[sociate] Buy this T-shirt! (to engage the other side)
- From: "Jerry Michalski" <jerry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Sociate News" <sociate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:12:25 -0400
I'm amazed -- and not amazed -- that Bush and Kerry are still in a dead
heat.
I'm amazed because it is perfectly clear to me that Bush has done so many
<http://www.alternet.org/story/16243> manipulative,
<http://www.usnews.com/usnews/usinfo/press/secrecy.htm> secretive,
uninformed, misguided, untrustworthy, uninspiring,
<http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=42263>
hypocritical things that I think everyone can see through. But they don't.
Yet I'm not amazed, because our electoral process has devolved into little
more than a consumer mass-marketing spectacle. Both sides use the same
process and technologies such as focus-group-driven TV ads and pinpoint
targeting of swing voters to achieve their goals, so despite anything that
might be happening out in the real world, it seems natural (if creepy) that
the opinions should split 50-50. We are very malleable, especially when
we're feeling lots of fear.
Walking around a city center recently, I had a little "aha!": If we're split
evenly, then every other person I'm passing as I walk pretty much disagrees
with my views on these issues (I'm sure it didn't take you that long to
reach that insight). How do we reach out to talk to one another? How about
announcing a willingness to engage passers-by in a (relatively safe)
conversation on this important topic, while disclosing my point of view?
So <http://www.sociate.com/pix/BushArtSm.JPG> I composed a T-Shirt message
and opened a CafePress store to sell it broadly. (Isn't that what we've
always done? Imagine if Tom Paine or Ben Franklin had been able to print
T-Shirts and bumper stickers!) So
<http://www.cafeshops.com/sociate.12621018> buy one now, then head to your
local mall and troll for conversations. I'd love to hear what happens.
posted by Jerry Michalski at 12:38
<http://www.sociate.com/blog/archives/2004_07_01_archive.html#10911343516644
8725> PM
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