Car Wreck

I was going to write something shitting on Hillary’s appearance on the Daily Show last night but what is the point? At this point it is just kind of a car wreck I can’t look away from. If she seems this roughed up by Obama I hate to see her after the Republican slurry machine has a go at her in the general election.  If she makes it that far.

Hillary

What are you doing?

Clearly saying over and over again, I have more experience isn’t reaching enough people. Just like speaking to foreigners speaking louder is not going to make them understand.

You have a message, it isn’t working. Re-approach it. This is like design school 101.

Protest

Preface: I am not supporting any particular cause.  This rant is just one of those things where you see someone doing a job badly and it bothers you.

People don’t have a clue how to stage a protest anymore.  I’m not talking about strikes like the current writers guild strike, they are doing what they should be doing.   I am talking about protest geared to enact social change.

There are plenty of causes out there, immigration, environmentalism, animal rights… pick any one.  They go about enacting change by writing angry news letters, occasionally blocking a street or a park somewhere with rally.  When that is all over they call the press and tell them how many people were at the rally or how many donations they have received.  And then they are promptly ignored by the establishment.

Protest today has lost its teeth in this country.  In a nation of 300 million people (+12 million illegal residents) having 50,000 people show up on for one day isn’t even making a dent in the social consciousness let alone affecting the functioning of the organization you are protesting.  How do you expect anyone to even notice you when on the scale of things you are a pebble on a beach.

Additionally message is everything, if your cause is animal rights you can’t go out there looking like a long haired pot smoking hippy who chants a phrase that barely rhymes.  The people you want to listen to you wont take you seriously because you look like an advertisement for the legalization of pot which isn’t even your cause.  People looked like hippies and were taken seriously in the 60s and 70s because that was the fashion.  You cant expect to be taken seriously on an issue if you dont even know what decade it is.

The only two ways to have your protest taken seriously is by looking the part and actually affecting change.

Looks: If your cause is a populist one look like a member of the normal population, you need to look like the people you say you represent.  That’s the reason more people dont join social movements; it’s because normal American people are freaked out by people who stink and are stoned all the time.

Action: If you are going to protest then you should protest.  One protest on a nice summer day will get you no where.  Protests need to happen daily in every city, they should relentlessly seek to tire out the opposition.  They should affect the proper functioning of society.  Your cause will be noticed when daily life grinds to a halt. Ghandi, MLK both knew this.  Its not enough to go home at the end of the day, the opposition should be weary going home at the end of the day and dreading the next one.

If no one can relate to your cause and your movement has no teeth you are wasting your time.

The Day After New Hampshire

Obama lost by 3% to Clinton.

One day you are up the next day you are down. It’s funny how when I first found out Obama won Iowa I was bummed out for Clinton. And then I drank the Koolaide and I was all fired up for him to win New Hampshire. Now Clinton won New Hampshire and I’m sad Obama didn’t win. It must be people like me that make political strategists cry.