Forum Post: Online Petitions Already Achieving Serious Results
Posted 12 years ago on March 8, 2012, 2:38 a.m. EST by GypsyKing
(8708)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
This site is perhaps the most exciting of a great number of online petition sites. Another is change.org. Together they are giving the world a voice against the anti-social tyranny of the .00001%
I like this site. I have signed petitions on here and still get email.
Thanks GF! This reminds me for some reason of an art reception I was one at, attended by the "glitteratti," and an attractive woman, who seemed interested in me, but looked rather askance at my old blue jeans and threadbare shirt, asked me pointedly, "So what do you do?"
I looked her in the eye and replied, flatly and coldly, "Whatever it takes!"
Well, that's what we must do, whatever it takes.
I like that line. I think I'm going to have to steal that. :D
A question: has any online petition actually had real results? And are the signatures verifiable as only one individual signing a single time.
http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2010/4/28/slacktivism-why-snopes-got-it-wrong-about-internet-petitions.html
To the best of my knowledge, they are verified by name and address. Same/same. Although, I have encountered some that simply have requested my name and zip code. So, I have no idea what the hell happens to those.
i've signed petitions from the ACLU website and they do require verification so i know there is a way to legitimize signatures also they give you the numbers and addresses of your local legislatures so you can contact them independently on any issue
Thank you, and do check out Avaaz.org. It is truely an impressive site.
Yes, it is a VERY GOOD TIME to get involved with the ACLU!
Will ACLU Take the NDAA Bull by the Horns, or Milk the Cow?
http://open.salon.com/blog/watchingfrogsboil/2012/01/05/will_aclu_take_the_ndaa_bull_by_the_horns_or_milk_the_cow
Or will the cow jump over the moon?
You need to learn how to click links, so you can read the articles they refer to.
I do, and I know propoganda when I see it. Right-wing propoganda usually features a stupid looking cow, or a confused and scolding dog-puppet, or something like that, because that's what they think of the intelligence of those they are trying to hoodwink.
The right-wing hatred for the ACLU is long established, for the very reason that the ACLU opposes the very userpation of our democratic liberties by the corporate oligarchy that the right-wing only pretends to oppose.
I don't have to look at that for more than about ten seconds to know exactly what it is and what it's aims are.
I wrote that article, Sweetheart,
And I suggest you actually READ IT.
I may be many things, but "right wing" I am not...
http://open.salon.com/blog/watchingfrogsboil/2012/02/23/political_labels
I don't care if you wrote it, and don't call me sweetheart, ironbutt. I don't need cartoon cows to think for me. I know it EXACTLY what it is.
You have said nothing that even remotely suggests you have actually read either of the articles I referred you to.
[Removed]
Snopes.com says "the mere collection of e-signatures is of dubious value", and supports that statement with evidence:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/petition.asp
Personally, I consider online petitions to be deplorable feel-good mental masturbation and the quintessence of slacktivism.
IronBoltBruce
Grade 8 bolts well torqued by Bruce. Yes, slacktivism They invoke no authority.
Here is where the most function will be found. True strategy for an Article 5 convention.
http://articlevconvention.org
We actually have a vote. At that forum there are functional proposals for seeing they are secured. There are preparatory amendments to assure citizens united is reversed, campaign finance reform. Finally, and best, there are proposals to counter the abridging of free speech.
Altogether they structure restoration of constitutional government. We've never known that in America. It's been a lie with some feel good pretending by official every now and then.
So, as I just asked on another thread, what DO you advocate, if anything? And what the f--k is Snopes.com? As if I couldn't guess.
Q1. What do I advocate?
A1. Doing things that make a real difference in the real world.
Q2. What the f--k is Snopes.com?
A2. A website focused on helping Sheeple discern shit from shinola.
A1. "Doing things that make a difference in the real world." Wow, that's a specific program! Like what, shine shoes? Get drunk on Friday? Fix your car? Watch "I Love Lucy" reruns? Just curious?
I get emails from avaaz almost everyday. They are very well organized.
Thanks BW! I find especially that organization to be really inspiring! This is one huge way to contribute something tangible while not able to be more directly active.
PS Thanks for everything you have done on this forum. You've been a constant source of reason, sprititual strength, and human decency. I tip my hat to you, and yet that doesn't even remotely express my gratitude. Some people are 1st class, and you are one of them - the people who hold this mad world together with bits of string and glue.
Thanks, GK. That means a lot coming from you as I have a huge amount of respect for you as well.
Man, I just don't get this. avaaz.org already has almost 14,000,000 members, and its having REAL SUCCESS. But no interest here. I JUST DON"T GET IT.
Most political youth movements have an underlying sexual tension to them. These groups also have an adventurous sub conscious to them, whether acknowledged or not. Not too far behind is beer, alchohol, and marijuana.
All of these components make for more compelling living then actually being more productive by signing online petitions.
Imagine those human microphones only instead of just repeating the speakers words, there were 1,000 people signing the same online petition each on their own computer, tablet or whatever device they had handy.
Keep in mind that once someone signs, they can then contact 20 of their friends as well.
Yes and no. Young people are in a state of figuring out themselves and their place in the world and yes, there is a lot of inevitable competition and ego that goes along with that. It has always been true, and probably always will. It is part of what we are as humans.
Yet to downplay their achievements in this movement is simply wrong. Without them, their energy and idealism, there would be no movement at all.
And so I think we need to combine the expierence of age with those finer qualities of youth, to try to let them see that to fight hierarchy we must first fight it in ourselves, and show them that there are other solutions than confrontation, some as productive or more productive than confrontation. But we need them at least as much as they need us to succeed, probably more. After all, they must spend the next fifty or sixty years on this planet, while for us the leaves are already beginning to fall. I am here because I care about them, not because I am fool enough to think I am immortal.
Every youthful movement has very similar aspects. I recall going to a music composer's residence at the UCLA dorms and EVERYTIME I went there, the first thing I heard spoken by those either arriving or leaving their own place of residence was about alcohol.
One time the composer had to move their car for me to leave, and I bet them that the first thing they would hear spoken by someone in the area would be about alcohol, and the composer was kind of amazed when it happened as I predicted.
It's really difficult for the young to put serious issues ahead of personal fun and adventure, so the best we can hope for is a tie. Right now, until the occupy movement grows into an online movement, the personal interaction in a public environment will actually slow down the movement and perhaps simply lay the groundwork for future cronyism.
Maybe it's cos most people find it slightly easier to sign an online petition than occupy a park for months?
Maybe we need to diversify our tactics? (to include everything from flash protests & guerrilla protests, to email-writing campaigns & petitions).
We must simply do whatever we can that is active, in the sense of simply "doing." Signing online petitions is one thing that can be "done." Furthermore, it shows the powers that be that we are not afraid to be heard, to say who we are, to show them our stregnth in growing numbers. The net provides us that opportunity in a way that never existed before. We should use that to the greatest ability in our power.
Think about it, avaaz.org - 14,000,000 strong, and just getting started!
People are beginning to learn that they have been tricked - manipulated out of the process.
The public is waking up to the fact that they can make a difference.
The difference will be in owning the process like we have never done before.
We move forward - Together.
Dawn approaches.
Thank you DKA! This is, in a way, a brand new and thrilling experiment in world-direct-democracy, and it's just happening, organically; it's is like a flower springing out of the gravel. If this isn't exciting to us here, than I don't know what possibly could be! Look at the ccanges they have already ACTUALLY MADE!
Let's remain flexible, look at what works, and not make this a thing about individuals.