bjmoose talks about being an effective advocate

A little earlier today, a post on a controversial topic came up on TW. OK, it was on firearms laws. A few people got riled up, someone profaned the president, and the thread was locked.

Number of folks who are now better informed: zero.

Number of folks persuaded to change their position: Zero.

Chance of any changes in laws: again, you guessed it: ZERO.

OK, so sometimes, ya gotta tweak some brittle people. That can be a fun pastime, :trollface: but let's not mistake it for effective advocacy.

Shouting at people who disagree with you on the interwebz is like masturbation: it feels good but it creates no change whatsoever in the population.

So, how do we become effective advocates? First, you've gotta be at least reasonably well informed. Gotta follow BOTH sides of an issue. Just because someone posted it, doesn't mean it's true. We've gotta be able to sort out the tin-foil-beanie-black-helicopters-crowd stuff from the real. Snopes is your friend here, but so is a well-developed sense of skepticism.

Now, stop me if you've heard this. But there's no substitute - you've gotta have that MOST BASIC understanding of how our government works. In VERY SHORT terms: local, state, and federal, right? Does NO GOOD whatsoever to write your FEDERAL congressman when you're a gardener and the CITY is passing a leaf blower ban. And you need to know the basic difference between executive (president) legislative (congress) and judicial (courts and supreme court.)

Here's the important thing: nothing changes - NOTHING CHANGES - unless a new law is PASSED or existing law is OVERTURNED. Twenty gazillion internet petitions/emails/posts can be clicked, stamped, forwarded, shared, and liked, and NOTHING will change except a few brittle people get hot under the collar. The Internet is a great tool for ORGANIZING action - but don't mistake what goes on here for ACTUAL action.

Now - our best opportunity for popular direct action is organizing when a bad bill has been proposed. In order to become law it has to get out of committee, it has to pass two floor votes, and it has to be signed. At all of these stages - your elected representative is listening. And if you write a direct, thoughtful message, and organize a BUNCH of similarly minded individuals to do the same, that bill is GOING DOWN.

Passing a NEW law, or getting an existing law OVERTURNED - well now, that tends to be less in the hands of individuals ilke us, and more in the realm of organized groups. Well organized, well funded groups can do research, prepare a draft bill, and approach a sympathetic legislator to sponsor a new bill. It is very difficult for a single individual to do this. Similarly, well organized groups can fund legal campaigns to challenge existing laws in court. So: how do we participate here? Join and contribute to non-profit advocacy groups that articulate and defend your position. If, for example, you've ever gone off-roading, you probably ought to contribute at least the price of a full tank of gas to one of the many organizations protecting your land use rights.

Finally, be aware of our impact on other people. As one particular example, take a hot button topic of firearms ownership. Now, many/most of my friends and co-workers know I own firearms. They also know I'm a reasonably stable and responsible individual who's going to use good safety practices, and I'm unlikely to become unhinged and come into the office one day and just start blowing people away.

Why do I mention that? Because I don't want to recruit for the opposition. Anytime I intimidate someone else by simple fact of owning guns, there's a fair to middling chance that person will feel strongly enough to go off and join some advocacy group on the other side. Conversely, if I EDUCATE that person, I may create another ally on my own side.

I hope you find this post helpful or educational; and in case it isn't clear already - this isn't a "political" post at all; it's a jam session on civic responsibility.

 

People need to educate and get the facts straight not just argue with hollow points

 

I see what you did there.

 

There seems to be a great deal of anger in those threads

 

I own a gun but I do not get angry i just say thats your opinion

 

"He who angers me, defeats me."

and

"I tried going to anger management. But those classes just pissed me off."

 

Lol

 

My point here isn't to talk about firearms laws. That was just today's locked thread.

My point is to persuade people to be well informed, join effective action groups, and write timely and influential letters on issues that are important to them.

 

I got it , I think your OP was well written

 

bj, that's an interesting post you put here. I think it's incomplete and missing some key points, though.

For example, absent a change in law, several counties in California have been pushed from "on paper may issue" to "de facto shall issue" when it comes to LTC's. No law was passed, repealed or overturned to make this happen.


Anyway, carry on.

 

Good luck with persuading people to get more informed. They already think they know enough to spew their mind, ain't nothin you can teach em now.

 

Can't deny it. I tried to keep the original post short enough to make the central point and keep people reading.

 

Amen to that.

You hit on a key point, too - give (till it hurts) to the groups that can (and do) influence legislation and legislators (i.e. prevent them from sponsoring bad bills or encourage them to sponsor good bills).

Doesn't hurt to give to the groups that are also willing to sue Every Last M*therf***er in the Room, too.

 

I should have titled this "bjmoose talks about writing a boring topic."

Spit out some half-baked inflammatory shit, man, and watch your topic shoot up to the "Recent Threads" list and stay there as everyone and his metal-listening-sister jumps on to hit reply and spit vitriol.

Appeal for reason, research, and a little bit of work to get what you want, man, and your topic slides off into obscurity. Ah well.

 

What is this thread about again ?

 

I dunno. Some guy was delivering a civics lecture. I dozed off.

 

I put a little work into writing this. I'm gonna bump it again before letting the post retire into obscurity.

 

TLDR

 

I thought this was well worth repeating.

You can't go running wildly with blinders on and expect others to see your point of view. In order to establish a legitimate argument, you need to be quite well educated on the subject matter. Not only well versed on the point you are trying to make, but have a better than working understanding of the argument against you.

Turning it into a pissing and shouting match may be what makes the headlines, but it's not what facilitates change.

Perhaps we should all take a copy of the OP and send to our government representatives, they seem to have forgotten as well.