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Ideas for Spreading the Message

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rflores replied on Tue, May 6 2008 10:36 PM

Sounds great...we will have to adapt the Road to serfdom comic strip to our context...but yes it sounds great...thank you for the idea

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rflores replied on Tue, May 6 2008 10:39 PM

Everything is getting more difficult everyday. Adn restrictions are adding each day to the list....reagarding money..passport...property. But a plus here is taht we dont live in an Island and that most of the military is corruptible, so just hand him some money or whisky and that should be enough.

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Sure.  Consider naming a hero in your comic strip, make it the sort of thing you can distribute to adults/kids.  Give them some young fella with a libertarian outlook to cheer for and follow.

Not being a Randian myself, I think Ayn Rand opened a lot of minds up with her books.  We have lots of academics today, and guys like BrainPolice who make robust intellectual arguments, but not enough catering to the rank and file, man on the street by giving him an introduction that is digestible.

In this regard, Ron Paul has been tremendously successful.  And his hero status (deserved or not) is a large part of that.

Consider regular media as a vector you can use to reach people, in a way that is meaningful to them.  Video, comic strips, plays, songs etc.

Sorry, I am rambling...  Embarrassed

If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North

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ChaseCola replied on Tue, May 6 2008 11:03 PM

The comic strip is a good idea, especially if it can make some sense to the illiterate.

 "The plans differ; the planners are all alike"

-Bastiat

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Ellen M replied on Tue, May 6 2008 11:19 PM

Most comics can - they rely a lot on visual cues to convey information, and words sortof just complete the picture (with some exceptions, obviously.) And I agree, it's a great idea. Just come up with some good characters someone can identify with and set the story so that they're the good guys and the gov is bad...it can be hard to think of philosophy when you're caught up in a story, all the thinking tends to come later.

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Byzantine replied on Wed, May 7 2008 11:16 AM

rflores:
Sounds great...we will have to adapt the Road to serfdom comic strip to our context...but yes it sounds great...thank you for the idea
 

Here is how a man named Jack Chick spreads the message of fundamentalist, end-times, anti-Catholic Christianity in the US:

http://www.chick.com/default.asp

The message is just awful, but the medium is extremely powerful.  If you want to know where people like George Bush and the people who vote for him come from, just browse around that site.  If I were a graphic artist I would definitely copy Chick's method.

Keep the faith, bro.

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Byzantine replied on Wed, May 7 2008 11:25 AM

 LOL!  I love this one:

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0022/0022_01.asp

The beleaguered demon, "Irving baby, look--there's a phone!"  This guy kills me.

Like I say, the theology sucks but Chick is a brilliant propagandizer.  Now imagine giving this treatment to a single arcane topic:  paper money.  The tract could end with a headline, "All Paper Money Ends Up The Same Way!," and graphic representations of Zimbabwe and social decline.  You get the idea.

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Magnus replied on Thu, May 8 2008 8:27 AM

 If you feel like it, rflores, I think you should start a blog on mises and keep people up to date about whats going on in Venezuela. I know at least that I would be interested in reading it. Overall, my knowledge of Latin America is shamefully low! 

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rflores replied on Thu, May 8 2008 8:31 AM

Im going to take your advice and start one as soon as possible. Thank you for everything

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rflores replied on Thu, May 8 2008 8:34 AM

Byzantine:

Here is how a man named Jack Chick spreads the message of fundamentalist, end-times, anti-Catholic Christianity in the US:

http://www.chick.com/default.asp

 

 

ohh....So thats the guy who publishes the tracts I have been seeing all around the churches over here....they are really heavy and so no love-your-neighbor....BUt yes I completely forgot about this kind of comic strip....Thank you

 

 

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rflores replied on Thu, May 8 2008 8:40 AM

liberty student:
In this regard, Ron Paul has been tremendously successful.  And his hero status (deserved or not) is a large part of that.

The thing that all the libertarians here are all intellectual and not at all political, with out charm or popularity...So we will have to either convert some of the opposition leaders into our ideology or just wait until someone catches on and becomes a true leader...There is another problem going around here and is that we have some libertarians but all of them want to lead the movement and no one wants to be lead...so at the end we turn out like trotskites, that is 5 people and 300 organizations...

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rflores:
The thing that all the libertarians here are all intellectual and not at all political, with out charm or popularity...So we will have to either convert some of the opposition leaders into our ideology or just wait until someone catches on and becomes a true leader...

Honesty is intoxicating.  People are starved for honesty.  And most of us, even the plainest of us, are capable of honesty.  :)

 

rflores:
There is another problem going around here and is that we have some libertarians but all of them want to lead the movement and no one wants to be lead...so at the end we turn out like trotskites, that is 5 people and 300 organizations...

I notice the same thing as well.  Which is why I think it is more important to recruit people who are willing to perform "role duties".  They are much rarer than people who desire to lead.

 

 

If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North

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Danno replied on Thu, May 8 2008 9:18 AM

Yes, the comic/tract idea is good.  If you've got some folks with creativity in the performing arts, music can be remarkably persuasive - the folksong tradition in the USA was tremendously effective in gathering support for the collectivist, populist message it carried. 

I've got a teenager distributing copies of Bastiat's _The Law_ to her friends - working on a much smaller scale than you're dealing with, but it's a remarkably persuasive little book.  You may find more useful ideas in Heinlein's _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, a novel about a revolution on the moon, or in most of the books by Claire Wolfe, such as _The Freedom Outlaw's Handbook: 179 Things to do 'till the Revolution_ or _Don't Shoot the Bastards (yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom_, which have many suggestions for convincing other locals that freedom can be theirs.

Best of luck to you, and I'll add my vote - do please keep us informed on how it's going.

Danno

The avatar graphic text:

      "Are you coming to bed?" 

"No, this is important" 

      "What?"

"Someone is wrong on the internet."

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rflores replied on Thu, May 8 2008 9:26 PM

emdoub:
I've got a teenager distributing copies of Bastiat's _The Law_ to her friends - working on a much smaller scale than you're dealing with, but it's a remarkably persuasive little book. 

I think adapting that to a shorter version or to separate it in short pamphlets can also be an option. Also, what do you think of using videos? I mean like the Drew Carey Project at reason.tv http://reason.tv/featuredvids/  (just scroll down to see the other vids). I know many of you are not fans of reason (I am not a fan either) but maybe take a look and tell me you opinions.

I am asking all this sorts of questions because we have limited resources and the more ideas we have here the better decisions we can take about the use we give to those resources (economics!!)

 

Thank you again, and sorry for any mistakes in my english

 

RDF

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rflores replied on Thu, May 8 2008 9:29 PM

emdoub:
You may find more useful ideas in Heinlein's _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, a novel about a revolution on the moon, or in most of the books by Claire Wolfe, such as _The Freedom Outlaw's Handbook: 179 Things to do 'till the Revolution_ or _Don't Shoot the Bastards (yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom_

I'll be sure to get those books as soon as possible.

 

There is also another author related to Mrs Wolfe, he goes by the name of  "Boston T. Party" are any of his books any good?

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Interesting that this is brought up, the idea of a comic, as a friend & I have been trying to start our own webcomic for months now (his 9to5's usually get in the way of most progress). 

Although I originally made one of the 'rules' of not pandering to political jokes (everyone does that & it's for lack of a better word...flaccid, writing-wise), I might be tempted to give some subtle nods to the apolitical schools of thought, however. 

That's assuming of course we ever get this thing off the ground D:

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Danno replied on Fri, May 9 2008 2:22 PM

rflores:

There is also another author related to Mrs Wolfe, he goes by the name of  "Boston T. Party" are any of his books any good?

What I've seen of his writing is largely "how to work around the system" stuff - which may or may not be relevant to your situation, and the loopholes he finds do get closed by enlarging states - but they're fairly solid when written.

Do be careful - your government may be keeping an eye on people who order such books.  I'm fairly certain that mine is.

If you have a group, it's probably best if only one or two members do the 'easily tracked' things, like posting on the internet or buying books via credit card or mail.  When governments get oppressive, they're usually a bit more oppressive than the public is generally aware of - by the time the people learn how bad it is, it's gotten even worse.

I may be just paranoid - but I've always considered that to be a survival trait, anyway.

Danno, taking comfort in being a very small fish.

The avatar graphic text:

      "Are you coming to bed?" 

"No, this is important" 

      "What?"

"Someone is wrong on the internet."

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rflores replied on Fri, May 9 2008 8:33 PM

Motivated by your requests, I have started a blog right here at mises.org, the url is:

http://mises.org/Community/blogs/smallwindow/

 

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Perhaps something like this would work..

http://littledemocrats.net/samples.html

Actually, I find this version quite scary!!!

 

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Ellen M replied on Sun, May 11 2008 3:25 AM

Given the first half's focus on "state-as-mommy", I originally thought this was anti-democrat! Just goes to show, one person's scary thought is another's comfort.

 

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