"On the Media"-- Freedomworks, astroturfers...

[TreasonousBastard]

and Saul Alinksy.

http://www.onthemedia.org/

Great interviews with Ryan Lizza and others saying things you might not have expected.

[pearl]

1. I'm interested

Help me out here, I don't have audio on my computer. I think it re-runs tomorrow.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. You have to check you local NPR station...

for times. Or you can download the MP3 and play it on any MP3 player.

Coupla highlights from memory... Lizza points out that Saul Alinsky might not have invented disrupting meetings, but he certainly popularized the idea in his book "Rules for Radicals." What we're seeing now is what community organizers (like you know who) learned to use years ago. This I can confirm, having been in on some of this stuff years ago.

Not that all organizers insisted on being obnoxious pigs like these guys, but the in my lifetime these techniques were used by the left long before the right got hold of them.

Alinsky had another point, though-- one that does separate these clowns from most of us old lefties. After you do your disrupting, you have to have a point-- an end result that you want, or it's just making a bigger mess of things and you marginalize yourself. The point was made that a lot of these astroturf demos were making the demonstrators look like fools.

Another Alinsky point was that if anyone bothered to get all beatific about the gloriousness of the goal he was shut up fast. The point was not so much to get that end result, but to gain power. Power is everything, and with it you can get your result, and lots more. You use the goal to gain power, then you can use the power to get the goal, if you want to.

Some guy from Freedomworks was interviewed in the same segment, and he was saying he loved it when Maddow, MoveOn, and the leftwing bloggers trashed them. Every time they were mentioned the sites got tons of hits and more people signed up.

There was some mention of how the disrupters were organized, but they weren't mind-controlled-- they were pissed to begin with, and this gave them an outlet. Not so different from much of the history of leftwing demonstrations. Left me with more confirmation that people all tend to act pretty much the same after you strip them of their politics.

[pansypoo53219]

3. can play it on NPRs website

or dowqnload it. many options on the website.

[Sal Minella]

4. Here ya go.

http://www.onthemedia.org/

You can stream this week's program any time, or choose from earlier programs.

This is my favorite show on public radio, never miss it.