[Lnc-business] handling scandals and outrage

[Wes Benedict]

Dear LNC:

While many statistics for the LP are better than comparable years of 
recent times, it seems we keep having a series of public relations 
scandals accompanied with lots of outrage.

The convention stripper, the mysterious death in the hotel, Aleppo, 
Hillary, the No More Pauls meme, the 2017 Satanic Panic, the Alt-Right, 
the fascists, are soldiers murderers, are public school teachers and 
students welfare queens, and of course the current topic, age of 
consent, come to mind.

I don't like the scandals and wish they'd stop happening.

Something tells me my wish may not come true when I look at all the 
sources for scandals.

There's the concept of "reach" on social media. Some things reach a 
large audience, and some things don't reach many people.

Unfortunately, it seems Libertarians who don't like some of the scandals 
above are also the individuals who increase the reach of the scandals by 
sharing them, re-posting them, and commenting about them on social media.

While some of the scandals are inadvertent, the possibility of reaching 
a large audience might also inadvertently be inciting scandals by 
opportunists.

I was wondering if perhaps the Social Media Process Review Committee or 
some other committee could take on the task of doing some research on 
best practices related to damage prevention and reach on social media. 
Perhaps they'd find some information that would be helpful. Cultural 
changes are very difficult, but perhaps they could find some information 
that might help encourage a more positive culture among Libertarians on 
facebook, and sharing of the good stuff while shunning the bad stuff. 
I'm not asking for top-down directives, just some practices, that when 
shared, might get buy in from the Libertarian grassroots.

I've swept several scandals under the rug over the years. You can't list 
those--for an obvious reason.

I do think it's a long shot to think we can change the culture. Scandals 
in Libertarian circles have been erupting since I joined the party 20 
years ago, and they happen in the other parties, too.

But, I think it's possible things could be improved a bit.

Regardless, I plan to keep plugging along.

Take care,

-- 
Wes Benedict, Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership