[ExI] The twists & turns of politics & idealism (was: The End of the Future)

[Amon Zero]

On 5 October 2011 17:27, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2011/10/5 Amon Zero <amon at doctrinezero.com>:
> > And on that note, at the top of the page linked below you will find a
> > leaflet which will be distributed at the Occupy Dallas protests tomorrow,
> > which addresses exactly these things (necessarily briefly, being a
> > leaflet!). It doesn't explicitly mention transhumanism, but the website
> > itself is of course chock-full of futurist, pro-tech, & transhumanist
> > sentiment.
> > If anyone agrees with the views expressed there, we would very much
> > appreciate you spreading the word.
> > http://zerostate.net
>
> That bit about an alternative government is a great way to discredit the
> movement.  (Unless you actually have the armed force to overthrow the
> current government, which you don't, you'll be cracked down on and
> tossed in jail long before you accomplish any meaningful change, and
> most people know it.  Thus, advocating for alternative government
> encourages people not to waste their time.)
>
> Almost like you're being paid to do this by the powers that be - yet
> another of those "astroturf" movements that the public is getting tired
> of.
>
> If you don't wish to give that impression, might I suggest something
> like this?  "We will form a counter-tea party, to tap the grass roots
> anger of real ordinary Americans, and elect a Congress that will
> demand crackdowns on the corporate titans who have bought out our
> government, and the arrest of the leaders of both major parties under
> the RICO Act."  That proposes a far more achievable course of action.
>
> If you need more space, the QR code can be usefully relocated to
> the top left or top right corner.



Hi Adrian -

Thank you very much for the feedback - it's very much appreciated. Some
reaction to the flyer was very (very) negative, and although we're not out
to win popularity contests with those of opposing views, you're quite right
that things were done in quite a rush (events are moving fast!), and several
of us have become worried about giving the wrong impression of our attitude
or ideas. The following has been posted across the various ZS groups:

***********************

IMPORTANT!

Folks, some of us are agreed that although the intention was good, I got the
tone and some content of this leaflet badly wrong, so we're not going ahead
with it. I hope that people will respect (or at least acknowledge) that it's
important that we call it when we (or in this case, I!) get something wrong
- otherwise we are no better than those we would criticise.

We will not be disseminating leaflets in Dallas, and would like to have an
earnest conversation about this from people with multiple points of view.
Let's take a little time, and get this right.

I do apologise, and hope I'm doing the right thing here.

All the Best,
Amon
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