Free Communication
From Steal This Wiki
Return to original Table of Contents
Contents |
[edit] Free Communication
Today's world of communication is light years away from what it looked like 40 years ago. This section contains information about traditional means of communication. The next section contains information about internet communication.
But the existence of electronic contact shouldn't cause us to overlook these traditional methods. The internet may be used for many things, but we don't pass the internet on the street, we don't see it on billboards or roadway overpasses. Despite how embedded the web is in our society, there are many methods of communicating that don't involve web sites, log-ins, RSS feeds or browser applications. In fact, many of our brothers and sisters don't have regular or reliable access to the web.
This is not a bad thing. Traditional methods of communication can sometimes be more flexible and direct than electronic means. As web content is often disconnected from everyday life, traditional content is everywhere — on our radios, on our phones and in our newspapers. The false notion that many activists have that says that the internet is the only or even the best way to communicate is perhaps the primary reason for the lack of involvement on the part of many people in influencing public policy.
The challenge with using traditional means is thinking outside the box. Effective communication breaks the pattern of expectations. Define your audience and know your medium. Challenge yourself to invent new and interesting ways to capture the attention of your audience by manipulating the medium or refining the message. When communication fails, it is most often because it doesn't convey meaning to the audience or because it doesn't use the medium correctly.
Effective communication conveys information quickly and generates the desired response on its own. Take advantage of the fact that most of the information that many people get from our corpgov system is batch processed and bland. By leveraging those means of communication effectively, you can counter the system's propaganda and generate action in a way that includes a huge number of people at once.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- www.personaltelco.net free community wireless network activism
[edit] 8. Original Free Communication
If you don't like the news, why not go out and make your own? Creating free media depends to a large extent on your imagination and ability to follow through on ideas. The average Amerikan is exposed to over 1,600 commercials each day. Billboards, glossy ads and television spots make up much of the word environment they live in. To crack through the word mush means creating new forms of free communication. Advertisements for revolution are important in helping to educate and mold the milieu of people you wish to win over.
Guerrilla theater events are always good news items and if done right, people will remember them forever. Throwing out money at the Stock Exchange or dumping soot on executives at Con Edison or blowing up the policeman statue in Chicago immediately conveys an easily understood message by using the technique of creative disruption. Recently to dramatize the illegal invasion of Cambodia, 400 Yippies stormed across the Canadian border in an invasion of the United States. They threw paint on store windows and physically attacked residents of Blair, Washington. A group of Vietnam veterans marched in battle gear from Trenton to Valley Forge. Along the way they performed mock attacks on civilians the way they were trained to do in Southeast Asia.
Dying all the outdoor fountains red and then sending a message to the newspaper explaining why you did it, dramatizes the idea that blood is being shed needlessly in imperialist wars. A special metallic bonding glue available from Eastman-Kodak will form a permanent bond in only 45 seconds. Gluing up locks of all the office buildings in your town is a great way to dramatize the fact that our brothers and sisters are being jailed all the time. Then, of course, there are always explosives which dramatically make your point and then some.
