Media driven social policy

Decca works with a well known activist organization and explains how activists drive the social policy they want by engineering public support via the media.

“Gaining media attention is vital in order to ensure that our issue gains momentum and becomes more personally and politically important to everyone,” explains Decca. “Presented daily with a plethora of news items and other issues, all vying for attention, the media demands edgy stories – so we need to develop all sorts of exploitative angles to push our issue to the forefront in the media.”

“We cannot afford to allow people to become tired of the issue, or even bored with it,” says Decca. “We need to keep on pushing so that everyone can see the magnitude of the problem is as great as ever, and as newsworthy as ever; and, because we are in the same marketplace as commercial advertisers, our media strategies must be as good or better than theirs.”

“Acts of civil disobedience, such as graffiti spray painting advertising billboards, sit-ins, etc are well-known activist tactics,” says Decca. “Especially so when media coverage promotes them as being done for a good cause so that activists are not seen as extremists but as decent people whose response to the disgusting activity is sane and fair.”

“Piggybacking on other issues is also a tactic used by activists to gain media attention,” says Decca. “If the ‘disgusting’ activity has any health or environmental aspects for instance, then the growing concern already being generated in relation to bigger issues can be used most effectively to add value. For instance, the nonsmokers' rights movement piggybacked on the Civil Rights Movement and, before that, Feminism.”

“People with harmful personal experience of the product (or relatives or friends of such people) can be used very effectively for shock value – e.g. Yul Brynner dying of lung cancer from smoking,” says Decca, “as can manipulative television documentaries on the evils of the industry, distributed world wide to be seen by millions of people.”

“Using celebrities for our media campaigns is good value for widening community support,” says Decca. “Often activists are seen as enemies of freedom, pleasure-haters or lunatics, so celebrities who belie this stereotype can be very useful.”

“We also make tactical use of venues – holding press conferences where we can take full advantage of the issue,” explains Decca. “You know, outside nuclear establishments, army barracks, police stations, cancer wards, morgues, etc.”

Read more by Decca on this issue:

student activism

UN subverts democracy?

A career as an activist

misuse of 'war' for other issues?

Education and activism

Welfare funding for activists

activist cults and sin taxes

UN subverts democracy?

Decca works with an activist organization pressuring the government on several issues and explains how the group subverts democracy by using the United Nations to give authority to their demands.

“The United Nations is the source of all progressive policies in human rights, health and environment since WWII,” says Decca. “The idea of anthropogenic climate change, for instance, came from the UN and through emissions trading it will redistribute wealth and dictate how every citizen of the world will lead their day-to-day lives.”

“The United Nations, itself founded upon a movement for world peace after WWII, is now the means by which activists can attempt to subvert the democratic process and force their beliefs upon recalcitrant home governments by virtue of those governments being members of the UN and signatories to UN Human Rights, Environment and Health directives.”

“UN members are not elected, they are appointed; there is much corruption in their ranks – as there is in home governments; and while UN directives are not yet enforceable (the USA as well as many other home governments have defaulted), there is every possibility that one day will become enforceable by virtue of the UN’s aspiration to be the only government in the world.”

“Once activists gain the ear of an unelected UN member – and convince them of the worth of their cause, as well as the possible enormous wealth to be generated by it in view of the global nature of the activity, the UN makes policy directives and publishes reports and recommendations which it sends to home governments urging adoption of a standard set of legislative control/uncontrol measures.”

“With respect to controlling wealthy industries, measures start small with education in schools (which most industries agree is the 'proper' sort of government response),” explains Decca. “UN directives may then recommend discouraging exposure in schools and public places; and then suggests legal and economic measures to prohibit exposure in both public and private places, to force disclosure of chemical additives in the manufacturing process, to ban advertising and promotion, and, of course, to impose punitive taxes on users and industry – but never, ever, the banning of the product (because the object is to control it, and spread the wealth from its use by citizens to the controlling bodies, as well as its manufacturing and taxing bodies).”

“Because home governments are democratically elected to represent the wishes of the people being governed, most of whom would be engaging in the ‘disgusting activity’, including the politicians themselves,” explains Decca, “the UN’s recommended legislative control measures are seldom enacted, and this is where my group does its real work.”

“As activists, we engineer public support by gaining media attention and in doing so we shame politicians into enacting the UN recommendations.”

Read more by Decca on this issue:

student activism

Media driven social policy

A career as an activist

misuse of 'war' for other issues?

Education and activism

Welfare funding for activists

activist cults and sin taxes