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View Full Version : Website idea to stop painting supporters with same brush...




Benny Blanco
01-02-2008, 04:36 PM
To all you happy supporters in this new year:

I'm sure it will be no surprise to many readers that sometimes bloggers and the media in general have an easy time generalising all Paul supporters as all sorts of negative things. If you do not know what I am talking about, please -- save that discussion for a different thread.

They have such an easy time doing what I have just mentioned, mainly because of the following: they have evidence to support their accusations. Let me get one thing clear, I do not believe any of their claims.

Although I do admit that I have seen posts/comments made by genuine Paul supporters that fit the negative stereotype -- I believe that even these people have good hearts.

A few of you may ask: 'why do you think a bunch of cursing uncourteous people who are hurting the campaign like they are have good hearts?' My reason, if only in my mind, is highly logical. It is this: by voting for Ron Paul you are actively furthering the cause of peace and freedom -- and that'll put you on my good side any day.

However, the problem remains. So let us boil it down to two simple questions:

What can we do to change this perception?
Supposing the worst case scenario, and this perception cannot be changed -- what can be done to add weight to the case of Paul supporters being friendly, polite, peaceful, intelligent, etc.?



Well, as it would happen, I think I have one possible solution in my head. This is not to say that this will be the only solution (as it definately shall not), nor that it will even be a solution at all. However, I am hoping that some of you will give me some feedback on what I am proposing. Indeed, if enough of you think it a decent enough idea, I don't see what prevents the creation of such a website.

Here is my website idea, put as plainly as possible:

A not-your-average testimonial site for that under-represented quiet majority, containing thousands of different profiles on voluntary supporters, giving as much or as little information about themselves as they wish. In other words, a chance for the quiet majority to *drown out* the loudmouth minority!


Now, you may be getting ready to ask me the following questions, so I'll beat you to it...

Q. What is so special about this idea?
A. Absolutely nothing! Use what works, and the simplest thing usually does work.

Q. Nobody pays attention to testimonials -- why bother?
A. Perhaps people do not. This is not provable, though, and so is not a fact. However, let us suppose that it *is* a fact that nobody reads testimonials; the site will still be fulfilling its intended goal. Which is that it will be something that any supporter can point to the next time somebody generalises 'those Paul supporters are an unruly lot'. At least this somebody would have to admit -- 'ok -- so not all of them are unruly... infact, according to this website, there is a huge number of civil and downright wholesome Paul supporters'.

Q. Aren't there are already sites that do this -- they feature groups such as grannies and war vets, etc.?
A. That's all very well. However, two things. First, the numbers are too small to constitute an objective person to say 'actually, come to think of it, the majority of Paul supporters are polite, but a few spoil it for the rest'. Second, none of these sites have been created with the intention to combat this divisive argument against Dr. Paul/his supporters. This fact, in itself, shows why these sites cannot do the job that the one I am suggesting might be able to do.

Q. Do you really think it's worth the effort to enter such a petty squabble?
A. Humbly, I don't know. You will have to answer this one for yourself if you plan on involving yourself by either helping to create the website, or creating your own testimonial profile. Perhaps you're doing something about this already, and I didn't even know! There is a lot of stuff I don't know, but what I do know is this -- it would be a real shame to know that a few hundred 'trolls' were a contributing factor to (God forbid) Dr. Paul's loss, or even worse, the seperation of the freedom movement. Indeed, the answer I would personally love to give to this sort of question would be: no, it's not worth the effort, because not even bad reputations will stand in the way of freedom, even if we do nothing to reverse them.

Q. So your idea is very short and vague. Do you have a name for the site? What specifically will people wanting to give testimonials have to do in order to participate? What is stopping people from claiming that the testimonials are fake? How much time, effort and cash will be involved in the making of such a website?
A. I have my own answers to all of these questions, and more (I can't type all day). However, I am starting this thread hoping that people will come up with different/better answers than my own. I do not think it proper to include such specifics in a brainstorm thread about an idea that I'm not even sure is good.



I'm sure some of you will have lots of fun shooting down as much as you can about my idea, and I welcome that sort of as much as any other.

What I will not be happy to see is posts with no substance. I would prefer to see one hundred consecutive constructive critisisms more than a clutter of cringing congratulatory comments such as 'good idea' or 'love it!'



As a side note, did the alliteration just above help or hinder my message?



Thanks for reading!