Eliezer wrote:
> >
> > A couple of thoughts on what an extropian counterprotest could look like.
> > Numerical inferiority would be so overwhelming in any such situation, that
> > the only feasible alternative would be IMHO a Greenpeace-like stunt.
>
> They'd crush us like bugs. I agree with Sandberg; the most effective
> option is writing counterpoint newspaper articles, ideally somewhere
> influential with a receptive audience.
The problem with newspaper articles and such is that they tend to be dry,
and not very convincing to the public at large. Very few people remember
a moving editorial; only a few more remember a story in a major news
magazine like Time or Newsweek.
A page needs to be taken from the pro-life/pro-choice playbook: We need
to rephrase the debate in terms of something for which most people are in
favor. It will NOT help to be anti-environment; not only does that run
counter to what many of us really believe, but it will score us no points
at all in he long run with people who will find it easy to revile positions
we hold based on how we're all "pave the earth" types.
A well-organized sloganeering capaign could revolve around "End World Hunger
NOW!" - no one is for world hunger, after all. When one of the more activist
types gets in your face about being pro-genetic engineering and thus anti-
environment, ask them at the top o fyour voice how many acres of virgin
wilderness had to be cleared to grow their "all-natural" cotton and/or hemp
clothes, or grow their organic fruits and vegetables? How many acres of
animal habitat were destroyed so they could feel good about themselves wearing
"all-natural" fibers? THAT is the sort of sound bite that will make it
into the media, and show the ecofundamentalists for what they really are -
a radical fringe group.
"Save Animal Habitat: Reduce Land Use for Cultivation of Crops!"
"No More Pesticide Sprays!"
"Grow Smarter, Not Harder!"
"Luddites, go home! Just Say No to the Stone Age!"
"Think Future! Reject Dogma!"
"No Habitat Was Destroyed In Making MY Dinner!"
"Eat Food, Not Animal Homes!"
Just some ideas on how this sort of loud sloganeering by even a small group
of people can attract a fair bit of media attention, and maybe even dislodge
some of the younger minds that flock to the banners of these radical
environmentalist groups.
-Corey
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:37 MDT