streets in your area. Angry, but your town isn't listed? Don't worry, maybe you can find a ride on HitchHikers. Disgusted, but prefer a more decorous exchange? So do the folks at Progressive Secretary.
Interesting links, thanks. My only comment would be that sending a form email to your Congressperson is the fastest way to get ignored.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:03 PM on October 11, 2006
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:03 PM on October 11, 2006
A more efficient way for the protest junkies to find venues to dilute the message of those organizing. woo.
posted by muddylemon at 12:15 AM on October 12, 2006
posted by muddylemon at 12:15 AM on October 12, 2006
I see your point, but a lot of the protest organizer types I've known were happy to have people show up, even if only dimly aware of what the protest was about. I never once heard them complain about too many people showing up and "diluting" their message.
posted by freebird at 12:32 AM on October 12, 2006
posted by freebird at 12:32 AM on October 12, 2006
a lot of the protest organizer types I've known were happy to have people show up, even if only dimly aware of what the protest was about. I never once heard them complain about too many people showing up and "diluting" their message.
Does that still hold true when they vocally/visibly advocate for some other cause? Cause the "end mandatory retirement!" (or what have you) crowd latched on to that anti-war rally makes the whole thing look a bit sillier IMHO. And every demonstration I've been to has had at least a half dozen unrelated groups like that, signs aloft advertising their disparate causes.
posted by dreamsign at 1:52 AM on October 12, 2006
Does that still hold true when they vocally/visibly advocate for some other cause? Cause the "end mandatory retirement!" (or what have you) crowd latched on to that anti-war rally makes the whole thing look a bit sillier IMHO. And every demonstration I've been to has had at least a half dozen unrelated groups like that, signs aloft advertising their disparate causes.
posted by dreamsign at 1:52 AM on October 12, 2006
I mean I know congressmen just total up the letter count, but it just seems lame somehow.
I saw a forumula once, suggesting how politicians value various means of communication to gauge the support for an idea in the population. It was along the lines of:
1 phone call = 10 letters = 100 emails.
Has anyone else seen this? Anyone know the ratios?
posted by Jimbob at 2:31 AM on October 12, 2006
I saw a forumula once, suggesting how politicians value various means of communication to gauge the support for an idea in the population. It was along the lines of:
1 phone call = 10 letters = 100 emails.
Has anyone else seen this? Anyone know the ratios?
posted by Jimbob at 2:31 AM on October 12, 2006
Check out the Seattle protest page. All you see is a bunch of "Stop Duvanin Now!" protests. Thing is, Duvantin a fake drug in a viral marketting compaign for a movie.
posted by Osmanthus at 3:24 AM on October 12, 2006
posted by Osmanthus at 3:24 AM on October 12, 2006
Ah, now I see addyct posted about the viral campaign too ;D
Anyway, if you go take a look at the history page for Duvantin on wikipedia. On June 6 someone named "RabbleRouser" edited the page noting that its a fake drug. The interesting part is that RabbleRouser is the name of the webmaster at protest.net.
Im not sure what to make of it: but protest.net still lists the Duvantin protests even though it appears the protest.net webmaster has been aware of it's fraudulence for months.
posted by Osmanthus at 3:48 AM on October 12, 2006
Anyway, if you go take a look at the history page for Duvantin on wikipedia. On June 6 someone named "RabbleRouser" edited the page noting that its a fake drug. The interesting part is that RabbleRouser is the name of the webmaster at protest.net.
Im not sure what to make of it: but protest.net still lists the Duvantin protests even though it appears the protest.net webmaster has been aware of it's fraudulence for months.
posted by Osmanthus at 3:48 AM on October 12, 2006
Its It's. whatever doh.
That's a side effect of Duvantin.
posted by srboisvert at 4:41 AM on October 12, 2006
That's a side effect of Duvantin.
posted by srboisvert at 4:41 AM on October 12, 2006
I kinda want to show up at the Duvantin protest, to protest viral marketing. It's pretty shitty that they would abuse the site like that.
posted by owhydididoit at 8:52 AM on October 12, 2006
posted by owhydididoit at 8:52 AM on October 12, 2006
A bit late, but what I was getting at:
I once attended an organizational meeting for protests at the LA Democratic Party Convention in 2000. The person at the front was trying to hype everyone up, so she asked everyone to yell out why they were going to this protest. Everyone yelled something different, from "No More Prison Labor" to "Promote Vegan Values" to "End Corporate Hegemony", et al.
I've always felt that one of the core weaknesses of the left is that they are passionate about hundreds of random things, while the right has just a couple of important issues they're chasing (namely, more money for me and less sex for you.)
posted by muddylemon at 1:30 PM on October 13, 2006
I once attended an organizational meeting for protests at the LA Democratic Party Convention in 2000. The person at the front was trying to hype everyone up, so she asked everyone to yell out why they were going to this protest. Everyone yelled something different, from "No More Prison Labor" to "Promote Vegan Values" to "End Corporate Hegemony", et al.
I've always felt that one of the core weaknesses of the left is that they are passionate about hundreds of random things, while the right has just a couple of important issues they're chasing (namely, more money for me and less sex for you.)
posted by muddylemon at 1:30 PM on October 13, 2006
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posted by delmoi at 10:58 PM on October 11, 2006