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This is because writing letters and making phone calls takes (sometimes marginal, but still) more effort than sending an email.
by rexreed 14y ago
This is because writing letters and making phone calls takes (sometimes marginal, but still) more effort than sending an email.
- noitsbecause 14y agoWhat you say is coincidentally true. Typically the higher the level of effort, the harder it is to ignore. But the reason it's more effective is that it's harder to ignore.
- jrockway 14y agoWhy does the amount of effort I put into communicating with my elected representatives matter? If my view is worth taking seriously, it should be taken seriously regardless of whether I email or snail mail him. After all, it's not much effort to vote for his opponent at the next election.
- biot 14y agoThis is why men should Fedex engagement rings to their prospective fiancées. After all, it's the thought that counts not whether the act involves a romantic evening culminating in a bent-knee proposal vs. tearing open a delivery box alone in her apartment.
- jrockway 14y agoYour example is invalid because the power dynamic is reversed. If someone doesn't like the way you give them an engagement ring, they can ditch you and get another fiance. But in the case of mailing your Congressperson, it's you that can ditch the current Congressperson by electing a new one.
- aptwebapps 14y agoThey probably correlate letter writing with voting, or we imagine they do. Writing a letter takes effort, so does voting. Old people write letters more and vote more. Etc.
- biot 14y agoMy point wasn't about the power dynamic but rather the perception of effort/thought/care. Even though the message is the same, whether it's "Will you marry me?" or "Will you consider this political stance?", the perception around the delivery of the message is still taken into account. Writing a physical letter introduces a barrier of effort which separates a two minute slap-out-an-email rant from a carefully composed and considered letter. Imagine if commenting on YouTube required writing a letter? The quality of comments would increase by many orders of magnitude.
- bluedanieru 14y agoBecause your representatives are old and suspect email isn't a real thing, or that the same person could just email 50 times (and that somehow the same can't be done with the regular post). They are also looking for any excuse to totally ignore your ass so they can get back to abdicating power to special interests.