Very, very impressive. But as you well know, this is only a beginning.
I’m a retired gig worker, subsisting on SS and family, but I have a way with words -I made my living as a writer (speeches, training/learning, educational entertainment). I live in a rural area of California and am looking for folks to work with (in my case, work = communication).
Using the labor Union experience as a model, I believe that before action there must be organization. Any ideas on how to engage, and with whom?
When I say short form messaging, I envision posts in social media that go something like:
"Why should people who work full time need government assistance to be able to afford a dignified life? - Check out USOS to find out how that can change. [LINK]"
"Why shouldn't people pay towards funding society proportional to how much they have taken from it? - Check out USOS to find out how we can make that happen. [LINK]"
Get a bunch of such questions that touch on people's common sense/basic values of fairness/responsibility/etc. Make these questions/solutions synonymous with USOS, and the attention should follow, and with it buy-in and support. Then at that point it becomes a matter of being properly organized/systemic/intentional the way the Powell network folks were, rather than being all-over the place the way that left leaning movements tend to end up.
Thank you for the feedback. It was a real challenge to put together (I began working on the USOS concept several years ago) in a package that I think is a good balance of comprehensiveness and conciseness (even though it's fairly long as it is).
100% agree on it being only the beginning as well as the issue of organization. In fact, I think the union issue is a very apt analogy, because often times people have been taught to see unions as bad for their own interests despite the historical record strongly saying otherwise.
I think the hardest challenge is that while I think The Freedom Illusion provides a compelling argument for the underlying cause for the mess we're in today, and a compelling blueprint for the solution, it is not something your average person is going to read. I'm working on a much shorter version that gives the gist of it, but I think that it works precisely because it goes through the history/arguments so comprehensively as to shut the door on all the likely objections. So, I only really see 2 paths:
- (top down) Get it in front of enough people who are both willing to read it (and hopefully be convinced by it) who already have a large reach and who can incorporate its ideas in the information they put out there. The problem here is that there are a lot of people whose financial interests lie in maintaining the status quo when it comes to favoring single-issue solutions and divisions across race/religion/class, both of which guarantee victory for the extraction ideology. So, then this boils down to persuading them that they can lead on something that could be even more financially beneficial because it's innovative and could actually work. For those who don't have a financial stake on the status quo, it'd be just a matter of getting them to look at an idea that has no "pedigree" behind it, which can be challenging.
- (bottom up) Create precise, short form messaging that refers back to it to get people interested in the ideas behind it. The problem here is that there's so much information out there that it's very hard to compete for people's attention.
Whichever the case, it comes down to getting as many eyes as possible to look at the ideas and to try and persuade them. I think the key is going to be in leveraging personal connections AND social media.
Thanks for your reply. As I said, I’m in awe of what you’ve done, and not surprised it took years.
As to the top-down approach, my experience working with global organizations suggest it’s possible to make an appeal to basic shared values, and then encourage an honest self-evaluation of how consistently we apply those values to the world we live in. Reinforce the idea that they we actually contributing to our well-being by being honest about those values and how we manifest them, day-to day, action-by-action.
My understanding of history and culture is that the only meaningful changes are bottom-up, and may take generations to really materialize. I think they also start to gain traction in local environments — family, clan, tribe, city, state. This means, I think, breaking the central argument into bite size pieces, articulated as you would to a first grader. Easily remembered, easily passed, completely consistent with the facts AND with the emotions.
I make my peace with the slow pace of bottom-up by thinking about the Buddhist idea that right actions are not judged by their immediate outcome — do what’s right and let it go .Onward and upward.
Social media can be a powerful tool, and it looks like you have a good start. The challenge is getting beyond the algorithms. Are a part of any discussion group type of feedback system? That is what I am looking for, as a first step for an individual to organize and then act.
Very, very impressive. But as you well know, this is only a beginning.
I’m a retired gig worker, subsisting on SS and family, but I have a way with words -I made my living as a writer (speeches, training/learning, educational entertainment). I live in a rural area of California and am looking for folks to work with (in my case, work = communication).
Using the labor Union experience as a model, I believe that before action there must be organization. Any ideas on how to engage, and with whom?
When I say short form messaging, I envision posts in social media that go something like:
"Why should people who work full time need government assistance to be able to afford a dignified life? - Check out USOS to find out how that can change. [LINK]"
"Why shouldn't people pay towards funding society proportional to how much they have taken from it? - Check out USOS to find out how we can make that happen. [LINK]"
Get a bunch of such questions that touch on people's common sense/basic values of fairness/responsibility/etc. Make these questions/solutions synonymous with USOS, and the attention should follow, and with it buy-in and support. Then at that point it becomes a matter of being properly organized/systemic/intentional the way the Powell network folks were, rather than being all-over the place the way that left leaning movements tend to end up.
Thank you for the feedback. It was a real challenge to put together (I began working on the USOS concept several years ago) in a package that I think is a good balance of comprehensiveness and conciseness (even though it's fairly long as it is).
100% agree on it being only the beginning as well as the issue of organization. In fact, I think the union issue is a very apt analogy, because often times people have been taught to see unions as bad for their own interests despite the historical record strongly saying otherwise.
I think the hardest challenge is that while I think The Freedom Illusion provides a compelling argument for the underlying cause for the mess we're in today, and a compelling blueprint for the solution, it is not something your average person is going to read. I'm working on a much shorter version that gives the gist of it, but I think that it works precisely because it goes through the history/arguments so comprehensively as to shut the door on all the likely objections. So, I only really see 2 paths:
- (top down) Get it in front of enough people who are both willing to read it (and hopefully be convinced by it) who already have a large reach and who can incorporate its ideas in the information they put out there. The problem here is that there are a lot of people whose financial interests lie in maintaining the status quo when it comes to favoring single-issue solutions and divisions across race/religion/class, both of which guarantee victory for the extraction ideology. So, then this boils down to persuading them that they can lead on something that could be even more financially beneficial because it's innovative and could actually work. For those who don't have a financial stake on the status quo, it'd be just a matter of getting them to look at an idea that has no "pedigree" behind it, which can be challenging.
- (bottom up) Create precise, short form messaging that refers back to it to get people interested in the ideas behind it. The problem here is that there's so much information out there that it's very hard to compete for people's attention.
Whichever the case, it comes down to getting as many eyes as possible to look at the ideas and to try and persuade them. I think the key is going to be in leveraging personal connections AND social media.
What do you think?
Thanks for your reply. As I said, I’m in awe of what you’ve done, and not surprised it took years.
As to the top-down approach, my experience working with global organizations suggest it’s possible to make an appeal to basic shared values, and then encourage an honest self-evaluation of how consistently we apply those values to the world we live in. Reinforce the idea that they we actually contributing to our well-being by being honest about those values and how we manifest them, day-to day, action-by-action.
My understanding of history and culture is that the only meaningful changes are bottom-up, and may take generations to really materialize. I think they also start to gain traction in local environments — family, clan, tribe, city, state. This means, I think, breaking the central argument into bite size pieces, articulated as you would to a first grader. Easily remembered, easily passed, completely consistent with the facts AND with the emotions.
I make my peace with the slow pace of bottom-up by thinking about the Buddhist idea that right actions are not judged by their immediate outcome — do what’s right and let it go .Onward and upward.
Social media can be a powerful tool, and it looks like you have a good start. The challenge is getting beyond the algorithms. Are a part of any discussion group type of feedback system? That is what I am looking for, as a first step for an individual to organize and then act.