Category Archives: Uncategorized

More on Westboro

Posted on October 7, 2010 by David S. Meyer

If you can find a remotely credible source that credits Westboro Baptist Church with even a hundred members, you’re a more energetic or skilled researcher than I am.  When Pastor Phelps describes his congregation as family, he’s not really stretching … Continue reading →

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Intolerance of Intolerance

Posted on October 6, 2010 by David S. Meyer

What if your cause doesn’t have many supporters?  Smaller numbers have to take on more extreme tactics or make more outlandish claims in order to win the kind of attention that those large demonstrations on the Washington mall get.    A … Continue reading →

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The Numbers Trap

Posted on October 4, 2010 by David S. Meyer

Well, yes, size matters, but it’s not the only thing. Large labor unions, the NAACP, and hundreds of other groups from the center to the left of American politics, staged their demonstration, a March for One Nation Working Together, Saturday.  … Continue reading →

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The Lunch Counter

Posted on October 2, 2010 by David S. Meyer

A piece of the actual Woolworth’s lunch counter from Greensboro has a place at the National Museum of American History, in Washington, DC. When I visited this past August, the Smithsonian was running a simulation of the nonviolence training sessions … Continue reading →

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What social media can do:

Posted on October 2, 2010 by David S. Meyer

I taught an undergraduate social movements course in the Fall of 2008.  The vast majority of the students reported that they had never done anything political at the beginning of the course.  This changed as the fall went on.  A … Continue reading →

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Tweet the Revolution?

Posted on October 2, 2010 by David S. Meyer

People either seem to overestimate or underestimate the potential impact of internet-based social media on social and political change.  I think it’s because they are confused about just what something like Facebook is replacing. As example:  Malcolm Gladwell ( New … Continue reading →

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Protest after Defeat

Posted on September 27, 2010 by David S. Meyer

The Senate’s failure to consider both the DREAM Act and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, was a clear defeat for advocates of immigration reform and GLBT activists.  Both sets of activists are, understandably, frustrated with the Senate, President … Continue reading →

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A DREAM deferred

Posted on September 22, 2010 by David S. Meyer

What do Lady Gaga, Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen have in common?  They were unable to stop a minority in the Senate from filibustering a defense appropriations bill that would have led to the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t … Continue reading →

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Can Activists Become Politicians? (Hint: Jeannette Rankin)

Posted on September 18, 2010 by David S. Meyer

On Congress.org, Ambreen Ali  ascribes some of Christine O’Donnell’s electoral difficulties to her background as an activist: It was shortly after college when the Delaware Republican embraced an identity aspiring politicians usually avoid: She became an activist. Though political candidates … Continue reading →

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March for Chuckles?

Posted on September 17, 2010 by David S. Meyer

Here’s something new.  Comedy Central’s hosts have announced competing demonstrations at the same time and place.  I don’t know what kinds of politics are at work here.  Then again, maybe this isn’t so different from Glenn Beck’s March to Restore … Continue reading →

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