I see a lot of discussion about analogies to help explain to everyday people the problems SOPA (and PIPA) would cause. Let's get some PSA style analogy videos and pictures up for everyone to distribute to their friends and family via (fill in social network here). I'm sure the Reddit community can get the ball rolling with their meme prowess. It's very simple, but it could be very effective.
I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
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Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#72Alexis, you did great. Cool, calm, collected, and sharp. You did a great job advocating what most of us here understand and champion. But here is the problem I see with this whole SOPA debate... I didn't see anything that would help my Uncle Art understand what this is all about in his language and why he should care. This is what he sees: - There is a bill in congress. - It's to stop people from stealing other peopl…
Despite my differences with much of the Republican party platform, one thing that they are damn good at and I respect them for is an ability to communicate with their target base. Where's there's a hot topic issue, the Republicans will come out in lockstep with voices on the same wavelength. They use clear and simple language with a single antagonist. In the really big battles they even coin phrases like 'Obamacare',…
"SOPA is the Great Wall of America"
"SOPA is Internet Mutilation"
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#73Some criticisms on style:
- You said "you know" reflexively while she asked questions.
- You look young. The cool hair (which I like, personally) makes you look even younger.
- You bob your head.
- You mentioned PIPA without defining it. Most people you need to convince won't know what you're talking about.
- Emphasizing "One Million Dollars!" doesn't sound too huge compared with how often we hear "Billion" and "Trillion" thrown around in the news. LouisCK was great, and it's a good point, but I think it doesn't make the point you want to the people who don't already understand.
Some suggestions on content:
Play up "government intervention is bad" even more. The conservative electorate might be tough on crime, but they're also pro-business. Paint SOPA as a government-subsidized bailout intervention evil that is anti-business and taking away our constitutional rights.
People respect Google, and at least go "those people are smart!" even if they don't get the internet. A lot of conservatives got traction against Obamacare by saying "Doctors hate it, and we trust doctors." Play that up: Smart, innovative businesses like Google oppose this government intervention in the free market. We trust Google, etc. etc.
If I had one sentence to suggest it would be:
"SOPA lets the government intervene to take away the right to free speech from trusted businesses like Google that are the future of our economy, just to bail out the movie industry."
That's one hell of an oversimplification, but I think it's enough to perk up ears. This isn't defense spending - conservatives don't necessarily have any love for "Hollywood liberal PETA supporters" (as my mother puts it). In Hollywood versus Google, Google at least has "pro-business" points. The thing to remember is that if they don't get the internet, the won't get your explanation of any nuances.
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#74Alexis, you did great. Cool, calm, collected, and sharp. You did a great job advocating what most of us here understand and champion. But here is the problem I see with this whole SOPA debate... I didn't see anything that would help my Uncle Art understand what this is all about in his language and why he should care. This is what he sees: - There is a bill in congress. - It's to stop people from stealing other peopl…
> "If someone shoplifts in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store."
I like the analogy, but it's off by a mark. "If someone leaves stolen goods in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." would be a closer match, but misses a nuance.
"If someone post a notice advertising stolen goods on the community noticeboard in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." would be even closer, but is a little harder to grok.
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#75Alexis, you did great. Cool, calm, collected, and sharp. You did a great job advocating what most of us here understand and champion. But here is the problem I see with this whole SOPA debate... I didn't see anything that would help my Uncle Art understand what this is all about in his language and why he should care. This is what he sees: - There is a bill in congress. - It's to stop people from stealing other peopl…
Despite my differences with much of the Republican party platform, one thing that they are damn good at and I respect them for is an ability to communicate with their target base. Where's there's a hot topic issue, the Republicans will come out in lockstep with voices on the same wavelength. They use clear and simple language with a single antagonist. In the really big battles they even coin phrases like 'Obamacare',…
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Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#76Alexis, you did great. Cool, calm, collected, and sharp. You did a great job advocating what most of us here understand and champion. But here is the problem I see with this whole SOPA debate... I didn't see anything that would help my Uncle Art understand what this is all about in his language and why he should care. This is what he sees: - There is a bill in congress. - It's to stop people from stealing other peopl…
> "If someone shoplifts in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." I like the analogy, but it's off by a mark. "If someone leaves stolen goods in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." would be a closer match, but misses a nuance. "If someone post a notice advertising stolen goods on the community noticeboard in your store, this bill allows the government t…
The best I could come up with is: "It's like if you were a landlord renting one apartment in a large building to someone you thought was a guitar teacher giving private lessons, but he turned out to be selling stolen jewelry; your whole apartment complex could be shut down by the government before the trial of your tenant took place, even if you evicted the tenant as soon as you discovered criminality."
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#77Alexis, you did great. Cool, calm, collected, and sharp. You did a great job advocating what most of us here understand and champion. But here is the problem I see with this whole SOPA debate... I didn't see anything that would help my Uncle Art understand what this is all about in his language and why he should care. This is what he sees: - There is a bill in congress. - It's to stop people from stealing other peopl…
> "If someone shoplifts in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." I like the analogy, but it's off by a mark. "If someone leaves stolen goods in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." would be a closer match, but misses a nuance. "If someone post a notice advertising stolen goods on the community noticeboard in your store, this bill allows the government t…
"If anyone posted a classified ad for stolen goods in your local newspaper, this bill allows the government to shut down the newspaper."
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "If someone shoplifts in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." I like the analogy, but it's off by a mark. "If someone leaves stolen goods in your store, this bill allows the government to shut down your store." would be a closer match, but misses a nuance. "If someone post a notice advertising stolen goods on the community noticeboard in your store, this bill allows the government t…
"If anyone posted a classified ad for stolen goods in your local newspaper, this bill allows the government to shut down the newspaper."
I think this is the best fitting analogy so far... You can extend it to further talk about content owners, publishers, user-generated content, paid subscribers and free readers, etc. Newspapers also deal with existing regulations that address the same type of issues, such as first amendment rights vs. libel laws and the public's right to know vs. need for privacy.
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Despite my differences with much of the Republican party platform, one thing that they are damn good at and I respect them for is an ability to communicate with their target base. Where's there's a hot topic issue, the Republicans will come out in lockstep with voices on the same wavelength. They use clear and simple language with a single antagonist. In the really big battles they even coin phrases like 'Obamacare',…
"SOPA is the Great Wall of America" "SOPA is Internet Mutilation"
People generally think the Great Wall is pretty cool, and also that it was effective and did good things.
Re: I was on BloombergTV talking SOPA today - how'd I do?
#80From my point of view, the 3 important points on SOPA, and your grade on them: 1) This will kill innovation in the US, hurting job growth. Mentioned 2) This will not prevent rogue sites from operating on the internet, meaning we pay the cost of #1 without any real gain Not mentioned at all 3) There are good technical reasons why this is a bad idea Not mentioned at all.
What are the good technical reasons? Quick, give a canned 1min response ...See I thought so. There are good technical reasons but I would probably not mention this in a 3 minute tv interview where I couldn't expand