Civil Informationing…modernizing public activism
By Robin Hordon
January 2002 through November 2011
The concept of "Civil Informationing" came to my mind when, in 2002, 2003 and 2004, I was involved in planning and executing several typical anti-war protests against the upcoming and ensuing war in Iraq while living in Reno, NV. What stood out to me this time around is that NOW we had the Internet...YET we were still only doing the exact same "dated" things that were developed 40 years earlier. Simply put, there was not very much integration between the "Internet and Information age"…the activists protesting in the streets…the citizens observing our actions…and the spreading of information. What was frustrating was that although the VAST MAJORITY of feedback from the citizens was against the war back then [even in Reno, NV and an interesting yet ignored/forgotten point!], citizens who walked and drove past did so without becoming more informed about what was actually going on. The only thing shared were feelings against the war. In other words, it was the same old “complaint” or protest process…it wasn’t activism to become a political force.
It was clear to me that modern era activists' public protest tactics needed a change...a complete overhaul per se...because the "age old" models of protest activities were clearly not working in spite of the fact that we had some new tools at our disposal. In the years since, more and more excellent videos, DVDs, YouTube-google videos, handouts, specific websites and other "teaching-educating tools" have been developed. This new street action of delivering and activating was performed mostly at the hand of the 9.11.01 Truth activists who have been internet savvy from the get-go. YET STILL, the useless and too often confrontational and misguided "challenge authority street actions" have remained exactly the same as they were some 40 years ago…ineffective!
SOCIAL NETWORKING…what is going on here?
I choose to interpret the radical expansion of social networking via the likes of face book and other systems as “people meeting people with common objectives to make things better”. It’s a great opportunity to get some good, peace based and FACTUAL-TRUTHFULL information out into this vast new network to combat FAUXNEWS etc.
Civil Informationing (CI) was developed to bring the best of the protests and activisms 60s forward…such as the great power and wonderful hearts of concerned citizenry…the willingness of those folks to stand up in public to voice their opposition in actions known as “vigils“…the deep desire for citizens to make positive changes…and to integrate it all with the new millennium's "information age"…aka…its great potentials for self educating and self informing found everywhere within the Internet, websites, DVDs and online videos.
The word CIVIL was chosen to denote both civic duty and to establish behavior. The word INFORMATIONING was invented because “Its the information baby!” The combo CI is intended to be added to, and contrasted with CD…Civil Disobedience and CR…Civil Resistance…which each have good and bad points.
AN IMPORTANT POINT: Neither myself, nor Civil Informationing, nor any 9.11.01 Truthers nor any of the gang in the 9/11 Civil Info Blogspot take any credit for the process of being "polite" to others. Both being polite and being respectful of other citizens are fully developed and successful behaviors and approaches that have worked well for centuries. We will take credit for reminding activists that maybe, right now, at this stage of the game, being polite and more scholarly is the absolute best way to behave in public when trying to inform, educate and influence our neighbors.
BEING OUR OWN MEDIA...
Civil Informationing understands that for a democracy to work, citizens need to be properly informed with the truth, evidence and facts, and that existing public education and corporate media are deliberately dumbing down and misinforming both students and the public at large, respectively. Bad commercial TV shows and alleged “news” presentations speak eloquently for themselves as the major forces driving the decline of awareness…from local to worldly.
Recent appraisals of many citizen‘s feelings make it clear that most folks will actually trust their neighbors over their governments, [unless the activists dress like a "Cat in the Hat on Stilts“...and act out in other foolish ways", as images of the 60s and 70s soberly remind us]. Consequently, the value of having good information to hand out, being friendly, having a smile and a handy "How Ya doin?”, and a suggestion that folks check this stuff out and decide for themselves...goes a much greater distance in public relations and informing people than do marching, chanting, confronting, raging through the streets…and getting arrested for NOTHING!
Indeed most folks do not trust the government, and as an example, the “9.11.01 Truth for World Peace and Justice Movement” simply hands out information…asks that each person "decide for themselves"….and even with this very difficult message, folks take the materials. [FYI…The We Are Change groups are the only “Truthers?” who still act out confrontationally…and its ONLY THEY who give us the biggest problems to deal with regarding the degradation of public actions. The WACs are stocked with about a third cointelpro…a third angry young white men…and a third good people.
Sans the WAC behaviors, the polite and information based approach outlined by CI is a very good, respectful, effective and efficient way to go for ALL progressive activists in the information age...and for ALL public information spreading activities. The CI information based approach is indeed something very different from what is commonly available from corporate media, corporate advertising, corporate dumb-down TV shows, dishonest politicians and their paid consultants…and the Tea Party freaks. Its quite the refreshing change to be part of…
LAST CENTURY‘S TACTICS...are they compromised?…and will they work in the information age?
BIG EVENTS and outlandish behaviors were designed to attract the corporate media's attention to whatever cause was at hand. This approach rewarded the more extreme behaviors in groups and in individuals IE: getting arrested for no good reasons, so that "the issues" would hopefully be placed on the front pages thus informing the public via corporate media. Truth be told, such extreme behaviors ended up alienating "John and Jane Doe". Most folks simply do not want to be "disobedient" [Civil Disobedience]…nor do they want to be "confrontational"…nor do they want to get arrested...but they really do want to get more informed, to be good citizens and to make things better. And now, most DO want to make a change…but feel quite alone and defensive in attempting to do so.
Therefore, it is of no surprise that the numbers of participants in such major marches of years past have eventually diminished greatly. I argue that they were DRIVEN AWAY by the bad behaviors and CD expectations of the remaining more radical activists, and of course, the now admitted counter intelligence activities . Its my belief that this element of the 60s protests IE: “the dependence upon the corporate media to spread the word“, remains the single weakest link in the entire objective of bringing LAST century's tactics into this century‘s realities. We must NOT depend upon corporate media for messaging.
Its so very obvious now that depending upon the corporate media to get one's message out has proven to be very easily controlled by the corporate media itself because they simply were able to chose to NOT cover it…or, they would under-report the events…or, more importantly, they would spin the entire story away from the facts, truths and original objectives. They would simply create their own self serving story Operation Mockingbird …and of course, when the corporate media acted this way, it both angered and discouraged activists simultaneously. Game-Set-Match goes to the corporate media. AND THE TRUMP CARD… As the years wore on, now the activists eventually ended up going home broke, frustrated and unsuccessful...and because our beloved activists had long bought into ONLY the “big event only“ concept of activism, their numbers dwindled into the TINY numbers we see at most marches today.
When I do ask the youth if they ever attend marches and the like, the overwhelming and quick answer is no!…and the quicker answer as to “why” they do not attend comes the answer:
“Because they are stupid!” These comments are a very important message for all of us, white hairs, gray hairs, Boomers and Reagan Youth to “hear” and to consider?
Anyway, moving ahead into THIS millennium IE: In being out in public performing CI on routine schedules in busy places while handing out our VIRAL information drawing citizens into the web world, admittedly it is a slower process than it would be IF the corporate media were to blast out any of our particular issues that we want shared. But, CI is flat out unstoppable...its a classic rabbit-tortoise race! Also, CI supports all
the elements of the alternative? media that are springing up everywhere
nowadays. Our new information age is certainly "fertile", and I encourage folks who are creating such alternative media venues to join us out there in their local neighborhoods and to hand out some of your own stuff helping us in create many NEW COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS…including revitalizing the very human, neighbor-to-neighbor relationships!
BEING OUR OWN EDUCATORS...Something citizens need to take over…
The information age has brought us far more capabilities to learn facts and seek information that were far less accessible than in years past. This is why the younger set of people who have been raised with their fingertips on the keyboards to the world are far less racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic…and in some ways less materialistic. This balance comes about because they habitually know that if they get some info from the web world, chances are that there is some opposite information out there and they are pretty good at getting to the opposite views too. Parental and grandparental fears and hatreds are far less important now which really clears the decks for being better people. I have coined the term: “The Great Gray Nap” simply because I believe it important that the baby-boomers and the “Reagan Youth’ who have idolized materialism [so much so that we have single-double-triple storage units for STUFF that is not used], are bluntly asked if they indeed have lost their way or dozed off in the last three or four decades. From my view the uninformed “gray hairs’ are much more of the problem than is commonly thought. But that is because I am in the streets performing CI between one and three times per week and get to meet the young and the old. And there has NEVER been a larger contrast in information access and information seeking…with the gray hairs being left far, far behind.
So, what to do? We need to become our own educators because the schools, the media and most TV are either under performing or they are “dumbing down” the populace. “Show and Tell” have been replaced with “Here’s a website“, “google this”, or “check it out on wikipedia“,,,see what you think”.
BEING LOCAL…March of The Penguins…or…Depending upon “BIG EVENTS ONLY” is no longer an effective or efficient tactic.
If one does look into the stunning documentary "Sir, No Sir", and can view it objectively, one might see that the HI PERPS [Nixon and the Military Industrial Complex etc.] had to change one of the REAL TRUTHFUL
STORIES about why the war ended. The Pentagon had lost the ability to execute their ground war and this was because the Generals had lost control of the ground troops. The GIs eventually “figured it all out” and began killing their own commanders instead of killing the Vietnamese [thus saving their own lives]. After some more open minded thought about such “BIG EVENT” tactics, it becomes clear that the HI PERPS actually WANTED protesters…to travel to distant places…to waste all sorts of their emotional, financial and personal time…to assemble in great numbers…to march in front of NOBODY BUT THEMSELVES in WDC…[and a critical point here]…to come to think that the BIG EVENT process was the ONLY MAJOR FACTOR in ending the war. And the icing on the cake…the protesters would go back home thinking that their "Mission was Accomplished" when actually, it wasn't… One of the reasons that the HI PERPS did this was because eventually, they knew that they would gain control the media coverage. [Operation Mockingbird was and IS still under way] Example: consider the Grenada-to Panama-to Gulf War I-to Bosnia-to GWII sequence of increased control of the media as the reporting became more and more “imbedded“. Finally the press was sleeping with the media. One can assert that after Vietnam, the military knew that they HAD to do something about the free press because it was the free press that informed the US citizenry enough to stand up against the war. Please understand that its FULLY understood that the GIs would NOT have been as confident to enact their own life saving actions in the jungles in Vietnam without all the Peace marchers back home etc. So, what we did in the streets was certainly important.
[Opinion: Regarding the rumors or commonly accepted thinking that the peace communities and their marching actions prevented a “nuclear bombing campaign“, I personally feel that by the HI PERPS spreading this meme, it was actually a cointelpro-disinfo action so that peace activists were made to “feel” as though they prevented a nuclear attack. And further, I definitely feel that this was constructed solely to keep us marching in one place…and only every now and then. And as we now know, in the end all the "marches" in following years were eventually made "invisible" by lack of press coverage. We can see that the press is still not reporting critical and uncensored news.]
The scenario noted above is much like that of "The March of the Penguins". IE: the penguin’s march would be completely invisible, and thusly also under-reported, IF there were no cameras set up in Antarctica to see the amazing journey by the animals. No cameras...no March of the Penguins. So, no news reporting…no March of the Activists. And it remains this way today as the only thing activists seem to have been doing about this is to make weak complaints, shake heads, claim that life is unfair and stop activising.
In conclusion, since if the truth about the soldiers solving their own problems in Vietnam would have undermined the authority-command structures within the military for decades to come, and would have provided clear instruction for future generations of soldiers regarding what they could do if they were involved in an unjust war and wanted out [IE: frag their superiors], the HI PERPS had to figure a way to NOT let that information to be commonly understood. This illuminates WHY Blackwater and other mercenaries were hired to oversee GW I and II? The mercenaries prevented “fragging”!
Maybe for all these years the 60s activists have been "psyop-ed and disinfo-ed" regarding their “alleged successful marches” in ways similar to how the world was 'psyop-ed" surrounding with the events of 9/11/2001. IE: The truth being one thing [inside job], and the imagery and popularized folklore being another…[that 19 Arab hijackers beat us]?
In conclusion, maybe Nixon-Johnson were just playing their “disinfo” roles when the famous stories about them seeing and worrying about the hundreds of thousands of protesters outside the Oval Office windows and being "afraid of them" were circulated in the Mockingbird media. Maybe they were not telling the truth to the American public?
60s-70s PROTEST TACTICS DO NOT FIT TODAY’S ENVIRONMENT!
CI calls for... more information sharing…being our own media…being our own educators…being more local... being more frequent...being more "frugal"... always being legal... always being cooperative... always being polite...always being respectful...never getting arrested…and being more "engaged with the public" in the displays of modern activism. And that such activities take place…NOT at a silent distance from citizens [like the old style silent peace vigils]…but instead, they take place AMONGST citizens and are INTERACTIVE WITH our neighbors instead. CI deals with people right in the middle of the busiest "people and vehicle" places one can find in the local neighborhoods, intersections, overpasses, sporting events, concerts, fairs and other large gathering places where pedestrians come and go. One version of CI is called: “tabling”.
The consistent and more frequent schedule allows our fellow citizens in our own towns to get to "see" that …something is really happening in their local region [like democracy]…that someone is motivated enough to speak out against our government or for some good and important issues. Wary citizens will also see that the gathering is polite, respectful, welcoming, and information based ONLY. And, since all of this action happens more frequently…takes place at nearby locations…uses MUCH smaller chunks of time per event…ALL of this combines to encourage MORE involvement of MORE citizens. In adopting this approach by the CI activists, the average citizen comes to see that…its OK for some of their fellow citizens feel quite strongly about something…and that they are giving out "information" that asks that we all seek the truth…and that its also OK to become more active in our democracies…and that the public event is non-threatening…and that if they join in, they will come to understand that its also fun and rewarding. This is all good stuff and stands in contrast to 60s “In YO Face“ actions.
AND IF YOU WANT A BIGGER EVENT…then dust off “The Convergence” and throw a party!
A more effective, more efficient, and much more fun way to occasionally gather as a regional group if so desired, and to eventually replace the old fashioned BIG MARCH activities with a more social gathering, is to reshape a day’s activities. Its best to have all interested CI activists spend a few hours with their signs and handouts at a few spots in their own neighborhoods all around the region in the morning or midday.
AND THEN…plan the day‘s schedule so that later in the day everyone can “converge” at a chosen time…at a chosen park, facility or another centralized fun location…where a socializing party can be had by all. By the time the afternoons arrive, the CIing is ALL DONE. So, drop by, enjoy
some music, food, drink, stories, celebration, future coordination, organizing, meet-ups and FUN TIMES. This is a better way to end a day of activism…and there are dozens of creative and “fun time” options that can
be dreamt up.
A VERY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE TO CONSIDER…in this info age..
Its now much better to have one MILLION, one person marches on a regular basis than it is to have ONE SINGLE, one million person march every now and then.
DECENTRALIZE...and...RECENTRALIZE...lets get more personal...lets get more political...lets get more local…
The process of Civil Informationing brings a citizen's responsibility for involvement in sustaining their own governments back to themselves. The "representative style" of our democracies, the protest activities of the 60s and the BIG EVENT ONLY tactics all transfer too much personal responsibility of good citizenship to someone else to enact. Clearly this has not worked as our elected representatives have been bought out by corporate monies, are representing only the wealthier upper classes of citizens, or both.
The environmental movement, the anti-nuke movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s rights movement, and the GBLT movement have each remained more successful into this century because they have kept INFORMING CITIZENS ABOUT THEIR ISSUES…and have done so continuously for the last 40 years IE: since the 60s-70s…and have done so mostly LOCALLY TOO! But this is not so with the peace movements as they stopped doing their thing when the USofA was not at a “public war".
So, when the ANTI-WAR “CATS" were tricked to go away from WDC and out of the short lasting limelight of BIG EVENT MARCHES, the PRO-WAR “RATS" came to play. And now, WDC is crawling with rats! Rats that we have elected again and again-and those who pay them. This pattern is OPPOSITE the information based movements.
Obviously the Internet brings both the world and our fellow citizens right to our fingertips as we can gather whatever we want from the net…and we can do so on our very own schedules. Additionally, we can now "meet up and gather" with whomever we want to meet up with...but now its “virtual“ such as on face book etc. However, performing CI in local communities now puts a "human face" on all this electronic wizardry found within the Internet. This is why there are so many "Thank you for doing this and being out here[s]" offered to me and to other CI activists when we take to the streets in the MODERN CI way. Most citizens do care…and we are showing that we care…and that we are unafraid to be out in public…and some will come and join in!
Reemphasizing, I argue that the OCCASIONAL BIG PEACE MARCH EVENT by peace marchers of the 60s serves as another example of the transfer of our individual power to the hierarchy of those atop the peace groups to whom we entrusted that responsibility to carry our voices and to make changes. This duplicates the ways in which we expect our elected officials to make changes after we elected them, and then ignored and failed to scrutinize them. We marched and went home thinking something was actually going to happen with our opinions publicly expressed. And similarly, when we voted once every four years [many did not get involved in mid-terms…ZZZZZZ], too many people went home thinking that something was going to happen with our voted opinions…but they didn’t. The RATS just went about their business of building their RICH RAT NESTS.
The point is that from my personal view, we have simply allowed too much of our own personal power and personal responsibilities as citizens to be "centralized" in OTHER PEOPLE and in FAR AWAY PLACES… and we have lost track of too much. Another way that I choose to describe this phenomena is that “The Great Gray Nap” noted above has long begun…AND…that its firmly entrenched MOSTLY IN THE LEFT! But not so with the RIGHT, especially amongst the church goers as they meet-up every week and remind themselves about the religious/civic/political responsibilities that they need to accomplish this next week. Like voting in the mid-terms for a simple example!
With the Internet and its power to allow us to "meet-up" virtually, we now can take back our own processes of educating, organizing and engaging ourselves thus getting past corporate news and “dumb-down“ TV. We can DECENTRALIZE the powers within WDC and RECENTRALIZE them so that they start right on our laptops and computers at home…all at the end of the web world's tentacles. Practicing CI personalizes the Internet and brings human beings out to meet human beings in neighborly LOCALIZED ways.
CI also brings the local grassroots beginnings of meaningful changes right to our towns and cities and makes people feel involved. In using CI…and as citizens become more and more involved with both the "virtual meet-ups" of their interest…and with the personal meet-ups with their neighbors…there will be a HUGE difference between the 60s protests and the new millennium's modern public activisms when using CI.
I see the decentralizing effects of performing CI in the exact same light as I see the processes of local Farmer’s Markets! Local, organic, friendly faces, people-to-people, information sharing, new ideas, being involved, caring more…and healthier food!
The 60s BIG EVENT war protests were mostly designed to change opinions, and sadly, they essentially failed to either, establish or to remain. a political force for major changes into the future…the individual protesters left that for OTHERS to accomplish.
The modern CI activisms are more organic, more constant, more self-designed, more self controlled, more rewarding…and are becoming a very powerful political force because citizens are becoming informed. Slowly, we are regaining control of our abilities to give or withhold tour “consents“ and all of his is a very, very good thing that should not go away. Just ask the 12-26 year olds….kids who have grown up online! Once they start voting, it will be informed…and it will LAST…IF we are more locally active more often! Elders should get a laptop and ask their grandkids to teach them how to use it. Make it a family-intergenerational thing! Computers for Christmas…now THAT’S a good idea!
AND IF THE INTERNET IS NO LONGER NEUTRAL…
or…establishing a grassroots network…
Although somewhat a minor point buried inside successful local-to regional-to national CI activities, one thing to consider is that there are and will remain significant efforts executed by the Powers To Be to gain information and access control of the internet. Our friendly and brilliant subterranean and independent internet hackers are going to be able to last only so long before they are themselves “gotten around” by those needing to control the flow of information to the masses.
Therefore, since DVDs are uncontrollable by the HI PERPS, using CI in your local area including copying and handing out pertinent DVDs and other info will both make visible the people AND the network for sharing information…citizen-to-citizen. So, getting off our butts and out into our local streets and heading to busy “human places” has many rewards…both immediate and hopefully long term. A viable consideration for sure.
A HUGE NEW WAY TO BE…DO NOT ARGUE WITH FOOLS...or perhaps …agent provocateurs…never really know…?
The three major differences between 60s marches and gatherings and CI [other than the size, frequency and locations], are that the concept of CI is…being civil…and being informational…but mostly…CI calls for NOT CONFRONTING or loudly arguing with those with whom one strongly disagrees. So, once it is discovered that the person with whom you are talking in attempts to inform them is found to be…a FOOL…a hard core “believer“…or possibly a cointelpro…JUST STOP THE CONVERSATION!
Many 60s style activists SOUGHT OUT these lowest level, hardest headed, most egregious opponents…and THAT became the behavioral standard…a very low unproductive one.
BIG RULE…once a person practicing CI discovers that the person with whom they are talking is…incapable of absorbing any new information…is stuck in their narrow belief structures…might deliberately be “pushing your buttons…or may be a provocateur, then a “skilled” CI-er simply terminates the engagement. I have found that its always best to simply express that its great that we live in countries that allow for a difference of opinions…and that we hope this person has a nice day. Good bye!
The “co-mingling” of PEACE SYMBOLS or the words of PEACE at the end of the conversation seems to always allow a way for no further words to be spoken. The best way out of this dead end conversation is to hold up the two fingers flashing a "peace hand sign" and a smile as your final answer or response. Its possible that some folks with strong opposite positions might make some type of "scene", YET, they can be asked to leave you alone because they essentially walked over to see you and not vice-versa. The law is firmly on the CI-ers side here and we each have personal space that is all our own.
Truthfully, we want the EXACT OPPOSITE OF TRADITIONAL verbal or any other confrontations…or loud arguments to be the order of the day. If other citizens nearby see that your Civil Informationing presentation is comfortably conversational…and observe that friendly interactions are happening…and further see that there is a willing, sharing and open discussion of information with other citizens, then a VERY POSITIVE IMAGE is being presented which makes for more POSITIVE vibes. This will lead to even more FUN meet-ups and conversations with reasonable citizens…and NONE WITH FOOLS!
WHEN ONE ARGUES WITH A FOOL…a few BAD things might happen…
First......the entire event will have been allowed to become "uncivil" and thusly appears confrontational in lieu of being informational-the primary goal of CI...
Second...if one argues with a fool or angry person long enough, innocent bystanders will shortly not know which person in the argument is the fool...
Third.......you may have been "cointelpro“-ed or effectively baited by
some very conservative types because this tactic is well established as a
technique used to undermine public activisms by both the intelligence
community...AND…the radical right communities…
IE: creating-sustaining LOUD confrontations…
Fourth.....if you loose control of your emotions and begin to reach downward to produce "answers from the gutter", you will now be in the gutter along with them...and they WIN!
Fifth........if you allow the peaceful event to become rowdy, you may: be asked to leave or move…receive a citation…cause a huge unwanted public hassle...or end up getting arrested…so DON’T DO THAT!
To repeat a bit…the well established interactive "habits and attitudes" from the 60s far too often call for the exact OPPOSITE of CI to take place when one deals with a person or persons. In fact, CD and protesters from the 60s and 70s, [and most of their heirs since], usually sought out and were quick to respond downward to people holding opposite opinions by confronting, if not pouncing on them creating confrontational scenes.
WHEN ONE USES TACTICS FROM the 60s and 70s to deal with opposition…bad things happen...
First........an amazing amount of energy and time is wasted on someone who will never change their mind anyway...these may be John Dean's 25% of morons are uneducable-PERIOD..! it’s a WASTE-O-TIME!
Second...the average citizen observing the interaction will now deliberately steer well clear of the CI event because they do not want to be involved with the confrontation...
Third...the only INFORMATION being shared in the above point is that there are bad things associated with the particular movement or initiative being presented by CI-ers...
Fourth.....it is possible that your friendly "cointelpro" or "agent provocateur" has had his or her way with you...and because of the emotions running wild, you may not know it…
Fifth........if the situation does break down, THAT will be what is seen in the news cycle which of course, is the goal of the cointelpros...and has been for decades now…
In the end, there is a "turn the other cheek" thing going on here...and it is well worth it to do so. Eventually, your peace fingers, smiles and refusal to respond to the "provocateur's" verbal assaults will cause those persons to go away frustrated. AND, your esteem in the eyes of an average citizen will rise significantly. In this way one can take a difficult situation and turn it completely around to our favor.
COINTELPRO THIS!...CI as a disinfectant fighting cointelpro [counter intelligence] actions...
There are two places that "cointelpro" usually has access to undermine activist movements, and there are two rather distinct "behaviors" and "looks" of such actions and the carefully chosen and thoroughly trained agent provocateurs...
Friendly Fire: Friendly looking and friendly acting people who:…are usually in on the organizing and planning of events…have been around for quite some time…and who quietly and subtly influence the plans to "walk the line" between legal and illegal behaviors…or…between nonviolent and violent behaviors. By far the most difficult ones to notice are those who blur the line between "achievable goals" and “foolish or unreachable goals” [that hopefully become designed to fail]. I call this “friendly fire”.
Unfriendly Fire: These folks are the "sleepers-strangers" who show up for organized public group or street activities and who secretively keep suggesting that "the gang" do more and more aggressive or illegal things during the event. These types move quietly about and inject the disruptive thoughts here and there every now and then…usually hiding but speaking. These agents take advantage of the “crowd mentality” thing and in the end and if clever enough to keep hidden, nobody ever really knows who it was that had somehow suggested that the actions get "ramped up". These types turn out to be the “unfriendly fire”.
By contrast, Civil Informationing is a concept whose goals are to not be disruptive…not to be law breaking…not to be confrontational…not to be aggressive in public…NOT TO DO ANY BRICKING OR BURNING…CI is designed to be THE EXACT OPPOSITE!
Game, set match goes to CI because the planning for both the civility and the message has already been done. This is because the goals of the event are already openly established and the behaviors of all the Civil Informationers is firmly understood and agreed upon ahead of time.
Additionally, CI asks to keep an eye out for cointelpro.
Cointelpro and agent provocateurs will quickly become exposed because eventually they themselves, their advice, their guidance, their actions and their goals will stand out so clearly in comparison to the thrust of the CI tactics, messaging AND CI-ers in action.
Frankly, there is no cover for these creeps within any CI activities…and they can easily be dis-invited. So, in closing...
"All I am sayyyyying .....is give CI a chaaaance".
This approach works well and fits this century‘s information based world!
Thank you for your time...and if you give it a go, you will be rewarded
positively and get better at it all. Its fun!
9.11.01 TRUTH for WORLD PEACE and JUSTICE
PUGET SOUND PEACE PRESENCE…a concept worth contemplating
Robin Hordon Kingston, WA
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK Sept. 2010
