I think the problem with "net activism" has been that politicians
perceive the users of the medium as equivalent to the
constituency, which they calculate as a relatively small
percentage of the population.   That is not true in their minds
of people who send FAXes or make telephone calls.   The tacit
assumption is that if anyone sends a protest about legislation
affecting the net over the net, they must be a net user, an urban
California "elitist," etc.  

Such a perception, of course, is far from the truth, but since
politicians for the most part don't use the internet themselves,
they succumb to the existing mythology.

I believe it is high time that net users began to be more
activist in educating the uneducated about why the net is a
powerful tool of democracy, not just a plaything for kids
cruising for "girlie gifs" or adults "addicted to information."

The traditional press has been instrumental in fostering these
latest negative stereotypes.  How about if some major newspaper
offered regular column space, for example, to a knowledgeable net
user, not just a standard print journalist who peeks in from time
to time?

How about if a net activist spent more time teaching community
groups about the net rather than just talking to each other in
cyberspace? 

On Sun, 6 Aug 1995, Curt A. Monash wrote:

> It is pointed out that grass roots squawking on the Net doesn't get the same
> respect as non-virtual grass roots squawking.
> 
> Question:  Why does the non-virtual squawking get so much attention? 
> Presumably, politicians believe that the fairly limited number of messages
> (calls, faxes, visits, telegrams, snailmail, but, it is said, NOT e-mail)
> they get on an issue (when compared with the total number of voters) is a
> strong indicator of what will cause them to be reelected or defeated.  Why
> is this?  Do they see the messages as the tip of a voter sentiment iceberg
> (that would be weird, as the messages are so obviously generated by
> short-term PR campaigns).  Are the people who call the same ones who will
> campaign?  Give money?  Talk a lot at lunch and sway other voters?
> 
> If you have a good answer for that, then there might be a clue as to how to
> create more leverage from the Net.
> 
> What's more:  In some cases, Net squawking DOES get a lot of attention.  Can
> you say "Pentium bug"?  Now, that's not a matter of Congressional
> legislation.  But are we sure the Net ISN'T a hotbed of effective activists?
> How about MOTTS?  Or the ecologists?  Or the right-wing loonies?
> 
> Curt Monash        
> A raging moderate
> cmonash@mcimail.com
> 
> 
> 

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End of online-news-digest V1 #277
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