[LINK] Tea Parties

Tom Koltai tomk at unwired.com.au
Sun Apr 19 14:46:28 AEST 2009


Actually - I think the real subject here was People power.

Wikiniomics ISBN 1-8435-4718-X By Tapscott and Wiliams argues
successfully that mass collaboration changes everything and that modern
communications is enabling a heretofore unheralded trend being driven by
direct P2P communications.

E.g.: Twitter.

150 people in Buffalo doen not a movement make - but at the original
Boston Tea Party, that formulated the spark for th independence of the
United States, I believe there were only 130 present.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_tea_party

So it would appear that 130 can make a difference - if they choose their
target carefully.
Possibly a rally in a park was an inefficient method of expressing their
support for lowered taxes.

On the other hand - a 1% turnout across the country sends a message to
congress. 
Imagine if the 1% signed a declaration of voluntary taxation
independence. <grin>

That would wipe 20 million off the US GDP in a single stroke.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2003/feb/24/newmedia.koreanews

Makes for interesting reading.




> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Jan Whitaker
> Sent: Sunday, 19 April 2009 10:36 AM
> To: link at mailman1.anu.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [LINK] Tea Parties
> 
> 
> At 10:06 AM 19/04/2009, Karl Auer wrote:
> 
> >Just what exactly would wipe the "yawn" off your face, if 
> the fact of 
> >*three hundred thousand people* taking the time to protest 
> leaves you 
> >unmoved?
> 
> Goodness, I struck a nerve! Unintentionally, btw. But truly, I wasn't 
> impressed. I don't think I need to justify my feelings to 
> anyone, frankly. 
> http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/tea-party-nonpartisan-a
ttendance.html 
has the figure I mentioned. Read the comments to see why this is all
silly.

fyi:
So one tenth of 1 percent of the US population attended a "tea party" 
yesterday. I'd bet that far more people marched in parades across the 
country on gay pride day than attended "tea parties" yesterday. In my 
city (Buffalo), with one million people in the metro area, 150 people 
attended a "tea party". Why is anyone talking about this again?

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth. ~Madeline
L'Engle, writer

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