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yeah. it was frustrating at the time, but i'm already nostalgic...
one thing i thought was interesting was the way the mood of the room fluctuated. i genuinely believe at some points the tide turned in our favour. i saw a couple of instances of - uh, let's call'em 'floaters' - wavering, questioning themselves. having been in a couple of rooms where i was the one and only peacenik present, earlier in the week, i saw just how persuasive peer pressure and pure repetition can be.
alone, i was nothing but a scapegoat, a sympathizer - the focus for every right-thinkin' american to lay into. when there was a whole faction...people didn't have as much leverage to get personal.
plus, at any one time, we could shift roles to better complement each other. there were some points where i'd realised i'd gotten out of the loop. so i came back with a couple of righteous, repeated slogans in ALLCAPS. 'JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE'; 'SUPPORT THE UN'; 'NO MORE INNOCENT DEAD' etc. meanwhile flame, stoatie or johnny might be having a one-on-one dialogue with someone. lolita was excellent to have along 'cause she's an american in NY.
my suggested tactics:
1. have a word document or URL waiting in another window so you can cut + paste relevant quotes, facts, stats etc.
2. in the same doc - web addresses. best to use these more sparingly, i think - but if anyone wants to source our arguments, it's good to be able to refer them.
3. the thinking-on-yr-feet stuff. we have to remember that the best way to persuade people is by establishing a dialogue. different folks call for - well, y'know.
...for example - last nite there was a 'USAFwife' or something. also, a (young) girl whose dad was a marine. with both i abandoned rhetoric in exchange for actually trying to connect with them as people. i repeated again and again (there were combat vets there too) that our beef wasn't with the soldiers but the leaders.
it might be worth opening up a 'peacenik info' thread to dump a long list of facts and stats. we should all go gather some persuasive numbers. last nite i fucked up by making bold allegations about US economic policy that i had zero corroborating evidence for. and i got shot down for it.
ok: so how do people feel about this thread for tactical discussion - the 'peacenik info' thread for...uh, what are you? a goldfish? and the thread i'm about to start for the proposed 'nexxt level'...?
peeeeeeeaaace. |
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