Your activism reading list...

[bogie]

What's in it? What do you draw upon when creating a strategy?

I'd propose adding info on guerrilla marketing, etc... This one strikes me as interesting...

http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point...24/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/002-9251531-4912035

 

[mljdeckard]

Anyone I talk to who says they want to get started, I refer them to the current edition of Combat Handgunnery by Massad Ayoob.

A lawyer and activist in Utah named Mitch Vilos has written a couple of great books which delinate state and federal gun laws in Utah in plain english.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

The Zombie Survival Guide.

FM 21-76.

 

[bogie]

Sigh.

I didn't say "shooting" reading list.

I didn't say "legal ramifications of gun ownership" reading list.

I didn't say "esoteric rant on libertarian politics" reading list.

And I sure didn't mention zombies or _any_ field manuals.

There are lessons which we can learn from "books that are not about subjects with which we are already familiar with." Such a bleepin' concept.

Gunnies, as a whole, aren't that good with political activism and change management. The left wing, however, darn near INVENTED how things are done these days.

Read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Steal-This-Bo...1706242?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189971295&sr=8-1

And keep in mind that MANY of the books that you see on the "fringe book" tables at gun shows were originally marketed at and sold to _hippies_. The anarchist's cookbook, the dirty tricks stuff, all that crap...

 

[mljdeckard]

Well sorry for the help. I see lots of other people have jumped up to understand exactly what you were talking about.

Maybe we're just too stupid for you.

I mention Ayoob's book because it is the COMPLETE guide to combat handgunnery. It addresses topics such as minorities and guns, and public relations.

The same with Vilos' book. It is written in a way to make people understand that the perception, intent, and application of the law are all different things.

Atlas Shrugged is important because it adjusts people to the mindset of self-sufficiency.

THIS IS WHAT I DRAW UPON WHEN I IMPLEMENT ACTIVISM.

If you wanted something that specific, maybe you need to go get a marketing degree.

And no, I'm not chasing any links just because you posted them, not in either of your posts.

 

[adobewalls]

Not sure if you are looking for these, but here goes...


Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/06...UTF8&coliid=IXEKR8N0MFGSC&colid=1BFVD62IQSWKE

Learn the tactics of the radical reformers of the 60's, and the man Hilliary Clinton admired when she was a college student. Also, why do we win every logical debate and get nowhere? Its in here.


Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power:

http://www.amazon.com/48-Laws-Power...9726857?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190339679&sr=1-2

Power ebbs and flows and is always in flux. Understand power to learn how to gain it and use it.

 

[bogie]

Nice ideas...

We need to concentrate on what works.

Ayn Rand was a theoretician. And in case some folks haven't noticed, the thread is NOT about "guns."

It's about creating and manipulating public opinion. That's something that gunnies are notoriously bad at, largely because we've historically limited our reading. I'm not saying that Mas' book is bad (far from it...), but if we limit our learning to within our culture, we're going to continue to get our asses handed to us by the folks who are playing hardball.

The average professional activist KNOWS the reporters at their local media, both electronic and print. When they plan something, they don't just send a polite little letter, which gets bleepcanned by the intern who is opening the mail... They call folks. And they tell them that something WILL be news. They do BIG things. Sometimes things that make people cringe. But they get NOTICED.

Gunnies write long rambling essays (too much Any Rand is bad for your literary skills...) to newspapers' editorial pages...

We have to get away from the polite paradigm that has NOT been working for us, and start to think like the folks who we are up against... The Free Republic "embedded counterprotests" are a good example...

We need to become radicals.

 

[xd9fan]

heres mine
www.dailypaul.com

 

[Diamondback6]

Bogie's right. The Bradys are fighting with both hands and razor blades, why are we keeping one behind our backs and the other empty?

We need to not just be learning PR and media-matters, we need to be studying psychology and guerrilla/viral-marketing techniques. We, in short, need to learn how to push people's buttons just like the Bradys, only we have the facts to back our side up.

We need to use words that resonate with people, like "they think you're too stupid to be trusted." Or the analogy that compares different kinds of guns and their features to different kinds of cars and theirs, like "why do you need a vehicle that can do double any speed limit?"

The YouTube-shooters and gun-bloggers are starting us down this road, but we need to embrace it and use media far more effectively.

 

[ilbob]

It's about creating and manipulating public opinion.

I think a better choice of words is educating rather than manipulating. It is fairly easy to manipulate people, and that is why liberals do it that way. The education part is a little tougher, but it sticks longer.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

Last week in my Theories of Mass Communication class my professor spent a considerable amount of time talking about a man he considered to be a mass communication "genius" (that's saying a LOT coming from this professor, he always puts things in terms of simple facts, this is the only time I've heard him describe something as good or bad) who specializes in guerilla marketing and low-budget mass communication. This guy also wrote a book that my professor regarded as extremely effective at relaying the concepts behind successful methodology. Problem is, I can't recall the guy's name or that of his book. I'll email my prof and repost.

 

[Durruti]

I think a better choice of words is educating rather than manipulating. It is fairly easy to manipulate people, and that is why liberals do it that way.

Ilbob's statement makes an excellent example of one type of strategy: framing language. When people with opinions we like try to change the public's mind, they are "educating". When people with opinions we dislike try to change the public's mind, they are "manipulating". The methodology may be the same, but framing the language can make the two seem worlds apart. You can see the same thing with terms like "assault weapon" vs. "homeland defense rifle" (or whatever PC term folks have come up with this week).

I think you can start off with some pretty interesting critiques/discussions of the functioning of media in a post-modern world through movies such as Network, Natural Born Killers (not for the squeamish), and Thank You for Smoking. Additionally, a good, current, college-level Theory of Mass Communication Book is a good start.

As far as concrete examples are concerned, I don't particularly feel that books are the way to go. There are a few out there (Alinsky's Rules for Radicals or Hoffman's Steal this Book), but these things get outdated very quickly. Instead, I'd recommend a few websites that chronicle some of the activism that people are doing:

www.indymedia.org (and its various subsites)
news.infoshop.org
www.theyesmen.org

Most of you will strongly disagree with what's on the sites, but what's important for you is to understand the tactics. Honestly, you right-wingers got nothing on us lefties

You may have to sift through quite a bit of stuff to start to get an idea of what works and what doesn't, but there are lots of good ideas in there.

Although I'd recommend the above leftist and anarchist sites, I wouldn't bother with the lukewarm liberal stuff like MoveOn.org, A.N.S.W.E.R., or George Soros crap. Their top-down, elitist style of organizing is the type of thing we need to get past. It's like looking to the NRA for activist ideas. They've got their place, but activism ain't it.

We need to become radicals.

I'm way ahead of you on that one. You're right, though.

 

[bogie]

People have to _want_ to be educated. You can manipulate them without their permission. BIG DIFFERENCE.

And the media uses it.

Why do the kids want to buy stuff at certain stores? It's a mix of advertising and peer pressure. How does the peer pressure start? Freebies to the folks who are "initiators" of peer pressure...

Anyone here read William Gibson?

And I know there are "cool hunters" out there...