People working to protect their own families? It doesn't really get more grassroots than that. It's a shame they have to. It's too much stress for a person, imagine having to work, or study having this in the back of your mind: that any moment your family can be invalidated by strangers. It's a real sickness to vote against the civil rights of ones fellow human beings.
This add gets to the heart of it. http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/irelands_unbelievably_good_commercial_for_marriage_equality
MoveOn.org Civic Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, formerly known as MoveOn.org, primarily focuses on education and advocacy on national issues. MoveOn.org Political Action, a federal political action committee, formerly known as MoveOn PAC, gives contributions to candidates across the country to advance causes in Congress and help elect selected political candidates.
MoveOn started in 1998 as an e-mail group, MoveOn.org, created by computer entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the married cofounders of Berkeley Systems. They started by passing around a petition asking Congress to "censure President Clinton and move on", as opposed to impeaching him. The petition, passed around by word of mouth, was extremely successful; ultimately, they had half a million signatures.[6] Buoyed by their success, the couple went on to start similar campaigns, including: calling for more arms inspections rather than an invasion of Iraq (see Popular opposition to war on Iraq) the reinstatement of lower limits on arsenic and mercury pollution campaign finance reform Since 1998, MoveOn has raised millions of dollars for many Democratic candidates.[3] In November 2007, a drive spearheaded by MoveOn caused Facebook to change its controversial new "Beacon" program, which notified Facebook users about purchases by people on their friends list.[7] As of 2009, MoveOn claims a membership of 5.2 million, with 20 full-time and 20 part-time staffers.
'Astroturfing is a word in English describing formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous "grassroots" behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf. A basic explanation would be, if a grassroots movement is the collective efforts, on a local level, of dedicated people donating their time and efforts to further the cause of a political party or to help a candidate get elected, because they deem it to be good for the many, then Astroturfing (Astroturf being an artificial grass) is an artificial grassroots movement, one that is made to appear as though it is a real grassroots movement, but it is usually done to satify the desires of people or parties with interests, such as lobbyists or PACs, or other such group(s), and most often not at a local level. The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the efforts of a political or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political entity—a politician, political group, product, service or event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach", "awareness", etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations, unions, non-profits, or activist organizations. Very often the efforts are conducted by political consultants who also specialize in opposition research.'
'A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a political movement) is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures. Often, grassroots movements are at the local level, as many volunteers in the community give their time to support the local party, which can lead to helping the national party. For instance, a grassroots movement can lead to significant voter registration for a political party, which in turn helps the state and national parties.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots
Now, this is locally based, and driven by the politics of a community. It was because what happened to them, and they wish to protect their rights...they weren't instructed from a media campaign or a lobby, the lobby came to them.
Please provide an example of how MoveOn has committed AstroTurfing. It is my understanding that there is some covert ulterior motive behind the so-called grass-roots efforts of AstroTurfing and/or that fraud has occurred. Examples include forged letters to politicians and to editors and paying people to protest. MoveOn does not do this. (Yes, I got all this from Wikipedia on 'Astroturfing').
Will it be a grass roots campaign, or will Geroge Soros pitch in a little capital?
ReplyDeleteIt is always tragic to watch people being reduced to voting against their friends and neighbors.
ReplyDeletePeople working to protect their own families? It doesn't really get more grassroots than that.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame they have to. It's too much stress for a person, imagine having to work, or study having this in the back of your mind: that any moment your family can be invalidated by strangers. It's a real sickness to vote against the civil rights of ones fellow human beings.
This add gets to the heart of it.
http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/irelands_unbelievably_good_commercial_for_marriage_equality
"It's a real sickness to vote against the civil rights of ones fellow human beings."
ReplyDeleteAgreed, however I would not call MoveOn a grass roots club...
C'mon if Astro turf is a "problem" shouldn't we be screaming about it with reguards to MoveOn as well?
MoveOn.org Civic Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, formerly known as MoveOn.org, primarily focuses on education and advocacy on national issues.
ReplyDeleteMoveOn.org Political Action, a federal political action committee, formerly known as MoveOn PAC, gives contributions to candidates across the country to advance causes in Congress and help elect selected political candidates.
MoveOn started in 1998 as an e-mail group, MoveOn.org, created by computer entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the married cofounders of Berkeley Systems. They started by passing around a petition asking Congress to "censure President Clinton and move on", as opposed to impeaching him. The petition, passed around by word of mouth, was extremely successful; ultimately, they had half a million signatures.[6]
Buoyed by their success, the couple went on to start similar campaigns, including:
calling for more arms inspections rather than an invasion of Iraq (see Popular opposition to war on Iraq)
the reinstatement of lower limits on arsenic and mercury pollution
campaign finance reform
Since 1998, MoveOn has raised millions of dollars for many Democratic candidates.[3]
In November 2007, a drive spearheaded by MoveOn caused Facebook to change its controversial new "Beacon" program, which notified Facebook users about purchases by people on their friends list.[7]
As of 2009, MoveOn claims a membership of 5.2 million, with 20 full-time and 20 part-time staffers.
That's from wikipedia.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoveOn.org
I fail to see what George Soros has to gain financially by donating his money to righteous causes.
ReplyDelete'Astroturfing is a word in English describing formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous "grassroots" behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.
ReplyDeleteA basic explanation would be, if a grassroots movement is the collective efforts, on a local level, of dedicated people donating their time and efforts to further the cause of a political party or to help a candidate get elected, because they deem it to be good for the many, then Astroturfing (Astroturf being an artificial grass) is an artificial grassroots movement, one that is made to appear as though it is a real grassroots movement, but it is usually done to satify the desires of people or parties with interests, such as lobbyists or PACs, or other such group(s), and most often not at a local level.
The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the efforts of a political or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political entity—a politician, political group, product, service or event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach", "awareness", etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations, unions, non-profits, or activist organizations. Very often the efforts are conducted by political consultants who also specialize in opposition research.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
'A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a political movement) is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures. Often, grassroots movements are at the local level, as many volunteers in the community give their time to support the local party, which can lead to helping the national party. For instance, a grassroots movement can lead to significant voter registration for a political party, which in turn helps the state and national parties.'
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots
Now, this is locally based, and driven by the politics of a community. It was because what happened to them, and they wish to protect their rights...they weren't instructed from a media campaign or a lobby, the lobby came to them.
They are not protecting any commercial interests only there friends, families, and neighbors.
ReplyDelete'their'
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/14/jon-stewart-takes-on-fox_n_320287.html
ReplyDeletePlease provide an example of how MoveOn has committed AstroTurfing. It is my understanding that there is some covert ulterior motive behind the so-called grass-roots efforts of AstroTurfing and/or that fraud has occurred. Examples include forged letters to politicians and to editors and paying people to protest. MoveOn does not do this. (Yes, I got all this from Wikipedia on 'Astroturfing').
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19913.html
ReplyDeleteI mispoke, and am sorry. I had SEIU, ACORN, and some other various Soros groups confused. My bad.