The late and very much lamented Judy Holliday was one of my favorite film actors. In the 1950
masterpiece Born Yesterday she plays
Billie Dawn, the chorus girl fiancée of crooked junk tycoon Harry Brock, who
has come to Washington to pull off some deals.
Brock hires an idealistic reporter [William Holden] to give her a little
class, and before the tutorial is finished, the two have fallen in love. Early on, shortly after she has met Holden,
she gets off one of the classic lines in all of movie history. Looking at him somewhat squinty [she resists wearing
her glasses], Billie asks, in her brassy New York accent, “Are you one of them talkers, or would you be innerested in a liddle action?”
One of the problems with blogs, even classy ones like this,
is that they are all talk and no action. It is great talk, no doubt, but it is just
talk. So I said to myself this morning as I was walking, “Look. If Google is right, this blog is getting
between 2500 and 3000 visits a day. Now
some of those are from people coming back a second time in the same day, but on
the other hand some people who consider themselves regular readers don’t check
in every day. And even though I do get
visitors from some pretty distant places on at least six of the seven
continents [no one from Antarctica yet], most of the visitors are
Americans. And it is a pretty safe bet
that most, but of course not all, have progressive or left wing politics.”
In short, what we have here is a community of at least two
to three thousand progressive adult Americans scattered across the
country. Most seem to be men,
unfortunately, but as Donald Rumsfeld wisely observed, you go to war with the
army you have, not with the army you want.
Two to three thousand is not a tidal wave, but it is not
nothing either. After all, I created and
ran all by myself, with some help from my wife, a little 501(c)(3) charitable organization
that for twenty-five years enabled 1600 or so young Black men and women in
South Africa to go to historically Black universities there.
So, is there any way to convert this community into a
political force for progressive politics?
I am clueless about social media.
I don’t do Twitter or FaceBook or SnapChat, and if I feel myself going
viral I check to see whether I have had a flu shot. I don’t even really know how to create a
distribution list, other than this blog, so that I can reach a bunch of people
with a few keystrokes. But I bet some of
my readers know all of that.
I am willing to be the hub for this effort, with a little
help from my friends, as the Beatles would say.
My idea is to focus on local races, to build a network of activists who
will work wherever they live to elect State reps and senators, mayors,
Governors, U. S. representatives, anybody who can help us fight for a more
progressive America.
To be honest, I do not even know how to start, save by writing
this, posting it, and seeing whether anyone out there is interested. Would this effort duplicate what is already
being done? God, I hope so! If we are all there is, we are toast.
What do you think?
That sounds like a good idea. Even dwarfs started small....
ReplyDelete"it is not given to us to complete the task. But neither are we free to refrain from starting it"
ReplyDeleteI like that. You're in.
ReplyDelete"Would this effort duplicate what is already being done?"
ReplyDeleteI believe this is what "Our Revolution" is doing. I am not sure just how well they are doing it, however. I've signed up to help there, but I have yet to receive marching orders.
A comment on the next post mentions bigtent.com. I second that. Seems straightforward and touts security/privacy of information. Leaking PII is always a risk online, however.
I wouldn't underestimate the ability of twitter to grow a following either. You could easily use it to promote pieces written here, etc. Here is an article in which a Black Lives Matter activist about using digital tools for such things:
http://www.theverge.com/a/verge-2021/deray-mckesson-interview-black-lives-matter-digital-activism
"the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted"
"So, is there any way to convert this community into a political force for progressive politics? I am clueless about social media. I don’t do Twitter or FaceBook or SnapChat, and if I feel myself going viral I check to see whether I have had a flu shot. I don’t even really know how to create a distribution list, other than this blog, so that I can reach a bunch of people with a few keystrokes. But I bet some of my readers know all of that."
ReplyDeleteMaybe the funniest, and most sanguine thing you've ever written. I'm grinning ear to ear.
I read this letter Engels wrote the day after Marx died, last night. I must confess it made me a little misty eyed, but it's reminiscent of your post:
"Local lights and lesser minds, if not the humbugs, will now have a free hand. The final victory is certain, but circuitious paths, temporary and local errors – things which even now are so unavoidable – will become more common than ever. Well, we must see it through. What else are we here for?
And we are not near losing courage yet."
I'm in.
I know that I'm certainly in as well.
ReplyDeleteInstead of thinking about this as just a small group, consider thinking of it as just one small node of a much larger network.
Irrelevant but amusing aside, that some may not know here - and perhaps it was just studio publicity - but the story was that Judy Holliday read The Critique of Pure Reason for relaxation during the filming of Born Yesterday.
ReplyDelete