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View Full Version : Public Relations: What we're forgetting




Nate K
11-26-2008, 10:31 AM
There's been a lot of threads come up recently where some people have figured our flaw as a movement is our lack of public relations.. or candy for the dummies if you know what I mean..

At first I was against this idea because candy for dummies goes against what I believe we should represent as a movement. But the past couple days I've learned it does not have to be candy necessarily as much as it just has to taste and look good.

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First, let me address a growing mentality I'm seeing on the forums. It is a stubborn, absolutist, rigid and narrow-minded outlook on things and it is a REAL danger to getting anything done. What do i mean by all those adjectives? People believe so deeply in their "libertarian principles" and philosophy that they have formed irrational fears of anything that might possibly go against these rigid beliefs. I'll give two recent examples of this I've seen through my threads..

Fear of organization. There is terribly terrifying fear here among some members that we may organize as a movement. Ideas associated with organization have been shunned, authors of those ideas ridiculed, insulted, etc. (myself included). For whatever reason, somewhere in the absolutist libertarian dogma there must've been a passage about the need for lack of organization..

Fear of a platform that new recruits and current members can go to. Namely, an upgrade to the CFL. To propose such an idea "must" mean that you believe in centralization! This is ridiculous considering it has nothing to do with centralization. All of my opponents to this idea associate the idea with the word "national" campaigning, when it is not "national" any more than it is local. When you go canvassing, you will at some point refer people to a website where they can learn more.. and ideally have a decent first impression. Campaignforliberty.com? Quite a bummer for them when they find the limited functions the site has to offer if they want to get involved.


These are just a few i've noticed recently, I could go on but you get my drift..

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It should be obvious to some of you that these narrow tactics are not good for what we may call "public relations", the necessary evil in politics. But public relations does not have to be evil. What we lack is welcoming newcomers and reaching out to those who've joined before and left for whatever reason. Some of us, believe somehow that if they work strictly locally, without any communication system besides telephone and telegraph, that we will attract all kinds of support if we just "work hard enough". I'm here to tell you it isn't about how hard you work but how smart you work. The simple fact is that if we want to get the public on our side, they will likely be directed to ONE source through literature, ads, whatever, and these newcomers should have an incentive to read, get educated, return to the site and get involved.

Some of us here maintain a rigid yet idealist belief that we can suddenly turn everyone we meet at the time of giving them a slimjim, to a responsible, well-thinking citizen who just wants to learn all about us. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. There's a lot of people out there that we often call "sheeple", remember them? For some reason these same sheeple become principled americans who we trust to go home and google all of the things they may have heard from us. It just doesn't happen.


If you want to accomplish anything with the public, we need to have better public relations. And that means phasing out the rigid idealistic attitude that we can turn everyone into a principled libertarian if we just work hard enough. We need to start thinking in terms of how we are viewed by the public.

Agent CSL
11-26-2008, 11:00 AM
What's that term Edward Griffin was using? The way that we have to work together, but be able to work apart at the same time? His Freedom Force is a very good example for all of us. But I agree, we need to put some candy out there. Publicity stunts, community involvement, etc.

Too bad the government would refer to us as sleeper cells. :(

heavenlyboy34
11-26-2008, 11:04 AM
RP himself liked the "spontaneous organization" of the movement. I'm reluctant to favor a central authority because such people/organizations are very prone to corruption. If someone figures out a way to make a centralized organization work in practice, I'll support it. Are you working on something, OP? :confused:

Nate K
11-26-2008, 11:11 AM
RP himself liked the "spontaneous organization" of the movement. I'm reluctant to favor a central authority because such people/organizations are very prone to corruption. If someone figures out a way to make a centralized organization work in practice, I'll support it. Are you working on something, OP? :confused:

That's the thing, I never said I supported a "central authority".. people on this forum assume that any platform we can gather on like the CFL would be an "authority".. it's not.

If an upgraded CFL is an authority then so is ronpaulforums and so is meetup.com.

acptulsa
11-26-2008, 11:11 AM
We certainly have seen a lot of organized efforts turn out to be shams, or at least unduly profitable for someone. So, the tendency is understandable. That said, all our grumbling about the MSM means nothing here. It is like a tree falling in the forest. Nobody cares. We do have to find some effective method--centralized or not--of outreach.

Truth Warrior
11-26-2008, 11:24 AM
You've all read Bernay's book "Propaganda" and are up to speed, right? :rolleyes:

sratiug
11-26-2008, 11:33 AM
Non compulsary, non exclusive organization that retains open competition is the answer.

I still want a double flat tariff section and an anti-zionist section here on RPF but some people are scared of competition.

acptulsa
11-26-2008, 11:35 AM
You've all read Bernay's book "Propaganda" and are up to speed, right? :rolleyes:

Nah. We've been watching you for long enough. We'll just be sure to do the opposite. It'll be fine.

Xenophage
11-26-2008, 12:35 PM
I feel we've organized exceptionally well. I'm not an organizer, but we have a lot of organizers amongst us. End the Fed was well organized. Our money bombs were well organized. Our phone calls to Washington were well organized. Our attacks on the republican conventions were well organized. In fact, for a bunch of quasi-anarchists we seem to organize a lot better than our competition!

So, what are you complaining about?

Xenophage
11-26-2008, 12:38 PM
I don't think we should be adverse to a platform. In fact, I think its essential!

There are some divisive issues amongst us, ranging from abortion to immigration (and I can understand and respect the arguments from both sides, regardless of my own views), but there are some things we all definitely agree on.

I think we all want to return to sound money, end American imperialism, reassert state's rights, and eliminate unconstitutional federal powers and bureaucracies (including the IRS, income tax, dept. of education, etc.)

Some of us would go further, myself included, but I think almost everyone could agree on the above.

Truth Warrior
11-26-2008, 12:38 PM
Nah. We've been watching you for long enough. We'll just be sure to do the opposite. It'll be fine. Big fans of "Slavery, War and Poverty", eh? :rolleyes:

Nate K
11-26-2008, 12:40 PM
So, what are you complaining about?

Reread my post.

RedStripe
11-26-2008, 01:00 PM
Centralization up to a point is more efficient than solo activities. After that point, it becomes inefficient.

Let the CFL evolve... when it does something right it will be rewarded with increased participation, donations, etc. Do what you feel is most effective. If we all think for ourselves, everything will work its way out. The best projects, organizations, events, etc will rise to the top - straight up meme theory.

One thing that I would really really really like to stress, however, is the importance of educating ourselves. Look into Austrian economics, read the specifics of our foreign policy and history, and explore the philosophy of liberty. I'm not saying that we haven't done these things, or that I have done all I can to educate myself personally. It's simply critical that we become the best ambassadors and advocates of our ideology possible. We need to understand the liberal/progressive ideology, and see where the overlaps are - exploit them. Why focus on changing the minds of the masses, when you can change the minds of the opinion-makers in society? If someone has influence over others, by changing their minds you are effectively changing the minds of many.

Become active in your communities' professional groups and social clubs. Give a presentation at your local Rotary Club, etc. If you are already doing these things - kudos. If not, there is a great opportunity for you to make a difference.