[Lnc-business] This week; social media; regular media

[Arvin Vohra]

During the last week, I've had two major media interviews. The first was
about Chelsea Manning. The second was about FISA.

What about articles about my social media? All you've seen are hit pieces
written by LP members, and those working for recent LP members turned GOP
members. These aren't real news articles. For one, they haven't included
any interviews with me. The more popular hit piece has bent the truth to
the point of fiction, attacking both me and others in ways that are just
false. Since I'm not going to fall for the trick of baiting the opponent to
bring attention, I'm not going to say much more than that.

Now let's say that the fears of the board did come true, and there was a 60
Minutes interview with me on this topic?  What would that result be? A
brief, polite, calm explanation of how alternative methods are better,
aggressive plugs for major Libertarian ideas (ending welfare to improve
dignity and self reliance, ending government schools to improve education,
ending social security so that people can invest in reliable retirement,
ending foreign aid so that countries are financially sorced to sell
sovereign territory, creating hundreds of new hong kong style micronations,
bringing the troops home to rejoin their families, preventing physical
damage and the psychological damage that comes from moral difficulties, see
more at LP.org).

Before you say, "Wait, that would be barely answering the question": no
kidding. I love you guys, even when we disagree, and I answer about half of
your direct and pointed questions. A media interview is basically just a
time to plug our ideas, in my view and practice. Carla's Who's Driving
training is helpful for understanding this approach.

My biggest problem with the social media controversies of the last year:
they didn't work. Yet. Would it have been bad to have the chair discussing
freedom of religion on CNN after the satanic thing, using a minor
controversy to jump to higher media? I was hoping that would go farther,
and even did my best to add some gasoline to that fire. It didn't work, but
we may have been close. Ditto with any of the "controversies" on my page.
They got some minor reach, but not enough to catapult us to major media
attention.

I know many of you want to avoid media controversy at all costs. This is
not a good strategy. Avoiding media controversy just means avoiding
attention from the media, which we can then use.

We can get "church bake sale" style media coverage by being polite,
commonsense, and harmless. To take things to a higher level, to be not just
in the media but to be the thing in the media that people watch, a little
sensationalism doesn't hurt.

Respectfully,

Arvin Vohra
Vice Chair
Libertarian National Committee
-- 
Arvin Vohra

www.VoteVohra.com
VoteVohra at gmail.com
(301) 320-3634
-------------- next part --------------
   During the last week, I've had two major media interviews. The first
   was about Chelsea Manning. The second was about FISA.
   What about articles about my social media? All you've seen are hit
   pieces written by LP members, and those working for recent LP members
   turned GOP members. These aren't real news articles. For one, they
   haven't included any interviews with me. The more popular hit piece has
   bent the truth to the point of fiction, attacking both me and others in
   ways that are just false. Since I'm not going to fall for the trick of
   baiting the opponent to bring attention, I'm not going to say much more
   than that.
   Now let's say that the fears of the board did come true, and there was
   a 60 Minutes interview with me on this topic?  What would that result
   be? A brief, polite, calm explanation of how alternative methods are
   better, aggressive plugs for major Libertarian ideas (ending welfare to
   improve dignity and self reliance, ending government schools to improve
   education, ending social security so that people can invest in reliable
   retirement, ending foreign aid so that countries are financially sorced
   to sell sovereign territory, creating hundreds of new hong kong style
   micronations, bringing the troops home to rejoin their families,
   preventing physical damage and the psychological damage that comes from
   moral difficulties, see more at LP.org).
   Before you say, "Wait, that would be barely answering the question": no
   kidding. I love you guys, even when we disagree, and I answer about
   half of your direct and pointed questions. A media interview is
   basically just a time to plug our ideas, in my view and practice.
   Carla's Who's Driving training is helpful for understanding this
   approach.
   My biggest problem with the social media controversies of the last
   year: they didn't work. Yet. Would it have been bad to have the chair
   discussing freedom of religion on CNN after the satanic thing, using a
   minor controversy to jump to higher media? I was hoping that would go
   farther, and even did my best to add some gasoline to that fire. It
   didn't work, but we may have been close. Ditto with any of the
   "controversies" on my page. They got some minor reach, but not enough
   to catapult us to major media attention.
   I know many of you want to avoid media controversy at all costs. This
   is not a good strategy. Avoiding media controversy just means avoiding
   attention from the media, which we can then use.
   We can get "church bake sale" style media coverage by being polite,
   commonsense, and harmless. To take things to a higher level, to be not
   just in the media but to be the thing in the media that people watch, a
   little sensationalism doesn't hurt.
   Respectfully,
   Arvin Vohra
   Vice Chair
   Libertarian National Committee
   --
   Arvin Vohra
   [1]www.VoteVohra.com
   [2]VoteVohra at gmail.com
   (301) 320-3634

References

   1. http://www.VoteVohra.com/
   2. mailto:VoteVohra at gmail.com