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We have to BECOME the tsunami we need. Just as the Ned Lamont movement can no longer be avoided OR denied, we should be such a movement. ESPECIALLY if the enemy has a force of thousands ready to write and send letters.
It is VERY important.
When I was in radio, and I said this in my column, we knew how important it was when some listener actually took the time to weigh in, either by writing in specifically, or calling the request line, or filling out an ARB diary. Every one of those was noted and appreciated, and acted upon in some way. That's because one - a single bit of input like that - was considered representative of maybe ten more, or 100 more, or more than that, depending on market size, of those who felt the same way but did not weigh in for themselves, either because they were too busy or distracted, or they were driving at the time and didn't have pencil and paper, or they forgot, or they didn't really care that much, or they were discouraged from the start, figuring it wouldn't make any difference or do any good. I've posted before, here, that my own actual job was saved for about a YEAR, from the chopping block, when there were other heads rolling all around me, simply because I was singled out favorably, by name, in ONE mention in the ARB Talkback (a service of the broadcast ratings company Arbitron that allowed listeners to make detailed comments about stations or playlists or jocks or whatever they felt like mentioning). NOBODY messed with me for months and months. Nobody dared. I swear this happened. I can still remember being given a xerox of that particular page in the research that mentioned me. The programming department staffer who made the copy for me handed it to me, almost with reverence. I was golden for almost a year, for that incident alone. Paul Begala has said that 100 paper letters can change the course of a news program. Because somebody cared enough to write in. Paper letters are best. They get handed around, copied, posted on the bulliten board in the coffee room or employee lounge or on the memo board or some such, and invariably seen by multiple pairs of eyes. And it's valuable to have the piece of paper that you hold in your hand and look at - it's VERY real. So keep those cards and letters coming. It IS taken seriously. And when there's a load of them, it's powerfully unavoidable.
It has an impact. I've seen it over and over, with my own eyes. It really does make a difference.
And it SERIOUSLY does now, when the momentum out there is perceived to be on OUR side for a change. The anti-war, anti-bush movement got a HUGE shot of B-vitamins from the Lamont victory. It proved we are a force that has to be reckoned with. We can no longer be ignored or taken lightly. No one dares turn their noses up at us or dismiss us as "looney-left" fringies anymore. The numbers are the numbers. Run the numbers and there's your proof. The numbers were with US last night. More than with the bush-loving capitulator Lieberman. Those, like Lieberman, who don't take this seriously, do so at their peril. Especially since we've now gotten the taste of victory on our tongues. We won't go quietly, and there will only be more of us. The gang mentality is with US now, because people love a winner, and siding with a winner, so Lamont is likely to attract even more support.
It's also, remember, the reason why a small, shrill minority of nutcases on the extreme wrong-wing get the attention and all the pandering of the politicians (well, up til now, that is). Because they're so vocal. They make themselves heard like nobody's business. And in doing so, they encourage the PERCEPTION that they are a much larger, mightier group than they really are. It's because they are reliably ALWAYS there, this small but ferocious group of dittoheads and freepers and religious nutcases. Because they MAKE themselves heard. They FORCE you to deal with them because they don't sit back quietly and just hope that their reps just instinctively "know to do the right thing." And they therefore make themselves into this huge and powerful force that HAS to be dealt with, HAS to be acknowledged and bowed to, and catered to, and cannot be ignored.
So we have to turn up the volume and be there, TOO. Because in truth, there ARE many, many more of us than there are of the REAL "looney" fringies.
I can't overstress how important this is.
If they think you don't care, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!!
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