Gates of Vienna’s mission statement requires it to do battle with the Great Islamic Jihad in the realm of ideas.We agree with Fjordman and many others that the Jihad is just a symptom, and that the enemy lies within. This war is a civil war within the West, between traditional Western culture and the forces of politically correct multicultural Marxism that have bedeviled it for the last hundred years. It is being fought in the back halls and cloisters of the culture, with untenured nobodies like me wielding a salad fork against the broadswords and maces of the fully-armored knights of the media and the academy.
Even so, there’s no doubt that the Emperor has no clothes. He struts up and down the esplanades of the culture with his full entourage, confident of his own splendor, but wearing his birthday suit.
Ours is the collective voice of the little boy in the crowd who dares to say, “The Emperor is naked.” It’s just not loud enough to be heard.
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In the comments on last night’s post, Phanarath approached the issue with his usual cheerful optimism:
The good news is that once we have defeated the enemy at home, we might find that there are no serious enemies abroad. Just remove the funding from the leftinflated monsters and most of them turn to dust.
He’s right, but that simple phrase “Just remove the funding” conceals an almost unimaginably difficult task. It would be easier to cap Mount St. Helens than to stop the funding of the Left. The Marxist/Multicultural cancer has metastasized and multiplied its blood vessels in order to tap into government at every level, not to mention corporate, civic and charitable organizations. From the United Way to McDonalds to Microsoft, from your federal tax check to the entrance fee at a state park — more than twenty cents out of every dollar you spend nourishes, by one means or another, the ravenous and parasitic leftist behemoth that aims to destroy the culture it feeds on.
So, to quote Lenin: What is to be done?
In a post last week, commenter Vicktorya said this:
I’ve never thought of myself as an activist, and wouldn’t care for the title, but I do “get it”, and can read the writing on the wall, and KNOW that the MSM (aka left-leaning media) is killing us. There are some bright spots, of course. But the propaganda work is so pervasive and strong…
But I’m asking, what can we do, moreso, together? I wish to leverage our intention into effective action, and invite hints, suggestions, cooperation…
Well, what can we do, if we work together?
I have said before that the blogosphere is developing enormous power, but so far it has been a reactive power, and not a proactive one. When we swarm something, we have a real effect, and can collectively sway the course of events.
But it seems we’re always responding to something. First was Trent Lott’s gaffe at the Strom Thurmond birthday party. Then came Dan Rather and “fake but accurate.” We helped the Swiftboat Vets leverage their effort against John Kerry into an effective response. And the recent Fauxtography scandal was a bloggers’ triumph.
But all of these accomplishments are reactive. Even as we respond effectively to the enemy’s tactical moves, we cede him the initiative. This drains us of our energy to think and act strategically, to be innovative and creative, and thus surprise our antagonists.
Some of our readers are old enough to remember the conservative initiative back in the mid-’80s which aimed to organize the purchase of CBS and thus “become Dan Rather’s boss”. The effort caused some eye-popping alarm among liberals before it petered out later in the decade.
I’d like to revive that meme here, in a slightly different version. Back then, the takeover bid was to be funded by wealthy Republican individuals and organizations, and aimed to acquire enough shares to tip the balance in the CBS boardroom.
Why not hybridize that meme with the Swiftvets initiative? The Swifties had an enormous impact without attracting any wealthy contributors.
What if the blogosphere were to convince a few hundred thousand people to give $50, or $100, or $500 to a holding company established for the sole purpose of acquiring a controlling interest in a major organ of the liberal media?
Some of the law bloggers (Glenn Reynolds and Eugene Volokh come to mind) could set up a holding company for the assets collected. Bring in a business blogger like Larry Kudlow to help run the show. The full purchase price wouldn’t have to be amassed, just the marginal amount that would help leverage the rest.
I’m ignorant of both law and business, so there are probably dozens of reasons why my idea is a stupid one. I have no doubt that commenters will arrive in force to point out the details of my foolishness and offer their own more expert ideas.
But that’s the great thing about the distributed intelligence in action here — with enough knowledgeable and clever people at work on it, a viable idea can emerge and be implemented.
But — only if its time has come.
When its time has come, the meme will explode, and nothing will be able to stop it.
I’ve said repeatedly that, if we want to win this war, we need to take back the culture. In order for that to happen, the organs of mass communication will have to change. The new media — of which this blog is a microscopic piece — will eventually supplant the old ones. Eventually Katie Kouric and Paul Krugman will become quaint historical artifacts, a set of wax statues at Madame Tussaud’s.
There’s no doubt that the Emperor has no clothes, and in due course everyone will become aware of it and start to snicker at his pale and flabby flesh.
But, thanks to the Jihad, we may not have enough time to wait for this process to unfold. We may have to put on our pajamas and go to work to help it along.
We really are at a cultural version of the Gates of Vienna. The enemy has driven the traditional culture back inside its fortifications, and is busy digging tunnels to undermine the walls. Many of our people have been captured or converted, and the remnant is just barely holding out, drinking rainwater from the rooftop cisterns and eating dogs just to stay alive.Only this time there will be no King of Poland to ride down the hill in a glorious charge. This time there will be no Jan III Sobieski to save our sorry fundament.
We’re going to have to do this one ourselves.
So: if you like this meme, or any of the others you see here, spread ’em around. None of this will take off without the support of at least one of the major blogs, so hit Charles (or one of the others) upside the head with a two-by-four until he picks up the meme.
And if these memes die, more will be along later. Pay attention; watch for the one whose time has come, and then help spread it.
Also: have that hundred dollar bill ready to hand out to the right cause when the moment arrives.
49 comments:
Above a certain threshold, advertisers would suddenly get self-interested. Once eyes on page numbers reach attractive levels, your idea would begin to take off under its own steam. At some point, I sense mainstream news-reports are going to have to consider contacting Bloggers for data and analysis, instead of un-recognized talking heads sent forth by academe or business.
In order to displace parts of the MSM, Bloggers (or a blogger alliance) will have to engage in marketing and push their agenda outwards. For this to happen, and be sustained, I expect some external financial backing would be required.
This would require all the usual marketing paraphernalia: logos, symbols, unified design, advertising, legal team, etc.
It's doable, but won't be if limited to electronic contact. What will be required soon is some kind of conference or convention, held annually, where the top conservative bloggers can meet over beers and work out a strategy that won't bruise too many egos. Coming out from behind our nom de plumes may be difficult for some, but it can be done.
Might be difficult to choose a leader, but just making the effort would be a big step forward. Maybe choosing an outsider would be the best way forward; say a TV or Movie personality to front the new movement?
A constitution of sorts will need to be framed to avoid one Blog riding roughshod over another due to jealousies, as the public limelight begins to shine on Bloggers.
For what they're worth, those are my reactive thoughts to your musings Baron.
I like the idea of the blogosphere become less reactive and more proactive, at the moment I think that we're more or less preaching to the choir, and granted opening the eyes a a few others. However, the main purpose at the moment if the anti-jihad bloggers is to give room for venting and reacting to the events that happen and the media, politicians and elites that closes their eyes to those events.
Don't get me wrong this is an important and useful function, however, it would be good to see the anti-jihad blogosphere starting focusing more on solutions as well. What can we do to stop the tide before it is too late, both the Islamic tide but also their sympathizers on the left.
I think it is self-evident that a lot of people are feeling powerless to do anything about it, short of talking about extreme solutions, simply because of the magnitude of the problem and because the media and the general public have been successful in portraying this conflict (to the extent that they have understood it properly) to be immensely complex and the magnitude unbelievable just by the sheer size of opponents. Whereas the truth is that it is a very simple conflict, we're facing an enemy that wants nothing but their way or the highway! And then unfortunately a lot of people who are either scared by that prospect, or thinking they can ride the tiger and control it to do the dirty job (the leftist collaborators) and those who just have a really hard time understanding that evil does exist, and that no everybody wants the same as us, and therefore cannot be reasoned with, simply because we lack common ground on values.
So yes, I think it's about time to move beyond reactive and becoming proactive.
Baron,
First, don't write off Europe (or the Anglosphere if you prefer to be more picky).
I work (as an academic), live and blog in the UK, and I know that the tide is slowly, extremely slowly, turning (see the first half of my post
http://canker-canker.blogspot.com/2006/09/venezuelan-airport-blues.html
for some details).
Secondly, take what the Pope had to say very, very seriously. He described the wellsprings of Western civilization very simply and accurately: the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Judeo-Christian religion/sprituality.
With an understanding of these things we can, eventually, trounce the opposition.
When I speak to the young, the intelligent onest(the future movers and shakers) do not have much time for the indoctrination they've received from the left liberals. They are a major resource, provided we catch them before they are indoctrinated at university.
I think your `corporate ideas' are excellent, but they really need an ideological backing. This is where right wing bloggers are still having trouble-they know what they don't want; they may well known what they do want, but until they admit where it's coming from and embrace it, they sound a little unfocused.
Canker is right : The tide is turning. A recent example from Denmark (again, sorry) :
The hottest selling book title over here is "Islamists and Naïvists". It's very hard to get a copy because the books sell faster than the publisher can print them. The authors are two socialists - Ralph Pittelkow and Karen Jespersen. The former used to be a personal advisor to a PM and the latter a minister of internal affairs. And they hit the nail right on : the enemy to fear isn't the stupid, ignorant and incompetent Muslims, but our own nomenklatura - the useful idiots.
There is an excellent review here :
Danish wake-up call on Islam
The contributors at A Tangled Web have been talking amongst ourselves about something like this. Perhaps a Euro-Anglo alliance could help somewhat? After all, it's our shared culture, history, and future on the line here.
I'd agree strongly with you that the home grown far left is millions of times more dangerous that Islamic radicalism, even if the latter does get lots of media coverage.
I have written on my blog in the past several articles relating to the leftists desire to subvert and destory Western civilization, in my article such as Revolutionary Defeatism:The key to understanding the far left I have also written other articles on my blog which deal with various ways liberals are acheiving this goal.
I would agree that we on the right are far too defensive at the moment. I wrote an article a while ago where I discussed tactics for culture war victoryTactics for Culture War Victory
In it I discuss possible strategic considerations.
As usual, I need to take notes when I read some of the posts and comments. Count me in financially. I will be naive here and state that legislatively, we (in USA) should not allow external investors (Saudi princes) to own any interests in our news media. That we are down to 5 publishing houses with a kazillion imprints does not speak well for "freedom" of the press, etc.
Canker has some good points about us seeming to be unfocused. And we are reactive but that is because we have not defined our goals and our plan for reaching them. I'm sure the jihadists have painstakingly finite plans for each mission no matter how small in scope. Each mission adds strength to the overall mission.
Maybe we are talking to each other right now but we are building a base. Perhaps we could decide on one small, measurable objective - aside from the focus of our individual blogs, like passing the Public Expression of Religion Act and getting behind that.
Another thing is to get public money away from NPR as an example. Ending our funding of the ACLU. I know these sound very minor but I think if we could cut off their funds or reduce the funds dramatically that would be a help. By funding the ACLU, as an example, we are using our own money to fund an organization that wants to "cut our throats". In effect, we are funding what some might call a "terrorist" organization with a little 't'.
Yes, our war is internal. If we had not been weakened by it, I submit we would not be having the jihadist boldness that we see today. They smell the blood in the water and want to get their cuts in too because if our nitwits buy into their victimology - you can't tell the truth about islam, we're all duck soup.
The corporate ideas are essential for us to have a voice. Ron Silver is a good choice. Can we begin to be proactive by choosing one thing we want to accomplish? Just one. Something that advances our cause, neutralizes an organization like CAIR, and let's us work as they do in our own way with our agenda. As someone said, we don't have an agenda. The thing about freedom is that you can't legislate everything that a person can do, only the much smaller list of what he can't do.
I'll help with my 100.00 or so. Let me know the legislation we want to pass. I'll help there too. About CAIR, et al, they are following the ACLU's lead and picking away one little chisel pick at a time. So, how do we pick back?
Went over to read Michael's links to his posts. Very good. Something to work with. Thanks.
Baron, you have the internation reader base. Maybe we could become proactive piece by piece but working from many nations at the same time. Why not?
We can have a list of assignments and then research and hammer away at a given issue. We are smarter than the left, even if they did pull a fast one in the Senate with needing 61 votes to pass anything. We are not as creative in our interpretation of the rules of the playing field. We think we know what the rules are then the libs change them on us. That is one possible reason why we are always reacting.
the blogosphere has already had more influence than the MSM likes. It was able to bring down Dan Rather, humiliate Bill Clinton, and now has the MSM being just a little more careful (though no less left wing). The work has already started.
I think blogs have a major part to play. To me, the key to defeating the far left is to out-flank its MSM with alternative media, for example blogging. Another good strategy is to phone into local radio stations and debate issues related to the culture war. Local newspapers and radio stations tend to be more receptive to our views than the MSM left wing noise machine. Plus local outlets have lots of dedicated listeners.
To destroy the Left requires destroying its core ideal - egalitarianism. This says that all people have equivalent inherent worth and they should be granted equal means to achieve to their abilities. The Left thinks that to actuate certain unalienable rights people need the means to do so.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
You have to prove that granting people resource to pursue happiness at their liberty is the greatest evil.
Jihad denies that people are of equal inherent worth. Jihad denies that people have a right to liberty, pursuit of happiness or even life. Jihad holds these beliefs to be the worthless scribblings of godless men on ragged old paper, not sacrosanct in any way. Jihad does not care for either liberty or egalitare. Yet you contend "that the Jihad is just a symptom" of egalitarianism, how do you make this leap?
Titus, way to go. Your suggestions are not extreme. They are, unfortunately, common sense. If you don't mind, I'll copy them to work with a bit. They are very good and can be refined into steps that are attainable. Not quickly perhaps but still something to work with.
Michael, I stopped taking my local paper long ago. They don't call me anymore either upon my request.
To battle is to carry the fight into the enemies center mass; truth spoken at his schools, Islams's hate flickering daily on his TV and counter counter cultural dissonance in his newspapers and blogs.
Our Emperor needs not only to see a mirror to remove the vails of delusional mass denial.
Baron, yet again, succinctly postulates the improbable into the imaginable.
So, how exactly do you solve a problem like Maria? With smarts and money. Smarts to have a solid plan for battle, and the money to carry out the plan.
Let us look back at Lieut. General Albert Coady Wedemeyer. (background lifted from a Time cover article in 1945)
As a young officer, he was not distinguished. Five years later Lieut. Wedemeyer was sent out to the 15th Infantry at Tientsin, China. The vast, stirring nation, slowly shaping from revolutionary chaos into a modern nation under the hand of young Chiang Kaishek, fascinated the U.S. officer. He studied Chinese. But Wedemeyer turned down a chance for a career in the China service. In 1934 he was back in the U.S.
Somewhere along the routine line, something had happened to Wedemeyer. He began to study economics, foreign affairs, history and the new concept of air power. A mind that can be as cold and rigorous as a steel trap had found something to bite on. In 1936, Wedemeyer (now a captain after 15 years as lieutenant) graduated from the General Staff School at Leavenworth with such high honors that he was chosen to attend the German General Staff School, Berlin's famed Kriegsakademie. The minds inside the bullet heads of the Wehrmacht officers hit the receptive mind of the U.S. captain with the impact of a robomb. German officers,* he found, were less flexible than U.S. military men. But they lived, breathed and dreamed war. They understood war as politics and peace as politics.
Later the War Department frisked Wedemeyer's memory for tidbits about Hitler, Göring, Goebbels and other Nazis. It showed scant interest in his incisive opinions about the Wehrmacht's masterminds and master weapons. Only one man took the captain's technical report seriously—Brigadier General George Marshall, then assistant chief of staff of the War Plans Division. Marshall had a long talk with the military student from Germany. When he became Chief of Staff, he remembered Wedemeyer.
General's General. So in 1941, the year the Wehrmacht turned from its victories in the West to overrun the Balkans and penetrate Russia, Wedemeyer was assigned to the War Plans Division. His job was to draw up the first overall war plan for the U.S. After Pearl Harbor, his estimates became the basic pattern of the U.S. war effort. By 1942's end, Wedemeyer was a member of Marshall's inner group, a key figure in overall strategy. He had become a general's general. He accompanied General Marshall on all the great conferences from Casablanca through Teheran. He had an important hand in Allied Mediterranean strategy and in the planning of the Normandy invasion.
So what was the war plan that beat the Germans? Simply put, It was to create a mirror image of the Wehrmacht that would thrive under American ingenuity and improvisation, and unlimited American production that sacrified machines for men in every possible situation.
We too need to create our own Cultural Mirror, using the same reflections as the MSM to win victory for our values.
Asymmetrical warfare goes only so far...We need Patton and the 3rd Army roaring across the French countryside after smashing their Doppleganger ( the German 7th) in the Falaise pocket. Yea.... that's the ticket!
Da Bear
Yes, we could buy them out, but can we not force them to change their tune by other means?
I guess what I mean, is to remind everyone that one way to stop (or re-direct) behaviour in these United States (legally) is to hurt the offender in their pocketbook.
I suppose that could be counter productive in some cases, but in the case of the media, it is not.
Convincing citizens to not subscribe to certain newsrags or watch certain networks would take a large PR effort, using all available means.
A nationwide effort, by blogs, radio and ads in that same media, denouncing their bias and anti-american practices would cost money, but it would get the message out to the man on the street and the small towns of America.
A couple of examples would be to enlist AARP, NRA, the major magazines and the dozens of American agriculture magazines.
Direct mailings could be hired out to those that now flood our mailboxes with trash.
We have to remember that most Americans don't blog, don't get their news off the internet, and are not really aware of the danger and the damage being done by the Media's actions.
In the distant past, the message would be spread by preachers, messengers, activists, riding into town and holding meetings in the townhall or in the churches.
Which might still work in a lot of small towns.
Forcing the MSM to change their tune has got to be done. If this were Iran or most anywhere else in the world, it would be simple.
The Government would force it, or shut them down.
Which reminds me, didn't some newspapers get shut down during WWII?
There is another flank of this battle that must be won. The battle over the minds of our children.
We have to direct our anger and energys at the educational system of the United States. Our country has a low literacy rate as compared to other developed countries. Our reading literacy rate is good (not great) but in science and math, we rank below average in the developed nations of the world.
In the area of American History, our students only get the minimum and some of it is so slanted as to almost be re-writing history. I know this from personal experience and the reading of others opinion that have children.
I might mention that I am on a first name basis with my local school board and they know where I and many other parents in this area stand on all issues.
There is a reason why Homeschooling is a fast rising industry here.
The liberal, anti-american socialist teachings and leanings of our institutions has to be changed. Our children are being brainwashed and have been for many years.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
the only way to change this is for conservatives and Republicans to get control on as many school boards as possible.
Our educational system is destroying our culture-primarily because is believes our culture is fundamentally evil and flawed.
Remember the Nazi inter-generational mantra "today your children, tomorrow the world"
"Success can be measured by the passion engendered..."
Aristophanes
Da Bear
In the meantime, how about an "Orientalist Arts Festival", where classics such as "Mohammed the Imposter", "Ideomeneo", and "Lawrence of Arabia" can be shown, as well as a few movies featuring Rudolph Valentino or Bob Hope.
The word "Liberal" is mentioned. Its important to point out that this, while of the left, is not confined to it. Lawrence Auster argues that most current conservatives are infected with liberal principles, and that is true. Its not just the GOP or tories, but also the churches and even the military. The west would be in an internal struggle even without the poison of cultural marxism, and without a liberal backdrop cultural marxism cannot take root (note how the PC rot has barely spread beyond the civilized west, even Japan seems largely immune).
We are in a war of ideas, so spreading information is vital. We already know that the internet works, it should be exploited more fully before trying to branch out.
1. Blogger Wolfgang Bruno proposed creating an Online Infidel Library. Great idea, but it can be expanded. For instance, the evil works of the cultural marxists need to be available for study (try to find Marcuse's thesis on critical theory and intolerant tolerance on the net, its there, but a biatch to find).
2. The use of e-mails. Decision and policy makers should be bombarded with e-mails from around the country/globe on important subjects. Think support letters to Flemming Rose, Dennis Mitsubishi, the Pope. Think condemnation of uncontrolled immigration, dhimmisim and jihad. Think letters to educators warning of the dangers of PC and cultural marxism. Think several thousand letters to the editor of every local and major outlet covering those topics. Costs nothing but a little time. How about a clearing house site, with e-adresses and pre-written form letters? Let it so every blogger with 5 minutes a day fire off a missive to press or politician.
If Fjordman's reports are ever turned into book form (very good idea) then Fjordman still has the copyright, and he should therefore enjoy the monetary profits of his work. We already know he needs the cash, and he has surely inspired one and all with his well-crafted efforts. So, I hope it happens, and that Fjordman one day sees his collective work on the bookshelves, worldwide.
Perhaps, in the near future, we can establish awards (modelled on the Oscars?) which can be awarded for this category or that. I see something along these lines is already in place, but I think it could be made more sophisticated. Me thinks the blogosphere's inaugural life-time achievement award could go to Fjordman.
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The above list of comments has been a joy to read. I am a Brit, but I can see this new strategy only taking off in the good old US of A. After that, we Euro's can pile in, left, right, and centre, to make it "worldwide" and help turn it into a tidal wave. Once grouped accordingly, we should turn our collective attention on the New York Times, and destroy it. Turn it into history. Put the Editor onto the streets and into the soup kitchen line (or give him and his family a one-way, Saudi Airlines ticket to Damascus). New York Times, your days are numbered. Britain's Guardian ... you'll be next.
I am still smarting over Muslims being allowed to construct a Mosque at Regents Park, London. So, we in Britain have got a lot to put right. Mosque demolition is high on my agenda.
Britain may look friendly now, to Muslims and Islam, but when the sh*t hits the fan, they'll be trembling in fear and queuing up at all exit ports. At least, all those who refuse to utterly and publically renounce Islam will be. We'd have reached a degree of sanity, when the public display of the Qu'ran, and any Arabic religious slogans, are banned (to be backed up by their forceable removal).
It was reported only last week, in a small Yorkshire town (a region already heavily infiltrated by Muslim communities) that a 16 year old English girl had her throat slit, in the street, by an Asian man (who was later arrested, aged 20). She died in hospital. She wasn't Muslim. He was. Don't know any more details as the MSM appears to have completely ignored the incident. Hush, hush ... let's pretend it never happened. Usual stuff. Thousands of indigenous Brits are today living in fear in some parts of Northern England (i.e., some areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and parts of Birmingham). That's Islam and Multiculturalism for you.
I don't think the Baron (or Dymphna) is going to need reminding of this next quote, but it's worth posting in the context of the main topic we have been discussing. We need to remind ourselves of its current pertinence:
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"One man with courage is a majority."
-- Thomas Jefferson
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Shared the over all concept with a friend. He suggested we consider making a list of sorts of the assets we already have "on the ground" that we don't have to re-invent.
Since I'm still relatively new, I said, well we have blogrolls and we can reach a lot of people quickly.
He suggested that we may already have some organizational components in place (to use before we get the corporate level work done) as well but just hadn't been looking at them in that way - to be implemented in that way. I know we seem to move on quickly from one issue to the next - that is part of our reactive mode of operations. Nothing wrong with it, it has its place.
Can we somehow get the meat of these ideas down in a format we could continue to refine? I think the e-mails are good ideas. In talking with my friend, I said that we have folks all over the world in touch with each other in a heartbeat. If we chose, we could collectively suggest a piece of legislation (in the rough form relative to each of our nation's political protocol) and send in a recommendation, etc. Several congressmen would like the idea, see the interest in it, and draft legislation. This is simplistic but it is the structure we have to work in. Now, we don't need to be limited to one avenue.
1) what assets do we currently have in place?
2) how do we formulate the idea(s) cohesively so that they could be presented well-formed to several larger blogs (as the Baron suggests) so that they would come on board? Or they could provide more recommendations that would move this large plan along.
3) after refining the goals, and the steps to reaching them, and with the others on board, we could then implement through our various assets.
How can we get the ideas/comments into hardcopy format so that we can work with them and come out with a "manifesto"? For me, that kind of organization and refinement requires working with pencil and paper to reach the draft product that we can then all work with to finalize our aims.
It's a bit late/early for me so signing off. Thanks everyone. We have a beginning now for applying our theory. We do have to decide how to go from here...
Yeah baby!
After writing two depressing posts to my own blog ... well, I checked my wordpress dashboard and see (finally!) a link back to this esteemed blog. Quick, I check -- gosh, I'm a real live commenter quoted! Gadzookers, I am ... passionate!
That isn't something I usually entertain, as I've had too many great-ideas, and 'great projects' turned to spit. Mainly due to friendly fire, frankly. So, I realize nothing is easy. And for some reason, I'm willing to re-enter the furnace of this -- whatever 'this' may be. But I'm almost trusting (which I have been burned on trusting) that this WILL BE something. Who knows.
What I do know is that you guys are a happening!
If of any use -- I have ALL OF ME to offer; that means about 20 hours a day, if engaged. I have some media saavy and (invocative archetypal) organizational skills along the cosmic to practical line -- but, hey, I can forget that and DO ANYTHING we need. I could do $50 or $100, but my income level is (for the next month or so 'in the black' -- er, call that a grey area/minor cushion. Rent is $150 per week, in kiwibucks, okay, and I make ... er ... not much. There's transparency, aye?).
My life now is to DO EVERYTHING I CAN. I have no other life intention than saving this civilization, frankly. Gosh, I have two cats to look after!
I am thus more than WILLING to give all of my time. (That means, as a minimally self-employed person (aka former? babe) living alone, frugally -- I can be full time -- and just need to cover foodies; screw health care, if I get sick, I die, fine, we can call it martyrdom). But, my GOD, I am so heartened at this point in my mid-life, count me in 100%. I'm a coordinator, communicator, graphic sort, planner, visionary. And I can take direction and ask hard questions ...
That's all I can say right now. But I had to say something, because (OH MY!) I am so glad to see THIS, what YOU have created here.
One thing -- anything MUST be international. I'm a US citizen, but living in New Zealand (so figure one of us will be safe! :-) ==
The world must be ours, beyond partisan, beyond country ...
love, liberty, freedom -- this is universal, and if we WILL, we can do it ...
let's continue this dialog ...
whew!
Vicktorya
Baron,
Very, very interesting that you should post this right now. Some friends and I (nerds all!) were discussing similar ideas, only we were thinking more in the realm of education. Seeing as we're made up a theologian, a philospher-historian, a linguist, a musician. . .we're nerds, this is what we're cut out for. . .
We have been tossing around the idea of setting up a foundation dedicated to (actually something from your 9/17 essay-- the broken transmission belt) fixing the damage done by having our cultural memory taken away from us. We were thinking that if we could find a way to let ordinary people learn about all the things they should have learned, but never did, without all that PC claptrap getting in the way. . .
We've even considered a name, which fellow Tolkien nerds will appriciate: The Estel Foundation. (We give Hope to the West. . .)
We're getting together in October (we're kinda spread across the country right now), but this post has intrigued me, because it shares many of the same thoughts.
Please keep us updated, there are many interesting things that I feel may happen soon.
pharnath,
A freedom is a freedom "from" something. It can never be a freedom "to" something.
The Left believes that there is an unalienable right "to" pursue happiness. That to do so requires that people do not suffer unhappiness under an unjust system that confers privilege on the wealthy. The Left sees the pursuit of happiness as being much more important than liberty.
I mostly disagree with this Leftist view, however it is beyond sense to claim that Islamism is a byproduct of Leftist ideals. Islamism sneers just as much at the pursuit of happiness as it does the freedoms of liberty. At worst the Left is guilty of riding the tiger - using Islamist violence as a accusatory meme to criticise rightist exploitation of the underprivilaged global poor. What Baron proposes here is that the Right steals the tiger - uses Islamist violence to demonstrate that the granting of means through socialist redistribution is facillitating the violence.
Islamism is not a leftinflated monster, it will not turn to dust. "We are in a new phase of a very old war." - a war that was being fought before Marx was even a twinkle in his Great^10 Grandfather's eye. Shoot the damm tiger.
that we can only have a freedom "to" something, not a freedom "from" something. I think Eastern Europe would disagree (name republic or democracy "freedoms" here).
Or, to use a more mundane example: when an alcoholic gives up his addiction, he is free to do a lot more in his life.
Part of the West's problem is that for all the "freedoms" won, many responsibilities were renounced as out-moded or boring.
Time to figure out exactly what conservatism -- or some form of government without coercion -- stands for:
The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America
Go to the link and look at the other offerings.
The list of people writing from the right side is long and fruitful. The left is smear attacks.
Even though I highly appreciate your blog, here I completely disagree with your statement that the real enemy is within and jihad is only a symptom. We may fight with each other, left against right, religious vs atheists, homophobes vs homosexuals etc. But all that are out inner disputes. And jihad is an outer treat, completely outside our discourse. When sharia rule apply, there will be no leftists and no rightists. Some correctly point to the emerging alliance between jihadists and left. That's true. However, didn't right also try to establish such an alliance? The best known example is president Reagan's support for jihadists in Afghanistan against USSR. Communism is an evil, but it was a product of the West, and we must solve our problems ourselves. It's a treason to invite aliens to solve our inner problems. Bysantine imperor did, and we all know how he finished. If we do, our problems will disappear together with ourselves.
Baron, I'll work on this to build a rough draft. But I need the comments. When I've finished getting the ideas a bit focused, I'll e-mail the draft to you.
Do I just copy the comments into a folder on my desktop or is there some other way?
We should not let this go and I'm willing to work on it. It seems that all of us have strengths to bring to the table that will complement each other and make us stronger.
This goes along with work that Felix (Taking Sides has done in his Declaration of War. Perhaps with his work/ideas and after I get our ideas together, we will have something to e-mail to everyone or however that is done so that we can all get in our comments, not to word-smith it to death but to strengthen it.
It all doesn't have to be too complex, just unified. And I don't own the language so editing won't hurt my feelings.
Baron, the idea (David S (?) had of establishing a blog for this endeavor with links to yours is a good idea. Not for us to be posting there everyday but as a place for interested backers to see what we have in mind.
With all due respect, right now is not the time to focus on the "expense". We don't have anything to attract investors yet. Maybe we never will. We certainly never will if we don't try.
pondering ... yes, I think we have and can garner momentum behind a well-articulated vision and plan. This is possible, and would be a big move. I'd suggest, as the blogosphere is, that we somehow ensure there is an international feel to it. (Well, at least include the Commonwealth and NATO countries, e.g.) However, education and mass information is a long-road. Those who do not wish to be confused by facts will not convert to reality. Yet I think this is still a necessary movement to make more of a presence (for the the silent Vox Populi?) and take over some proportion of the airways -- but ... hasn't FOX covered this niche? How would this be different?
Meanwhile, and parallel to it, I have a proposal. Since we ARE at The Gates of Vienna, updated version 2.006, perhaps we have new means to go with the new memes, yes? For example, hearts and minds are won not with bombs, but by going door to door with bread. It's guerilla tactics. Behind enemy lines. Covert ops.
In order to pursue the nubile idea much further, however, it would be best to take the discussion underground, and keep it out of the public eye. We emerge through hidden information tunnels, reaching the mass of hostages (our humanity of brothers and sisters) who are in those countries where regime change must occur.
Language will be some of our barrier, but there are confederates to assist. Nay, I suggest very eager and willing to work hard -- they are the ones with their lives literally at risk. The proposal is for us, behind and beyond and around the governmental infrastructures, cooperating with those who are behind enemy lines. Their voice has been stolen, their freedoms truly crushed, and they are there and motivated.
The encouragement would be in the line of popular uprisings. (Which, perahps, our government does encourage - but this is very politically tricky. So, how about WE do it; encourage the insurrections and causes to freedom in those countries? We witness the latest Christian rally in Beirut, where again in Lebanon the (infidels) are speaking out. Likely at risk, and likely to be squashed by those neighboring harsher powers. This is the work that can be encouraged, supported, and by our help, across all borders, may we assist them from overthrowing (yes) those dictators who hold them captive.
Let's make a private forum for battle plans. The war is on, and I'm tired of trying to convince those in comfortable homes arguing about carry-on luggage about it. They are not the ones who need our immediate assistance, nor, I propose, hold the greatest leverage. The movements must be popularly based within the countries that are home to the evil doers.
Vicktorya
We agree with Fjordman and many others that the Jihad is just a symptom, and that the enemy lies within. This war is a civil war within the West, between traditional Western culture and the forces of politically correct multicultural Marxism that have bedeviled it for the last hundred years.
A war that has been fought for the past 1400 years is a symptom of a intra-cultural division that has occured for the last 100 years within one of the parties to the war. Absurdity.
Jihad is a symptom of Islam.
In all my readings of conservative and progressive thought there has been no inference that Marxism encourages a devout religious (Islamic) peity.
THE BLOGUBLOG WAR- a modest proposal
What attracts the attention of the generally over-taxed and p.c.-flummoxed audiences at large are memorable catchphrases and unforgettable images and sounds.
Whether pop songs that carry the 'freedom-from-intimidation' message palatably, or pithy slogans ("No Pedophile Prophets!" or "Islam is lame"), amusing "characters" (the mythic 'Turban Bomb' Mohammad/ Danish editorial image "starring" in an internet-based animated cartoon, etc., that mocks the 'deadpan-ness' of the Islamo-hysterics), and other media-savvy methods ( faux greeting cards and glossy, post-able stickers with quickly-readable mottos like: "It's the Jihad, stupid!" or "Killer Krazies of the Koran Want You!").
People like to be charmed to enlightment, not 'instructed'.
And you undermine a tyranny with lacerating lampoons as much as laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
E.G.-An self-inflating "Mr. Jihad" life-sized, air-filled doll, with ad blurb copy that claims: "It's 'Jabber the Jihadi'- (No need for a Pump, He blows Himself Up!)" cuts the ground out from under the 'deadly seriousness' that these maniacs aspire to.
Uniting Blogs & Bloggers to counter the BIG media's suicidally-stupid misinformation movement is a worthy concept.
Maybe a NEW search engine that advertises anti-jihad products, ideas, art, music, media resources, etc. would be a handy coalescing point.
Call it BLOGUBLOG.com.
I just registered it for two years -and would be glad to let this latent domain be developed by anyone (who has more time than I do at present) -via the Baron & Dymphna- to use in this effort.
I couldn't find anything shorter, easier to remember, or more to the point name that hadn't already been "squatted on".
Why "BLOGUBLOG"?
First, it signifies "BLOG U", a virtual 'University' for unifying those blogging against the Jihad.
And, second, because we want to Connect the Blogging U-niverse and rain the gathering intelligence of its roused Resistance forces down upon the parched 7th century numbskulls of the jihadis.
And to oppose their current two-pronged war that uses the soft CAIR-ish infil-traitors and hard 9/11-type invaders.
A Search Engine for the Effort.
Saying:
BLOG U!, jihadis!
(Anyone interested in developing the concept/domain should contact the Baron & Dymphna, and can get to me via: "profitsbeard@dcemail.com")
Notice from the War Room:
Beach Girl and I have been in contact. She is developing an initial outline from the ideas presented so far.
I have created an elist of our commenters here. HOWEVER -- many of you do not have your email available. Please email me if you wish to stay informed and assist in the ideas and developing logistics. (Send to problog at vicktorya dotcom will do for now.)
What I believe will be most efficient is for an egroup to be set up, (yahoogroups) so that the discussions can be private. (We don't want the battleplans getting leaked!). I'll set it up and (help) admin it.
The ideas for specific blogs, search engines, domain names are good, necessary -- and, while we are in formative stages, and for on-going logistics and forward planning, a private forum is necessary. I'll probably just unilaterally decide on a working name for the egroup (but if you have a divine experience, let me know!) ... also send along other concerns and suggestions. I suggest we go underground now.
There are overt and covert activities that we will be able to pursue. I'm intrigued by the possibilities on the guerrilla tactics, and will put some thoughts together on that to share; once we get a home.
Meanwhile, pass the word, and send any email addresses to me for inclusion in a planning egroup.
Battle stations everyone!
I just wanted you all to know I've been looking at the comments here, and the response is really great.
I like a lot of the ideas here. I hope you all will expand on them.
I'm going to remain focused on my original idea -- wresting control of a major liberal organ from the Left. The WaPo would be just as good, if not better, than CBS, but presumably more expensive.
Nothing like this could ever be done without the help of much bigger blogs than Gates of Vienna. That's why I suggest trying to get through to Charles at LGF, or Instapundit, or Powerline (I ran into bloggers from the last two last night!).
I'll post more on this eventually, but I just got back from Our Nation's Capital last night, and right now I'm beat.
unaha-closp --
I have not been clear. I don't mean to say that Marxism caused any jihad, or all jihad. I mean that Marxism's bastard children, political correctness and multiculturalism, have enabled the Third Wave of the Great Islamic Jihad.
Jihad was not a great problem for the west after 1683 until about 1970. Part of this is due to the price of oil, but part is also due to the Left's (sometimes deliberate) facilitation of jihad against us.
I hope that makes my assertion clearer.
Talk about a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy? Ya ain't seen nothing yet.
Here's an initial outline of areas to cover.
Baron, all, that MSM takeover is 4.e. & 4.f ... (e.g.)
Just give it a looksie; I'm still not 100% on a name for an egroup, (I'd like to lean to something that includes the Pentagon, but ... nothing yet.)
However, I think we have seen a need for a place to 'organize and coordinate the blogs', and then all other aspects that we can influence. For now, something that can handle a coordinative role, and provide the bloggers with material that they can then get out via their sites, etc.
I'm providing this as I go. This is just the pencil drawing sketch so far, but you can imagine it fleshed out. I'll continue, and welcome comments. Again, write me privately and I'll coordinate the elist until we get an egroup.
Vic
Coordinating the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Evolving a Vision Statement
1. Mission Inspiration: Liberty in the World; Freedom from Fear
a. Scope and Focus
b. Name & centralized forum
2. Our Unity and Basic Values
3. Identifying Resources
a. The Good; Inspiration and History
b. Human
c. Material
4. Strategic Areas (divisioned into USA & National Groups)
a. Political Influence Affecting Legislation
b. Spiritual & Interfaith Influence
c. Education (state-run & adult)
d. Cultural; Arts; humor
e. Communications: Broadcast, Print, Internet (e.g., takeover proposal)
f. Economic: Leveraging Resources
g. Division & Cohesion of Labour
i. The Subgroups; avoiding gaps and overlaps
ii. Coordination
5. Tactics
a. Activism & Alerts
b. Priority Evaluation
c. Immediate and Long-term timelines
6. Feedback
a. measuring success
b. Re-evaluation of Effectiveness, Leverage, and Needs Assessment
7. Oversight & Admin
PS: I'll take these preliminaries and post my expanded version of this to Liberating Propaganda (www.vicktorya.com/blog). It's still a quiet little site, so we can stay below the skyline and under radar, while we ... nucleate. Send friends this way, and to my email.
If anyone can announce to other blogs that the VRWC (yes, Vast Right Wing ... acronymed) is under coordination, please do. Hey, how do you like that for a name? "VRWC" (Compatible with military acronym and sylcon, that's syllable conservation to you civies.) :-)
godspeed, V.
Baron,
Much clearer. You are accusing 50% of the population of eanbling terrorism on the basis that Islamists take advantage of some of their actions or they take advantage of Islamist terrorist action for political gain.
The Left and the Right have been bickering for as long as western philosophy has existed. Plato envisaged an ideal republic, utopian in its ability to produce a good rule & coercive in its powers. It is a debate in our society as to how we should act to the greatest good - through allowing people the freedom to be good or coercing people from being bad. You are looking to carry one side of this debate.
Islamists consider both sides of the debate to be immoral. The Islamist may take advantage of western greed, hope, fear, stupidity, kindness, whatever, but he is not acting in concert with the Left or the Right. He will only be happy when the all of us kneel before his sword.
You say yourself some of the facilitation is through oil wealth. Booming economies demand oil to burn and capitalists like wealth. I call a fool any anti-capitalist, enviromentalist who calls the Right a supporter of terrorism, but oil wealth plays this part. I worry that in charging to implicate the Left in enabling terrorism you will forget this, because to defeat Islamism requires that the Islamist states are stripped of their oil wealth at least as much as our culture is made less multicultural and PC.
Vicktorya probably first big blog you should try is Beth from Alabama at http://bamapachyderm.com/
vsk, In case you don't get my email here's my two cents worth.
Hi, I read the subject post and comments and I’m interested in joining in.
Here are some quick reactions to the comments left on that post. These are just my humble thoughts and opinions. I’m no genius.
While the blogsphere is growing and having more impact with each passing month, we still have a long, long way to go. Which begs the question “do we have enough time to defeat our enemies” using the blogsphere?
Here are the current problems I see with the blogsphere.
1. Not widely read enough compared to the general public who watch and read MSM.
2. Not focused enough, which results in scattered and diffused efforts.
3. While credibility is growing we’ve a long way to go.
4. The left are way ahead of the right in organizing and using the blogsphere politically.
5. Daily Kos, the largest and most influential left blog, supported 15 candidates in the last election – every one of them lost. Lessons to be learned.
6. The Democrats work more closely with the left than the Republicans due with the right in the blogspere. An area begging to be developed.
Having said all that, we can still use the blogsphere to our advantage; we just need to do it smarter. Instead of starting a new blog we could try and leverage the larger, existing blogs. In the end, if we did need to start a new blog for our specific purposes, it would be smart to work with large existing blogs to leverage their existing audience. In other words, let’s do our homework first and then present the idea to some big blogs for backing. MSM do pay attention to some of the bigger blogs like LGF and Instapundit. Here in the UK, the BBC pays attention to Biased BBC and my blog USS Neverdock. But as pointed out in the referenced post, these are reactions and not proactive.
An example of proaction is the recent Porkbusters campaign by bloggers in the US. We can learn from this.
Further, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to the blogsphere. Your idea of a focus group using Yahoo or Google would be a better way to start.
So, were do we start?
Set up the focus group. Make it private and not open to the public.
Next I’d say, identify whom we are fighting and what we are fighting for. First rule of warfare – know your enemy. That entails a lot more than just identifying them it means knowing them. First step then is to draw up a list of enemies and then get to “know” them. I can explain more later. We need clear and concise goal statements.
Then we could organize the focus group into sub groups based on the enemies list. We then have those sub groups responsible for targeting specific enemies on the list. For example, we could have a media group, politics group and an organization group (ACLU, CAIR etc). These groups are responsible for research and documentation. These sub groups feed their results into the main group who takes action.
Actions could be, but not limited to, blogging, email campaigns, contacting advertisers (of our enemies), contacting the media (reactions or publishing), etc. Here again, working with existing large Bloggers who have already been there and done that could save us time and energy.
Buying into existing left wing media might not be the way to go for now. Would it be better to find a way to help Fox News instead? It already exists and is doing some of what we desire. How can we help them? CNN is in every air port – why isn’t Fox? Can we contact them to see how we can work together? In what ways can we help them?
Here in the UK, Iain Dale, a blogger, is starting his own internet TV show. Here’s a link: http://18doughtystreet.typepad.com/
Here again this is on the internet and it’s not clear how much of the general public will see it.
We have many enemies and many fronts in this war. It is therefore imperative that we organize better to focus our efforts.
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. Let me know if I can help.
Here’s my blog: http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/
My email is marclanders at btinternet dot com
Cheers,
Marc Landers
Scotland
Profitsbeard, please copyright or whatever you need to do to get your ideas "protected". The enchanting instead of instructing is right-on. The Jabba the Jihadi is beyong great. Just think of all the stuff sold at some of these talk-show people's web sites. Anyway, your idea creates one source of (1) funding and (2) as you aptly point out, laughter takes the sails out of some folks. Let's face it, we need more cartoons (Danish style) and not fewer.
Baron, hope you get some rest. I can't 'cause of all the ideas spinning in me wee-tiny brain due to the interchange here.
Take care, everyone.
Hizpallah killes woman and children on both sides of a conflict as bloodsacrifices to the left. The left gets bloody pictures they can use against anyone who would dare to try and preserve anything western. The Hitzpallah in return gets political and finacial surport.
From Iran. Not leftists, rather religous, conservative, Islamist Iran. When Hezbollah attack they are holding Iranian supplied weapons and spouting Iranian type Islam killing in its name. They don't fight for any leftists. They kill women and children to fufill the practice of a violent, backwards, version of Islam. This Islamic cult is the killer and it is funded by the oil wealth of Iran.
Some Leftists use the images of this bloody slaughter to condemm the defensive war carried out by the Israelis and charge them (and their rightist backers) with the slaughter, but Israel carries no gouilt for acting in its own defence. Now you a Rightist are trying to portray the Left as a puppetmaster for Islamists, but there is no link.
Leftists using pictures of slaughtered children to tar the Right, Rightists using pictures of slaughtered children to tar the Left or Islamists slaughtering children - which is most evil?
Hallelujah friends and neighbors --
We now have a planning egroup set up. Write to me privately if you want to sign up. [I rather not anyone who isn't on a 'need to know' (aka participating) come in. It is a planning-for-action group, and may be a vigorous. We have a lot of work to do ... and we're just the folks to do it.
Especially in these early stages, if you have a good strategic mind and organizational skills, please ... everyone who 'sees the right' is welcome to be active.
I have added in those who have responded so far, and who I have email addresses for -- yet I do not have access to the email of about 15 of you who have replied to the posts here with good ideas and willingness. send to vsk at vicktorya dot com
(PS: for some reason this seems a good place to say it. Since June 12, when Hezb'allah took the Israeli soldier, and I thought, "Man that was stupid", I've put myself on this freedom and, remedial civilization or 'reversal' work FULL TIME. I live frugally, but, I will say that foregoing my meagre self-employment act means that I have given about $3,000 so far. Part of that time was my full immersion into the blogosphere and history and current events, all media observation. Not that I haven't been aware before, but I'm 24/7 now. I have a couple grand left in my 'savings', which is what I am drawing on. I can probably stomach covering another month of my expenses on this ... then well, God may have to provide. Regardless, that is just for context. I know most of you are giving much -- and do not have the ... luxury? as I do, due to not having any dependents and the ability to craft my time to what I believe is most important. I just want you to know who you are dealing with. aka, I'm pretty serious. :-) And I believe in transparency (well, on things not related to war ops. thus ...
Question: WHO leaked that Intel report? Sounds to me like treason ...
I agree that the battle is within the West, but I don't agree that the enemy is Marxism per se. Rather I would say that it is Post Modernism. The reason I say this is that prior to Derrida et al, Marxism was part of rationalist discourse. It has enlightenment roots even though ultimately it has anti-enlightenment objectives. It is beyond dispute that the majority of Marxists have chosen the Post Modern route. Unfortunately an even larger number of non-Marxists have endorsed aspects of post-modernism too and ultimately these people are the real problem. Marxists want a utopia and they will engineer the societal collapse that they think will precede it. Non Marxists fear such a collapse, recognising the dystopian end point, but the danger is they DO NOT RECOGNISE the consequences of post modernism that they have endorsed (such as moral and cultural relativism) - they think that non-judgementalism is morally virtuous.
The fact that Marxism is not identical to post-modernism has another important consequence: There are some on the left who recognise the danger, correctly identify the problem as being one of moral relativism but nevertheless would be uncomfortable with a blanket anti-Marxist label. For examples:
Harrys Place
Norman Geras
Christopher Hitchins
David Aaronovitch
I would particularly draw your attention to this post, which shows a UK Channel 5 TV program (via You Tube) written by David Aaronovitch, which shows just how much the left has split on this issue. It's also worth recalling that the "old" Democrat party well recognised the danger of Communism.
Goodness guys, I didn't even realize that you had posted this. I suppose this attitude is rather in the air lately, but it must be realized. We need to work together. I posted a similar idea over at the IBA without realizing your post here:
The Time Has Come
I hope that some of you also look at my proposal as well as the comments and that we can organize something together. We need a real organization that extends offline and that has the same visibility as organizations such as the ACLU and CAIR do here in the US, as well as their counterparts in other countries. We need a group to speak up for non-muslims and to issue statements condemning the "orders" given us by Muslim groups. I think that people will flock in droves to such an organization, given that our presentation is professional.
But please check out my post, this is a dream I had that I was unable to fulfill when I first was on the web back in November 05. In my frustration at a lack of a place for action, I began blogging. I want the blogs to continue by all means, but this is something I also want!
A brilliant idea and perfect timing but we need to move quick. I don't know about the US but the feeling over here is that Europe is waking up to the islamist problem - hopefully not too late to do something about it.
Here are some ideas that hopefully might be of some use to you:
1 - Whilst having a central 'spearhead' approach (be it a website or whatever) is a good idea, it's only one part of the weapon and is useless if thrown in the wrong direction. Think about the first hurdle you're up against - marginalisation, the favourite tool of the left wing MSM. Only one article is required discrediting the 'spearhead' (using disinformation probably) and the indoctrinated reader/viewer will never take you seriously. The only way to clamber back is to change tactics slightly and try again. This wastes a lot of effort and time.
This is not to say that the direction of blogs shouldn't be co-ordinated, infact, this is crucial. The advantage of many blogs acting together is the cell like structure so if one falls to MSM's attempt at marginalisation, three more pop in its place but the message doesn't change. Also, a high distribution of sites each with the same message would appear favourably in Google ranking thus increasig the likelihood of people landing on one of the syndicated sites. A definite requirement of this approach though would be some sort of organisational hierachy/structure to it - XYZ and DEF blogs for the media control, HIJ and MNO blogs for the political side etc etc.
There would definitely be a time for a spearhead approach (name would have to be international and powerful and at all costs should avoid copying what the enemy's site looks like) you would have to have some way of proving sufficient consolidated membership to the 'cause' to make sure it could cope easily with MSM's attempt to discredit it.
2 - Rather than raising capital to buy an interest in a media corp, get one to work for you who would be sympathetic to the cause and would use your research as their source. Again, even those corps inclined to the right (Fox in US, Sky News in UK spring to mind) would still be fearful of feeling the backlash of an associated group being marginalised. Again, before you could approach them, sufficient membership/direction would need to be proven.
3 - Don't be afraid to consider covert netwar tactics to subvert the islamists growing use of the internet to spread hate. Not all hackers that could initiate denial of service attacks on sites that publish and promote hatred against the west are left wing anti-establishment types.
4 - Know your enemy (also suggested by Marc) is vital. It just so happens that I am in the process of creating such a site (http://know-your-enemies.blogspot.com/ as the syndicated page with comments backed up by http://enemy-info-vault.blogspot.com/ as the site containing the research information on individuals/groups that we are at war with). The latter could be used as source for other blogs when they make the headlines so people know the truth about them.
5 - Security through being anonymous. I would highly recommend that each person contributing in anyway shape or form consider/review their security before the ball gets rolling. We are dealing with fanatics and whilst it's obvious we have to make a stand, until the money or influence ensures security provision, anonymity and cover is the best approach. Theo Van Gogh's fate is a suitable example of why certain measures should be taken. Don't underestimate the level of infiltration of sleeper cells. How do you know one doesn't work in IT admin at Blogger.com and all of a sudden your registration details end up on fatwah.com!
6 - Make it international. A worldwide audience is better. Identify where blogs are based so people know they can get information that relates specifically to them whilst at the same time getting the overall message.
I have very little spare time but that which I do have I would gladly offer if you need any help with anything. Islamism didn't contribute anything to the British Empire or the US Hyperpower and it's damn well not going to destroy any of it if I have anything to do with it!
Dan, Scotland, UNITED Kingdom.
Here are my .02
Blogging is all very fine and good. I do it myself, and it serves a very useful purpose.
But here's another idea.
My suggestion is that you take to the streets.
Yeah I know, running around waving signs smells leftie. But the time has come not to let the lefties have the streets - public square if you will - to themselves.
Not to promote myself, but as a member of FreeRepublic.com we hold a pro-troops rally every single Friday night outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. A secondary purpose is keeping the leftist loonies of Code Pink away from the entrance (they take up residence about a half-block away). I took this night off because tomorrow AM I'm going out to hand out lit for a local GOP congressman.
The point is this: ORGANIZE a local group and go counter-protest some leftie congressman or Muslim organization like CAIR. Believe it or not you will attract media attention. I've counter-protested lots of leftie (and one anti-Israel Muslim) groups and belive you me it pisses them off royally.
If you want ideas or need help there may already be a local FreeRepublic or Protest Warrior chapter in your area. email them or me if you need assistance.
Tom, that route has been tried, and in most places the amount of protesters that shows up is under 10 people. I'm suggesting an organization that is both international and very professional, no rabble-rousing, not the sort of language we use (with much relish, of course!) on our blogs. Our presence, especially if we are smart about our PR, will eventually land us on radio or talk shows. Well, whoever ends up being the spokespeople.
But the message must be a simple one, which will leave little room for dissent and for opposition from lefties and the right combined. It must be a movement that attracts many on the grass-roots level, namely an organization that simply states that things are done a certain way in the West and that we aren't about to be told what to do or bullied like this.
Furthermore, I believe that it is IMPERATIVE that we simply enter the stage with an incredulous attitude, as if the politically correct and Islamic apologists had simply never existed. We must brush them off and not seem like long-persecuted militants out for political blood. We cannot act ignorant of the prevailing attitude of recent years, but we must seem as though it has not touched us in our purpose or mission.
iknowmine--that is good news, and I am sensing the same sentiment in the air here. Even some of the larger cable news networks finally started covering the Pope controversy in that light, highlighting the irony of reacting violently to the suggestion that Islam is violent. I think that woke up many people who are now more willing to speak of it openly. Remember, there have always been many more people fed up with this nonsense than are expressing their sentiments on the web. They are the masses we need, and they are finally coming to their senses....hopefully. In case anything changes and the mood fails, I think that we should still have an organization to deal with pointing out and condemning the problems.
Just my ghostly opinion.
Hello again all:
Several of you are now on the new egroup to discuss this project. It is private; email me (vsk at vicktorya dot com) and I'll add you on. We've also got a strong thread at Infidel Bloggers Alliance, http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2006/09/time-has-come.html
I believe that all of these ideas are useful, and we can make space for them all. I'm working on a hierarchical structure to, as mentioned here, ensure that we have some measure of organization that can allow a meta-coordination. Sort of like one hand knowing what the other is doing. Our intention is right, our energy is there, and now we can work to combining forces so we are effective.
There are the ideas of the MSM, education, political action, tech and covert ops (!), etc. All of these are included. What our egroup will allow us to do is have a place to advise of priorities and alerts. There will likely be new websites or blogs involved, and use of current blogs, etc. Let's get together first, ensure a vision is in place and work outward from a central stronghold.
We're ready, let's go.
write me,
Vicktorya
We will do this ourselves. I'll give myself carpal tunnel syndrome just to do it even if no one wants to join, but it seems a popular idea, thankfully! I think the big blogs will be attracted by the sentiments at any rate if we simply start a website, and most will probably talk about it. LGF especially, but other experts on some of the major sites are usually able to be contacted and are usually responsive and willing to advise and give ideas.
One note on the title, that was one of Pim Fortuyn's favorite sayings. The emperor has no clothes. I need to get one of those columns translated.
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