Dear DUers - A word of encouragement I HOPE you'll take to heart!

[calimary]

This is in response to the VERY long thread elsewhere here, martialling our forces to action against the bias at CNN (and, I hope eventually, elsewhere, too). There were some 230 or so posts, many people deciding to make a commitment to writing or emailing or calling or faxing, to complain about the short shrift Kerry is getting, versus the WILDLY-undeserved free ride bush still enjoys. I know the news and the polls and all that stuff can provoke some pretty heavy feelings of desolation. So: for anyone here who's enticed by the "oh, what's the use?" demons, I offer this, lifted from the last reply I made to that one: YOU GUYS NEED TO KNOW THAT THIS STUFF DOES FAR MORE GOOD THAN HARM, IN THE LONG RUN! DON'T GIVE UP!

And thanks to LibertyorDeath for the original thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1457038

This is good stuff, guys. You're all a bunch of Sam Addamses and Patrick Henrys and Tom Jeffersons!

And for those, here, who've become dejected enough by everything that's gone on and all the ongoing bad news, just keep this in mind: How will you feel if things go all the way to hell - and you'd done NOTHING AT ALL to stop it? Even if worse comes to worst, our consciences are clean. Small comfort, I know. But I'd rather face adversity knowing I did everything I could to stop it, rather than having to live with the silent soul killer of realization that my inaction had helped to enable that adversity. It's like with all those rallies and marches many of us joined during the run-up to the war. Yes, I know, they wound up not doing any good. Even all those millions around the world were not able to stop the juggernaut toward war. But I'm proud that I stood up against it ANYWAY - especially since we all turned out to be correct, and rather prescient, I might add. I can live with myself a lot more easily for having done what I could, instead of feeling remorse, now, that all I did was sit back and let my discouragement get the best of me.

Remember that photo during the Tiennamen Square (sp?) turbulence, with that ONE SINGLE GUY in the roadway, standing down a long line of big, ferocious-looking tanks? If it weren't for that ONE SINGLE GUY, where might those tanks have gone?

And note here, we have what looks like at least 200 of those ONE SINGLE GUY efforts here...

HUGS to you ALL!

calimary

[NNN0LHI]

1. You are right. I could not agree with you more n/t

[calimary]

2. ...and I'm kicking this myself.

I WANT people here to see this. And take heart.

[freeforall]

3. Right on calimary!

THE PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER

Don't ever forget it!

[calimary]

4. Further reinforcements: Just consider THIS from Bev Harris...

Note her comments in the following thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1458148


Here's what pushed it over the top:

There were many, many people and groups involved, among them BlackBoxVoting.org, VerifiedVoting.org, VotersUnite.org, True Majority, SAVE-Democracy, California Voter Foundation, but this produced intense stress and left, really, no choice...


This didn't happen without LOTS AND LOTS of pushing from LOTS AND LOTS OF INDIVIDUALS. EVERY ONE OF THEM was pushing in the same direction. Lots of little drops produced a fairly large ocean...

[TeeYiYi]

5. The tallest staircase . . .

. . . begins with the very first step.

Thanks for the words of encouragement calimary. :thumbsup:

TYY

[calimary]

8. Thanks to you, too!

I'm keeping this kicked.

[jus_the_facts]

6. cutting off their FUNDS is the ONLY way to make a REAL difference......

....the only thing these people understand is $$$$$$$$$$....so the REALITY is to CUT OFF THEIR FUNDING! Bitchin' to them only encourages them and gives them even MORE control since you're still PAYIN" for them to piss you off! :eyes:

....."Accurate observation is commonly called CYNICISM by those WHO HAVE NOT GOT IT!" George Bernard Shaw

[calimary]

7. That's a good point - TO ADD IN, not necessarily to substitute.

But you're certainly correct. Like Deep Throat said during Watergate - "Follow the money."

Which is why several people in that LibertyorDeath thread mentioned sponsor boycotts or notifications as well. I think www.takebackthemedia.com might help, here, or could be asked to help. After all, they were CERTAINLY helpful during the campaign to boycott Limbaugh's sponsors. As I recall, there was one, or maybe two, who got cold feet, at least for awhile. These folks do NOT like having controversy and negativity sticking to them also. Heaven forbid that it taints their precious bottom line!

You propose a MOST powerful additional prong to an overall strategy. If the sponsors and corporate backers feel no pain, and are served no notice, anything else we might do could be viewed as a nice big boat without much of a rudder.

Your point is certainly well-taken about ALL the whoring for money we see. It's not just the networks. It's the republi-CON party and all the many think-tanks underwritten by such weasels as Richard Mellon Scaife and more. It's the Rupert Murdochs of the world, keeping all of this well-oiled. It's the machinery of the Christian Coalition, and more besides.

Nobody's saying we aren't up against a LOT.

But remember, nobody thought some scrawny little guy with nothing but a slingshot could get the best of the mighty Goliath, either...

[jus_the_facts]

9. the only thing we the people have to FIGHT with is our ablility to NOT PAY

......the revolution doesn't need to be a bloody one....if there were any way to get EVERYONE on the same page *dreams on* and AS A NATION....we STOPPED bein' slaves to their agenda by makin' a STAND once and for all....by not workin' or payin' bills for a MONTH...we'd bring 'em all to their knees....it's just that simple IMO! :hi:

[LibertyorDeath]

10. Thanks calimary

Keep writing -emailing-faxing & calling CNN & their advertisers

:toast:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/

As Will Pitt would say the Greatest Sedition is Silence

[RoyGBiv]

11. Kick n/t

:kick:

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Thanks, calimary, for all you do to make it easier...

for all of us to make ourselves heard.

[calimary]

21. HUGS!

[NMDemDist2]

13. ok 3rd time today -- Just 15 minutes each day write, call or

email somebody about something! and give 1 afternoon or evening a month to your local democratic party

oh and throw em $10 or $20 bucks every couple months

we will start a REVOLUTION in our party and our country

on edit i usually find someone to call write fax or email on here in 5 minutes every morning-- my task is done before the 2nd :hangover:

[seabeyond]

14. ya well i dont watch cnn anymore.

actually just flip to cspan anymore.

how am i going to know if they listen, if anything shifts, grinnin

[bandy]

15. Thanks Calimary and

thank God for Al Gore and the internet.

[opihimoimoi]

16. Aloha to CaliMary and thanks for the uplift. Stay the course is right

we need much fixing to do. The Pubs know not what they have subscribed to. A rotten philosophy posing as a good one. The Pub guys focus on the short term, everything for THEM and CAKE(shit) for us. They got their Heaven and they tell us we gatta wait for ours in the next life. Gimme a break. Its a friggen scam is what they got going.

The Pub Scam is turned ON and we should be thinking/working/planning on how to turn it OFF. We want our Heaven too and it shouldn't be where we gatta wait while the mega rich enjoy theirs.

[LynzM]

17. Thank you, and here's more!

Thanks for the motivating words! Excellent analogy with Tiennamen Square...

Do SOMETHING every day. Call, write, fax, email, talk it up with someone. More motivation here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1467557

[calimary]

19. Yet another round of excellent, workable suggestions.

Also, I'm pausing from the sodas/lattes EVERY day, and stashing that money so I can send more to John Kerry. Or MoveOn. Or another Democratic candidate for the Senate or Congress.

Keep the faith! SOMEBODY has to! Do something to further the cause, and critical mass will be OURS.

[zydeco]

18. This post encouraged me

to, finally, join DU and I will now email CNN.

[calimary]

20. YAY! Welcome!

Glad you're here, and glad you're helping. Thanks MUCH!

And Hugs to everybody here!