"EMPATHY" TIES TOGETHER ALL THE THREADS

Crises are opportunities. He has consistently missed them. This was a grand opportunity to pull together the threads -- BP and the spill, Massey and the mine disaster, Wall Street and the economic disaster, Anthem BlueCross and health care, the Arizona Immigration Law, Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- even Afghanistan. The press threw him fastballs straight down the middle, and he hit dribblers every time.

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no unifying narrative, no patriotic call to the nation on the full gamut of issues. Instead, there were only hints, suggestions, possible implications, notes of concern

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The central idea is Empathy. Democracy is based on empathy, on people caring about one another and acting to the very best of their ability on that care, for their families, their communities, their nation, and the world. Government must also care and act on that care. Government's job is to protect and empower its citizens.

That idea is what draws together all the threads. The bottom line for corporations (whether BP, Massey, Anthem or Goldman Sachs) is money, not empathy. The bottom line for those who hate (whether homophobes, the Arizona Legislature, or al Qaeda) is domination and oppression, not empathy.

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The right-wing, which shows little empathy, has confused empathy with sympathy for individuals, which they see as a weakness.

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Future generations, the sacredness of nature over the immediate economic consequences, caring for this incredible bounty that we have, identifying with folks who see fishing as part of who they are, analogies to what's been happening in the financial markets, soul searching.

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But to make it central and powerful would be confrontational. It would bring him head-to-head with right-wing ideology -- empathy-free, self-interest maximizing, with disdain or even hatred for those seen as lesser beings. It is self-reinforcing: a value-system that above all promotes that value-system itself.

NARCO NEWS: HOW TO WRITE A STORY

“How to Write a News Story.”

The first paragraph: “the lead” (in newsroom-speak it is spelled “the lede”).

This second paragraph: is the part of the story that seeks to convince you to drop your preconceptions and take this lesson with us, “the nut ‘graph” because it provides “the context of what the lede is: The lede explains ‘what happened’ and the nut explains ‘what does it mean?’” Truth is, the best writers learn over and over again how to write a news story

“Typically, if you are working in quick news fashion,” George comments, “you want to follow the nut with a quote: A very simple statement from someone who was at the event that gives context, life and meaning to what you have just written.”

Four easy steps to write: A lede, a nut ‘graph, a quote and then add background information

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

early questions for journalists, who is your audience. One: who are your readers? Two: who are your editors? Are you writing for a general audience? Or are you writing for a niche audience?

With a general audience you cannot get into the minutia and fine detail that you would if writing for an audience that already knows about the subject matter.”

two general approaches to write a basic news story

“You either answer these five questions: ‘Who? What? When? Where? Why?’

Or you answer three questions: ‘What? So what? Now what?’

“The lede is sort of a poetic set-up for your story. It must sum up the essence of the news event.”

The power of repetition as a teaching tool.

1. Lede. 2. Nut. 3. Quote. 4. Background

“Background is the historical significance of the event, maybe the events that led up to the moment that you’ve just covered,” the most important history that must be known if your reader can only read four paragraphs or sentences of a story

four paragraphs: Your lead, your nut, your quote, your background. That is a very, very basic structure of a news story.”

George offers an example of a lede: “In Los Angeles the Board of Education today voted to extend eating rights for children.”

George follows it with a sample nut ‘graph: “Although this will improve the health of the district’s two million children, it will cost Los Angeles five million dollars.”

“But he used to say you only get four paragraphs at most. You gotta pack everything in there. George already talked about the structure of a story. Why should your audience care about what you are writing about?”

Erin then outlines five general points to keep in mind when writing: timeliness, conflict, currency, prominence and proximity.

Timeliness, happen recently or did it happen a long time ago?

Conflict, where the conflict is, no conflict not interesting

Currency, are people talking about the issue you are reporting on?

Prominence, to serve the community below, if someone with great power has done something very bad or wrong that is also a story.”

Proximity, relevant to where you are located

“You Can Organize It Later”

“There are lots of problems I see with writing. “One that is common is that a news story will be written like an essay paper. It tells you nothing that you didn’t already know.”

“The second thing, people assume their audience already knows what they know, but only referred to it as the EZLN, they would not know

Three, “Another problem is leaving the audience with unanswered questions,” a prisoner on death row. what he did

Four, facts are stated but no source is given,” 8,000 people died. who is saying that, where the information is coming from

in the end, not about structure or format, experiment with a variety of forms. don’t think about the structure first. Just put it down on paper, organize it later

another set of eyes, someone who doesn’t know the facts

In an interview, not to transcribe every word, knowing which quotes in advance one
will want to use

“writer’s block,”, do something else

“We Are Not Writing a Book”

one genre, Writing a profile of a person, in every phrase there is an idea or information to interest your reader in the person you are profiling

“The first three sentences are very important if they don’t like them then they stop reading.”

important tricks of obtaining a good interview, you will learn many more things if the person that you interview thinks you don’t know anything.”

write a lede, then a nut ‘graph, add a quote, and then offer background

CHANGING THE STORY: STORY-BASED STRATEGIES FOR DIRECT ACTION DESIGN

smartMeme can be contacted at: www.smartmeme.org

http://www.ussf2010.org/

http://www.inthemiddleofawhirlwind.info/

Direct Action as Storytelling

Direct action is a good catch all term for any action where people step out of their scripted roles (be it as consumers, “good citizens” or apathetic spectators) and challenge the dominant expectation of obedience

it shifts power relationships in the moment it is happening, builds lasting movement by leaving an imprint in our imaginations of new possibilities

part of the larger story that people powered movements are collectively (re)telling ourselves about the ability of ordinary people to organize, to govern ourselves, and to create change

Mass actions, an attempt to build a collaborative power for change to confront and transform the coercive power of oppressive systems

reframe possibilities by effectively employing story-based strategies that can shift the assumptions underpinning our political status quo

Narrative Power Analysis
A narrative analysis of power
humans understand the world (and our role in it) through stories
all power relations have a narrative dimension
the power to explain and justify the status quo as well as the power to make change imaginable and necessary
Which stories define the cultural norms?
narrative power can be equally coercive
Powerful interests routinely use propaganda
to de-mobilize social movements
these narratives
acting as filters to our social change
Movements and campaigns
must first
changing the story
applying a narrative power analysis to identify the underlying assumptions that need to shift, and then telling a story that can challenge and change those assumptions.
Direct Action at the Point of Assumption
intervene in the systems of domination and control
hese interventions come at many places
must do more than just temporarily disrupt business as usual

WHO'S GOING TO WRITE THE NARRATIVE

The information war, fought through images and language, is over narrative. The Tamil Tigers want to be seen as liberators; the government wants to paint them as terrorists. In this struggle, over the past few years, the government has gained the upper hand.

Not surprisingly, the information war that has emerged from Sri Lanka's 20-year insurgency teaches us as much about the importance of narrative in counterinsurgency as it does about the conflict itself.

"We need a little data, but can't get enough of stories," said BJ Fogg, a Stanford researcher and author of "Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do."

"Stories are a technology, not a high technology, but a biological technology, for remembering cause-and-effect relationships. Our brains are sponges for stories, and it's very hard to undo a well-told story."