Zen and the Art of Online Activism

Way back when you all first stumbled onto a political blog or message board you may have felt overwhelmed with what you didn’t know.  You may have felt it an almost impossible task to get up to date on important topics being discussed so that you too could have something of value to add.  I know I did.  I also felt frustrated because by the time I got up to date, everyone else had moved along to another topic.  The frustration quickly left however when I realized that there were other people in the same situation and that we all needed help.  So I made it my task to ask simple basic questions of the top posters so that the rest of us could understand the material as well.

When others were looking to emulate Wonk in all it’s glory, I saw that as elitist and adverse to the cause of including more voices.

Once comfortable in the community(ies), the facts and information begin to flow quicker, until you feel you are at the same wavelength as the information you are receiving and it is processed in real time.

Occasionally a spark will happen that will galvanize the community.

A mother of a dead soldier stands in a ditch waiting for a President to open his door.

A massive Hurricane strikes and your friends are on the ground there and need help.

Photos of flag draped coffins are deemed unpatriotic.

This is when it is possible to advance to another level.  You go from responder, to actor in the world stage.  People are looking around and wondering what to do, you step up to bat, you realize you must perform to the best of your ability.  Everything you learned about communication skills come into play.  All of your contacts become utilized and turned into resources.  In one hour you can change the world.  Why?

As I have said before the human brain is very much like the computer, if you have gained enough experience using web tools, special search functions, design, local area guides, maps then, when you need to, suddenly you are able to think like a computer to produce answers for any given situation.  This speed will increase and increase with little to stop it but a system failure by either you, the computer, or the event that galvanized the team.

It can be a quite mesmerizing experience and very easy to get lost in tangents of thought.  As the constant flow of information washes over you and you pull out just the bits you need to do your job then return to the folks that need your information.

One person with a phone and a laptop computer can literally jump into any political situation now and change the playing field.  

If you want to:

You can post 100 links to DocuD in a day

You can raise 20,000 dollars for Winter Rabbit in a week.

You can help a family get reunited.

You can fund a small community project in your home town.

You can tell 100 people about reducing their Carbon output this weekend.

You can host an Online Blogger’s Symposium with Guest Speakers.

You can decide the Veteran’s deserve another voice right now.

And prepare for the crash, have people on stand by for when you can not take the information any more and need to rest.  You will find many people willing and proud to step up.  Because then they’ll be the one’s helping to change America.