Posted on 10/16/2008 12:54:28 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan
Conservatives are, IMHO, soon to be in the decided and percecuted minority. It is accordingly time to utilize methods from the Radical Left playbook "Rules for Radicals" to further our agenda.
My suggested targets are: Harry Reid (vulnerable), the owners of Google (soft and naive), and the president of Time Warner (useful).
Here are the Rules:
RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)
RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)
RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)
RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)
RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)
RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)
RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)
RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
I remember being struck with the notion that my fellow chattering class trainees in college (I admit, I was naive enough to think that I'd learn something useful at a liberal arts college), would use that knowledge against folks, not for them.
What would an example of using Rule 12, say, against Diane Sawyer(sp?) look like? Did you see her interview of Joe the Plumber - unbelievably biased. How would a peon like me even effectuate a tactic? Plus, I'm hamstrung by the Golden Rule, which Obamamessiah is not bound to, but I am.
I can think of a few off the top of my head. One way is to use questions as answers. Rapid fire is even better. Say on abortion they say their pro-choice. I ask them if they think killing something is a choice? Why would you kill somdthing that can’t defend itself? Do you consider that tolerant?
Point out their contradictions. Again abortion. They say it’s a woman’s body. I say what about the baby’s body? Would you kill the offspring of a pregnant animal?(most liberals won’t) Wouldn’t that be animal cruelty? Are we worth less than animals?
Or do a tit-for-tat. We pay our state budget primarily with property taxes. When they try to pull heartstrings like saying people won’t have health care if the govt doesn’t provide it, I pull them right back and say we’re going to be throwing retirees on fixed income out of their homes into the freezing cold if we raise their taxes.
Fight them to a stalemate. When they try to move things left, you don’t always have to win, you just fight them to a standstill. They expend great effort, you expend far less. They end up with nothing, you win because nothing changed.
Misdirection. Especially if you can bait them into a corner or a contradiction. Even better, bait them into a ‘be careful what you wish for, you just might get it’ Like asking the genie for a beautiful wife, and after you get it you realize she’s a slut and a bitch.
Alinsky really wasn’t a great chessplayer. His tactics were effective because they work en masse on a kneejerk gut level. If you can stay a step ahead them you can beat them.
A good counter: ‘Why ya pickin’ on Joe? He’s just an average guy, a hard working guy trying to raise a family. All he did was ask a question!’
Then you tie it: ‘This just like what they did to Sarah Palin. She was announced and barely said anything, and two days later they were digging up anything they could to smear her with all sorts of sleaze.’
Then you bring it home them: ‘This what they’ll do if Obama get elected. They’ll come straight to your doorstep and persecute you for months if you even think of exercising your first amendment right to free speech. His admin will be a thugocracy and we’ll all be getting knocks on the door in the middle of the night. For your family’s safety you can’t vote for this guy.’
PING a ling
See my post discussing a book review of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals book sold on Amazon.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2107844/posts?page=41#41
The book review is about using Alinsky’s rules against the Marxists. Also the Amazon book review linked at the bottom of the post could use some helpful bumps.
Wonderful stuff, all.
I have learned from this thread, that I think the key lesson is to make things PERSONAL. Don’t attack “Newsweek, attack a given reporter at Newseak, and destroy him.
Make people hate him.
Make people avoid him because of baggage and trouble.
Eventually, OTHER reporters are gun shy.
This is the method Jesse Jackson has used to great effect.
Get a group of friends together, discover YOUR method of protest (you have to enjoy it), and target some liberal for destruction.
Well, that’s fine.
We need all types, and your method will be different.
A couple of more things to keep in mind: a) Alinsky ain’t got nothin’ on Machiavelli, Genghis Khan, or Sun Tzu (to name a few), b) Lee Atwater took it right to the front door of the hippie radicals and beat the snot out of them. I’ll be studying his tactics this winter.
You’ve been linked from the Belmont Club, post#37
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/04/14/culture-post-of-the-day/#more-3321
RULE # 13:
Always have a gaggle of stoned, promiscuous young women handy for the guys to hook up with at the end of the rally.
Bill Ayers invented this rule. (Bill Clinton followed it.)
We definitely need our Prayer Warriors. They are the Powerhouse supporting those in the front lines.
St. Paul tells us “there are many gifts but the same Spirit “ (1Cor 12:4). In other words, we are given different roles so that we can serve God well according to our particular talents.
We’re thankful for people like you.
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