Re: Can we make a difference?

From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Feb 21 2001 - 11:17:38 MST


"Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com> writes:

> I believe that it would be highly useful for situations like
> this to come under the focus of a national or international
> "rapid" response team. One can only imagine the consternation
> of local school board officials, principals, teachers, etc.
> when the start receiving telephone calls from various
> extropians (in the U.S., Europe, etc.) asking them what they
> could possibly have been thinking to "censure" a scientific
> study.)

Interesting idea.

Having a lot of people call up someone or protest against something
usually amounts to little, at least on a larger political level ("Oh
well, another interest group. Yawn."). This approach is more clever,
because it makes the local administrator realise that he is watched by
the world. It might be more effective in cases like the one you
mentioned.

> What would be the "logistics" of a rapid response team?
> (a) to identify cases that a majority of extropians
> would have an interest in expressing an opinion.
> (b) to make available the contact information (email/phone)
> of the individuals involved in the issue.
> (c) to report to the group/sub-group regarding any conversations
> or responses by the parties inolved in the issue.

Sounds doable.

> So, I offer this example and a suggested response strategy
> as a means for dealing with "political action" on the
> extropian front lines.

Also note that writing articles and news stories about events like
this can be an excellent way of spreading your agenda. I recently
wrote a small humorous essay about how the local muncipality had
"improved" the local park by adding fences everywhere that actually
was an essay conveying just why centrally planned projects often are
counterproductive and inefficient - a political statement that would
otherwise have been rather dry to read. A girl with a censored science
project can easily become a good symbol of the need for free speech,
free research and a less anxiously PC society.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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