 |
|
|
and Write Myself a Letter |
|
By BuckcuB
You don't have to be a mad billionaire like Clinton-hater Richard Mellon Scaife, throwing bucketloads of cash around, to influence public opinion. You don't have to take time off from work, or give up your precious few hours of leisure time to swell the ranks at official protests, if you don't feel able to do that. All it takes is a few pennies' worth of paper and ink, and one first-class postage stamp -- and you can put out your message of indignation over the stolen election to tens of thousands--even hundreds of thousands --of people, at once. Moreover, that message will be read and noted by influential people who shape everything from the nation's political and economic landscape, to the folks who measure America's opinion pulse for a living and sell it to corporations, pundits, and bureaucrats who take it very, very seriously indeed. All you have to do, dear reader, is simple. Write a "letter to the editor." The Opinions page of every American newspaper prints such letters. It is a vast and largely-untapped, cost-free venue to make your opinion known to the entire subscriber base of the newspaper. Know how much it would cost to mail out protest fliers to every subscriber of the New York Times? Over $1 million. Know how much it costs to send a letter to the editor of the New York Times, which will be read by a substantial percentage of those same subscribers? Thirty-four cents.
Know who else reads those letters faithfully? The aides of virtually every elected official in the country, who employ "clipping services" to send them such letters from all across their districts. Politicians pay close attention to the public opinion represented by letters to the editor. It's how they increase their likelihood of re-election. And those officials pay even closer attention to the editorial pronouncements of newspapers in their district--which as noted above are strongly influenced by readers' letters. Another powerful group which reads those letters is market demographers. These are the people who, unbeknown to most of us, decide how best to sell everything from soft drinks to luxury automobiles to the consumers. They are largely soulless bean- counters with one aim--to help craft advertising which will induce you to buy one brand of product over another. We need not concern ourselves with that single-minded greed, because it can work to our advantage. When public opinion as measured by the Opinion pages decrees a politician or policy widely unpopular--George Bush's theft of the election, for example--that message creeps into nationwide advertising for every product imaginable, and so your little letter of protest helps to spread the word far and wide in expensive commercial advertisements. Now, what comes next is not without a touch of controversy for the champions of ideological purity. BuckcuB is about to give you all a little lesson in what he freely admits is "Propaganda 101." In defense of doing so, you may rest assured that the right wing has been churning out such propaganda for years, to their great advantage.
Having first ascertained the newspaper's guidelines for letters--most limit the number of words; some edit for "taste;" and no paper will print outright libel--you must craft your letter carefully for maximum effect and a minimal chance for right-wingers to attack it in subsequent rebuttal. Keep your letter short, simple, to-the-point, and as nonpartisan as possible. Loading your letter with insults and hyperbole, while tempting, dilutes the message and gets you lumped into the "fringe" category. While BuckcuB served on the aforementioned editorial board, letters were frequently passed around with the comment, "Another 'ortel'." "Ortel" was shorthand for O.R.T.L--outraged right- to-lifer"--our designation for people who wrote constantly and in purple prose in opposition to legal abortion. One of the best subversive tactics you can use in a letter protesting the Bush theft of the presidency is to make a nonpartisan appeal to democracy and the sanctity of the American republic. Right-wingers hate this, because writing in rebuttal to such an appeal makes them appear unpatriotic. So, instead of writing "That moron George Bush and his thieving brother in Florida ripped off the American voters," which while true will get you instantly branded as a rabidly-partisan activist, try something with broad appeal to Americans of every political stripe: "What a shame that so many patriots died on the field of battle to defend democracy, only to have their heroism smeared by a partisan Supreme Court and shady political operatives of the Bush clan" is a much more effective tack. You praise the heroes and veterans of past wars; you praise democracy; you avoid apparent partisanship; and you neatly lay the blame for assault on traditional American ideals on the Supreme Court and the Bush Bunch. There is no way to rebut such a letter without appearing unpatriotic, so your opinion will go mostly unchallenged by the right-wingers. Another excellent tactic is to bemoan the Bushian theft with comments in justification which the right-wing largely endorses. Doing so requires a judicious amount of prevarication, but it can be extremely effective. For example, a letter stating: "We had to endure eight years of scandal and immorality in the Oval Office, but at least that offender was freely and fairly elected. Now we have a President who lost the election under the law and under the Constitution, but was illegally installed anyway. How much lower can the presidency sink? How much more besmirching of the nation's highest office can America endure?" will drive the ultraconservatives crazy, yet appear utterly nonpartisan -- even critical of Clinton -- while sending the message that Bush is an even worse malefactor. One of the best tactics is to praise Bush's politics while sadly bewailing his illegal installation. More prevarication, of course, but all in a good cause. Such as: "At last we have a president who is willing to work for issues of real importance to Americans. What a pity that he will likely be removed from office once the election-theft evidence surfaces, as it must and will. And what a shame for Americans that a man who might have been a great and good leader will be tarnished and repudiated because of the un-American manner in which he was unlawfully installed as president, instead of being fairly elected." Trust BuckcuB--a letter like this will cause apoplexy at numerous breakfast tables, because you are praising Bush while lamenting his inevitable disgrace. Okay, propaganda lesson over. Now, BuckcuB asks you, dear reader, to take fifteen minutes one day this week, and sit right down to write yourself a letter. A letter to the editor of your local newspaper, or a letter to the editor of any of America's major daily papers -- surprise, they print letters which come from people outside their subscription area in most cases.
So sit right down and write yourself a letter, dear reader. You can make a difference, and you will make a difference. And for a lousy thirty-four cents or less, with internet access, you can help to get rid of the Texas Twit. And now for a list of places to send your letter! A letter to your local daily paper is best. But herewith is a short list of some of the nation's most widely-read and influential newspapers. To send a letter to the editor of the New York Times, email: letters@nytimes.com, or send your snail-mail letter to: Letters to the Editor The New York Times 229 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 Letters to the Chicago Tribune? Email: E. Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor, bdold@tribune.com. Snail mail goes to: 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611 Savannah Morning News: letted@savannahnow.com The Miami Herald: www.miami.com/herald/content/contact/heralded2_form.htm OR smail mail to: The Readers' Forum The Miami Herald One Herald Plaza Miami, Florida 33132-1693 San Francisco Chronicle: www.sfgate.com/chronicle email: chronletters@sfgate.com mail: 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Los Angeles Times: www.latimes.com/HOME/ email: letters@latimes.com mail: Letters to the Editor, Times Mirror Square Los Angeles, CA 90053 Orange County Register: www.ocregister.com email: letters@link.freedom.com mail: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 USA Today: www.usatoday.com email: editor@usatoday.com mail: 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, Va. 22229 Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com email: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm mail: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 Dallas Morning News: http://dmnweb.dallasnews.com/letters Snail Mail goes to: Editor Dallas Morning News PO Box 655237 Dallas, TX 75265-5237 The Kansas City Star: letters@kcstar.com |
Mr. Bush shows
Subversion, dear reader, is not a science but an art. "These things
must be done delicately," as the Wicked Witch of the West succinctly
phrased it.
Then senator and now Attorney General John Ashcroft speaking before his fans 
© 1997-2002 BEI