The Outsider has a place in the Global Assembly Dialog 4 comments

24 Sep 2006 @ 22:12, by Roger Eaton The Global Assembly positively encourages the participation of "fringe" groups with eccentric or even unpopular points of view. We seek the widest possible range of thought and opinion coming into the Dialog. As long as no one group dominates, the inclusion of the kooky idea can only enrich the process. Who knows, under some circumstance, sometime, some oddball message might kick off a train of thought that takes us where we need to go. The Dialog will operate as a collective mind for humanity, and, just as for an individual, it is important to keep that mind open. Much of the progressive community shares the "unity and diversity" ideal, but it is struggling to cope with the powerful top-down dominance of the media by the right-wing. Particularly this is true in the U.S. Every day the right-wing think tanks pump out their message for the day and all the commentators and opinion leaders on the right take up that message, so the slow moving body of public opinion is pummeled by much repetition. This method of capturing public opinion by coordinated attack seems to work all too well, especially in a system where the media is highly concentrated into the hands of a few corporations. The progressive elements therefore face a dilemma. On the one hand, they really do believe in diversity, but on the other, they see how powerful the coerced uniformity of the right can be in shaping public opinion, so the temptation arises to force a similar approach to get the left "on message". Yet the fact is that with so much of the media controlled by naturally conservative corporations, fighting the right wing propaganda machine with like-minded methods is a losing proposition. No more could the American Indian win with second hand rifles or arrows and lances against real firepower. The playing field is tilted. The Global Assembly process with its alternation of unity and diversity rounds gives us a new method of creating a powerful media message, a method that allows us to stay true to our natural respect for diversity. We do not have to tell people to be careful how they phrase this or that. Instead we can say, "Go for it! Say what is really on your mind and say it in your own words." That way we have a much wider base to choose from and will come up with a more powerful winning message in the unity rounds of the Dialog. So all you black sheep out there come on in. Give us a try!

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