Should we adopt the RW technique of spamming?

[RememberTheCoup]

How many posts do we see in GD every week about some bit of right-wing spam that's being sent around and how to respond to it? Instead of simply being reactive and responding to these, why not try sending out a few of our own? We need to come up with messages that are broad in appeal and not blatantly partisan but that still get a message across. How we can differ from the right is that we can fact check our messages and not send things that are easily debunked on snopes and other sites.

For example, "support our troops and veterans" is a message almost everyone can appreciate. So start with some well-deserved praise for our troops and veterans, then cite all the ways in which the troops and veterans are being harmed by current legislation (cuts in funding, etc.). No need to blame it all on Republicans. Just describe the various instances of legislation and list which politicians (including members of Congress as well as Bush) opposed or supported it and let them draw their own conclusions.

One aspect of right wing e-mails is their appeal to "easy" concepts like flag-waving that take the place of the more rational and logic-based arguments liberals often favor. I think it's possible to use some of these marketing elements without destroying the integrity and inherent truth of our messages. There's no reason we can't add a little style to our substance. I think another disadvantage liberals have is that we actually hesitate to send friends and family things they don't want or to impose our views on them. We're going to have to get over that. I think we should think of ourselves as people who are doing good works by educating people to realities the media won't cover. We're just putting a candy coating on it in order to ensure the widest possible audience. Humor is a good "sell" and I think so is anything that appeals to people's outrage or sense of justice.

I think this could be an interesting DU project. People could create e-mails, submit them here for tweaking, and then a bunch of us could send out ones that appeal to us.

Thoughts?

[trotsky]

1. Sounds like a great idea to me.

If there's someone who can put together something like this I've got a WHOLE LOTTA Repukes to send it to.

[morstyranni]

2. We already do.

If I get any more emails about The Vast Right wing Conspiracy or Dubya's idocy I'm going to take my vote back.

I hate f****ing spam no matter where it comes from.

[RememberTheCoup]

3. Do you really?

Haven't heard that complaint before from other DUers. Are these from people you are close to? I get stuff sometimes from coworkers who know my political bent, and I send them things sometimes too, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about here. I'm proposing we come up with e-mail that "middle-of-the-road"ers and even some right wing types might want to forward because they don't seem blatantly partisan.

[bearfartinthewoods]

7. i've decided i'm actually going to "prosecute" private spammers

no matter what the subject.

people write something or receive something and cut and paste every name from their address book and send it along. i get the mail and there is my address, shared with 39 or 49 of their closet friends.

i turn them into their isp. i'm sick of it. i can read. i can surf. i don't need every ninnie in the world sharing something they feel i need to know with me and at the same time sharing my addresss with everyone they know.

[ShimokitaJer]

4. Absolutely not!

Spam is disgusting no matter who it comes from or what its message is. I firmly believe that the right wingers turn more people off with their spam than they gain converts. It's simply not true that all publicity is good publicity.

And if you choose to ignore this and spam anyway, be sure to make it clear you speak only for yourself. I'm sure I'm not the only one on DU who doesn't want to be associated with spam.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Not SPAM... it's Letters to the Editor we're talking here

nt

[RememberTheCoup]

6. Perhaps "spam" is a poor word choice...

I don't mean letters to the editor, and I don't mean annoying e-mails to people you hardly know. Do you ever send funny jokes or captivating photos to friends and family just because you think they'd enjoy it? That's what I'm talking about here. Not e-mail sent in bulk, but e-mail with a high probability of being forwarded from and to lots of different people because it has broad appeal.

[bearfartinthewoods]

8. have they asked for it?

if not, then it is unsolicited. check with your isp. they are really cracking down.

[RememberTheCoup]

9. So you never e-mail friends & family unless they specifically ask you to?

I'm sorry, but that seems like an unreasonably strict definition of spam. If you're getting e-mails from people you don't even know, that's one thing. If friends and family are sending you things you don't want, wouldn't it be better to politely ask them to stop instead of reporting them as spammers? Anyway, the idea here is to send people e-mail they hopefully would find interesting and worth sending to some of their own friends and family.

[trotsky]

10. That's what I understood from your message.

I hate spam more than most, since I'm a Systems Admin who has to stem the tide of it coming into our organization. But in actually reading your message, I could see that you didn't mean "spam" in the sense of unwanted bulk advertising.

[RememberTheCoup]

11. Wish I could edit the headline

Unfortunately, I waited too long.