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It takes ten seconds and costs nothing. I honestly don't understand the argument against it. It may be no better than nothing, but it can hardly be worse.
by fusiongyro 13y ago
It takes ten seconds and costs nothing. I honestly don't understand the argument against it. It may be no better than nothing, but it can hardly be worse.
- corin_ 13y agoIt could perhaps be worse, either because it makes 100,000 people (or however many) think "well I've done by part now!" so they become complacent, or because the administration thinks "well they've got it off their chest with a petition, that will keep them away from doing anything stronger so let's keep going with what we were doing". Definitely subjective, though.
- fearlessleader 13y agoWhat if the 'buzz' generated by all of these people inspires a few people to actually do substantive? Kinda like how spam only needs a few clicks per million to generate a profit. This is just speculation but it helps me cope with the facebook activism.
- corin_ 13y agoI should clarify that I wasn't warning against signing the petition, merely adding a thought to the "well at the very worst it can't do any harm" logic. Make up your own mind on whether signing it is good, bad, or neither :)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mseebach 13y agoThe argument is the same, but from the opposite end: Because it costs nothing and takes ten seconds. Why should I care about an opinion if the proponent can't invest more than that into it (say, a phone call to your congressman). What other artefacts of zero-cost, (near-) zero-effort expression should be considered in the legislative process?
- InclinedPlane 13y agoIt does cost something. It makes you feel like you've done something, so you perhaps have less motivation to do something more substantive such as writing your congressional reps and senators. Which is a far more meaningful act than signing these useless online petitions.
- fusiongyro 13y agoThere are always ways to do more, but in my experience this line of reasoning actually deflates more than it inspires. If someone has 10 seconds to sign the petition, let them sign the petition and go about their day rather than wasting 10 seconds making them feel guilty for not doing more.