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Why should any of this surprise anyone? I doubt they understand the Kreb Cycle either. The onus is on people who do understand to get off their thumbs and seek

Why should any of this surprise anyone? I doubt they understand the Kreb Cycle either. The onus is on people who do understand to get off their thumbs and seek public office. Here's the next eyeopener: Most legislation isn't written by legislators.

jonnathanson 15y ago
"The onus is on people who do understand to get off their thumbs and seek public office." Or at least to make their concerns known, and to get noticed in a big way. There will always be lobbies and lobbyists, and most of them will be funded by pockets far too deep to compete with directly. That's why common people have to get creative and tactical with their "lobbying" efforts. Look at Occupy Wall Street, for instance. Agree or disagree with their politics and their goals, but you have to give them credit for their marketing. Within the space of several months, they've transformed the entire cultural conversation about the state of the country. Look at the case of the anti-congressional-insider-trading legislation currently making its way through the system. One lone congressman sponsored a bill to ban congressional insider trading, and he was getting essentially no co-supporters for his cause. This went on for years, until he found his way onto "60 Minutes." Suddenly, everything changed, and now he's being taken seriously. If you don't have the money to pay for lobbyists, then you need to be your own publicist-marketer-organizer-activist-storyteller. It's not enough to be any of those five things in isolation, either; you've got to ply all of those disciplines, in very creative ways, to get noticed. Tech folks should have a lot of inherent advantages in that game. They can build things quickly. They understand social media and search engines. They can think systematically about tactical approaches to marketing. Where they may need help is on the "storytelling" part of the puzzle. Developing a succinct, emotionally relatable, human-interest narrative is crucial. Because unlike lobbyists trying to influence legislators, you're trying to influence common people. Your goal isn't to get noticed by your local congressman; your goal is to foment enough popular demand to become an undeniable force.

jonnathanson 15y ago

"The onus is on people who do understand to get off their thumbs and seek public office." Or at least to make their concerns known, and to get noticed in a big way. There will always be lobbies and lobbyists, and most of them will be funded by pockets far too deep to compete with directly. That's why common people have to get creative and tactical with their "lobbying" efforts. Look at Occupy Wall Street, for instance. Agree or disagree with their politics and their goals, but you have to give them credit for their marketing. Within the space of several months, they've transformed the entire cultural conversation about the state of the country. Look at the case of the anti-congressional-insider-trading legislation currently making its way through the system. One lone congressman sponsored a bill to ban congressional insider trading, and he was getting essentially no co-supporters for his cause. This went on for years, until he found his way onto "60 Minutes." Suddenly, everything changed, and now he's being taken seriously. If you don't have the money to pay for lobbyists, then you need to be your own publicist-marketer-organizer-activist-storyteller. It's not enough to be any of those five things in isolation, either; you've got to ply all of those disciplines, in very creative ways, to get noticed. Tech folks should have a lot of inherent advantages in that game. They can build things quickly. They understand social media and search engines. They can think systematically about tactical approaches to marketing. Where they may need help is on the "storytelling" part of the puzzle. Developing a succinct, emotionally relatable, human-interest narrative is crucial. Because unlike lobbyists trying to influence legislators, you're trying to influence common people. Your goal isn't to get noticed by your local congressman; your goal is to foment enough popular demand to become an undeniable force.