Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
ShareThis
Twitter Updates
Followers
Alinsky's Rules For Radicals
Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
About Me
Links
- 538 - Projections
- Andrew Sullivan
- FML
- Freedom From Religion
- Instaputz
- James Wolcott
- Jesus' General
- Kevin Drum
- Marc Ambinder
- Politco.com
- Political Animal
- Political Wire
- Pollster.com
- Real Clear Politics
- T.Y.W.K.I.W.D.B.I.
- The Daily Beast
- The Daily Kos
- The Huffington Post
- The Washington Note
- Think Progress
- Tlhe Raw Story
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(1389)
-
▼
June
(129)
- Quote Of The Day
- No title
- (BTW: This is the screenshot of the actual Fox Ne...
- Why Roland Hasn't Won Statewide In 20+ Years
- Finally Defending The Bible From the Christians
- Homophobia Of The Most Desperate Type
- What Other Reason Could There Be?
- Someone Needs To Read The Bible
- 29
- Gay Day!
- Analysis: Climate bill may spur energy revolution
- Elvis Redux
- Do Not Fuck With The Internet
- Kicking Where Kicking Is Due
- Hero
- Stll Alive
- Great Read
- Michael J.
- Thank God
- Say this Over & Over Again
- Why Twitter Is Gr8
- Chris On Warpath
- Why Mark Would Go To Argentina
- Jackass
- Nothing New Here
- The Only Report that Matters
- Just Talkin'
- Now, Where Were We?
- Play Date!
- Why We Fight - Today's Pt 2
- Nothing Says 'Illinois Politics' More Than This
- Liberal Meets Conservative
- Why We Fight
- Write Your Congressman
- For Mr Ginger Baker
- Cheers!
- More on Aravosis
- But ...
- Look Here
- The Most Important Posting Ever About Sara Palin
- First, Do No Harm
- OK, What's Wrong Here
- Still Hating the Troops
- It's Only Racism When Non-Racists See It
- Iran - Twitpics
- Iran
- I Definitely Expected This
- Hey, I would've done Just About Anything To Get Ri...
- MUST Texas be Part Of Our Country?
- Apparently Carrie Was The Smart One ....
- Noise In April, crickets Chirping In June
- Picture We Must Post
- US cautiously awaits Iranian election
- Obama takes health care agenda on road
- You're Fired!
- Who Does This Kind Of Thing?
- Loaves And Fishes Baby
- Keepin' The Water Gay-Free
- Hosed Down As The Day Goes On
- NOMinally Rational
- Democrats Still Frugal
- News To Me
- Take A Break
- Taking The Fight To The People
- Mis-Graduation
- M.O.R.O.N.
- Department Of Wild West(-Hollywood)
- God Is Love
- R.(& R. & R. & R.) S.V.P.
- Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America Af...
- Commander-In-Chiefiness
- They All Suck
- Greatest Picture In Rock History Used On Lefty Hum...
- Not Helpful
- Northern Workers Must Die!
- Going For The Whole Enchilada
- Well, We May Never Hear From Terry Again
- Some Things That You Can (and Should) Do
- Another Fave
- BillO Spanked
- Why Aren't We Waterboarding This Terrorist?
- It Starts Tonight
- Suspect in abortion doctor death warns of violence
- Obama marks D-Day's solemn 65th anniversary
- Colbert to broadcast 4 shows from Baghdad
- Obama: 'Time to deliver' on health care
- We Are Winning
- Onward Christian Tattaglias
- STFU - III
- STFU - II
- Tony Time
- Priceless
- No One Better
- STFU
- Trip On Back
- The Best Company Imaginable
- "Good Times"
- Plein Air
- Today's Speech
- I Believe
-
▼
June
(129)
1 comment:
Wow. And this from the same guys who softballed the Bush Administration for eight years and who work for a network that works 9 to 5 and weekends off.
Post a Comment