Poll - Send Ex-Lax to Congress Campaign - What do you think?

The following advocacy campaign has been suggested as a way to get the attention of the mainstream media and Congress. Please check off whether you think it is a good idea and what you think the perception in the media of this campaign will be.

Tell us what you think!

New 99er "Ex-Lax Attack" Campaign announced on Jobless Talk

It is time we mail Washington DC our Ex-lax, Seneca, fiber tablets, Metamucil, hell a half eaten bran muffin I don’t care and a note that explains why they must PASS HR 589 NOW or lose your job in 2012. We can’t wait and we will not forget or forgive no matter how much money you put toward your re-election!

I know many of you may not be able to afford to do this but get your youth and church groups involved in this and it may get us some press coverage to boot.

I think we all need to spread this campaign all over the net! EVERYWHERE!!! We need to send Washington DC massive amounts of ex-lax and tell the press and our members of Congress exactly WHY we are doing this! Or send them to the White House - This can also work to clearly convey to them the manure caliber job we feel they are doing in office.

Ex-Lax is just the term I am using, but any laxative will do - and just about everyone has an old laxative of some sort in their medicine cabinet. Don’t go out and buy anything special. We don’t want them to benefit from the product we are sending them. We just want to send a clear message that Congress is constipated!

Continue reading on Examiner.com New 99er "Ex-Lax Attack" Campaign announced on Jobless Talk - San Diego Unemployment | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-san-diego/new-99er-ex-lax-attack-campaign-announced-on-jobless-talk#ixzz1NcCTDZoc

I guess one way to make an butt out of yourself to to threaten someone elses.

Speechless! No comment that would be fit for the forum.

I second your Desp.

Think this would have a mojar negative impact on us...1st would be oh they have the money to buy and mail ex-lax....

I think this idea is ridiculous and doesn't help us. It doesn't make an impact and the congressional aides will just look at it and say "why are people sending us ex-lax"?


Twitter and email campaigns already cause us to take damage because there is always someone new who thinks that if we spent as much time looking for work as we do advocating for more weeks we would have a job by now.

I just think this plan is to esoteric to make an impact.

No way! Time to take it to the streets like they are in Spain!

I agree, at this point I think the only way they'll act quickly is if we have huge protests.

I 3rd the protest..The only problem is some1 has to organize it..Plus most of the unemployed/99ers don't or wouldn't have the means to travel to a protest..But I think that this is really the only step left at this point..They need to see our faces instead of faceless e-mails etc..

IMO this is a bad idea - it would draw detrimental attention to our plight instead of positive. I would rather have a campaign directed towards the President and getting him to add #HR589 to a larger bill. Something to do with his key word when he was campaigning - that word was change.

Maybe we can all write letters to him urging him to do something for the unemployed, tell our feelings about Republicans trying to dismantle everything. Tell him that he campaigned on Change. And then we could include some change - doesn't have to be an exorbitant amount, a nickel, a few pennies. Tell him that even tho we are destitute, looking for work when there are no jobs, he could maybe put it towards the communities hit by tornadoes, seeing that Republicans were all in an uproar on emergency spending without a cut. Stick it to Cantor, Boehner and all the rest. Something to that effect.

We need to be as civil as we possibly can.

A protest might draw more attention on us - but for the most part I also agree that transportation would be such a big hurdle. I know I don't have the $$$$ to travel. It would be great if we could get well-known entities to somehow organize and fund one, that prospect is slim to none.

mrmarti, there is a short video here of the demonstrations in Spain. From that video, it seems like they were organized through the social media - mainly Twitter. Rallies and protests don't have to be in Washington. If people can come together, with the help of social networking, in different areas of the country on the same day, at the same time, it would have a huge impact for our cause.

What we need are strong advocates that can put hundreds of small rallies together across the country simultaneously! It is time to stand up for what is right!

Here is the short clip from Spain:
http://www.unemployed-friends2.org/t2438-the-people-who-are-crazy-enough-to-think-they-can-change-the-world-are-the-ones-that-do

IMO, this is a very bad idea for all the reasons mentioned above. I won't be participating in it, that is for sure.

There have been phone in campaigns before for other issues, set for certain days and times and the Capitol switchboard, for example, was shut down, that made the news. At the same time people sent letters, emails and faxes. A person could attach a pic of some 'change' to their email and maybe on the faxes we use free and some could print a pic to put in their letters.

I'm all for a protest but getting to D.C. is the issue for me like everyone else. Even Columbus is a long haul for me with the price of gas. Maybe a co-ordinate phone, fax, email campaign targeted for a set date is the best way to go, I don't know what to do at this point.

I know many of you may not be able to afford to do this but get your youth and church groups involved in this and it may get us some press coverage to boot.

Dumb and dangerous. Many youth today abuse laxatives to lose weight. They end up dehydrated and anorexic! Asking young people to do this is just plain WRONG!

Thumbs up on protest and media blitz. Thumbs down on Ex-Lax and whoopee cushions too.

But thumbs up definitely for thinking about any ideas to bring this matter to a close, for sure.

I also admit this is a very bad idea and would make the unemployed look like a large group of fools.While its a nice attempt to get an idea across, other than being good for how strong it is, it's just a bad approach in attempting to 'COMMUNICATE' to our legislatures. For one, while it has a bit of humor within the message coming across, it more less sends an initial advertising/marketing message (from the image) of 'disconnect' rather than connecting.

And, some or many legislatures, economists, or policy makers/analysts, would get immediate impression that we are against 'them vs. us' and we sends message that we do not want government, and if that is the case then we might as well call ourselves 'Tea Party members' with the notion of adopting deregulation and ridding of government which sends more than anything mixed inconsistencies and confusion on our behalf.

I see this slogan almost in anticipation of sending the wrong message, and we have to consider how they will think and connect to them in different matter, and work WITH them, rather than AGAINST them.

I think the approach of using anologies with real life examples of homeless pictures and the impovershed slavery-like human lifestyle many have succombed to over time (deaths, backruptcies, no availability to emergency public assistance programs, stat's on exhaustees that have saved yet still in financial dire etc...) reveals better way to 'plant that seed' in those that do care to have a 'nerve' struck and lightbulb go off.

We need to somehow, someway still get the influential leaders that deal with proven track record on workforce development and job interventions between people and employers into the picture (such as private churches & professors), and meet with us, workforce personnel, a state legislature, and a pr

I should add however, at same time we don't want to look like 'beggers' where we are crying wolves either making it seem to drastic but we need to get notion out there to where "we need help'' we have exhausted/exceeded our personal savings and limits and want to be included very badly in a practical job creation bill with immediate short term emergency insurance to back us up, and in turn letting them know are wililng to do anything possible to work WITH THEM as jobs in workfroce sector evolve with our NEW AMERICAN JOBS PLAN.

No, no, no! It is juvenile and the media would have a great time discussing the caliber of unemployed, handing down judgement calls based on this 5th grade theme.

I suggest we pull in the reins a bit here and hit DEL on this thread. It can be publicly viewed and could ignite an article "anytime" a publication writer chooses to.

I was initially thinking the same thing when I saw this about an hour ago, and from hearing it on the blog talk radio show, and was going to send message to the admin, it needs to be deleted and off the public forum board, just my humble opinion.

mj33 wrote:I was initially thinking the same thing when I saw this about an hour ago, and from hearing it on the blog talk radio show, and was going to send message to the admin, it needs to be deleted and off the public forum board, just my humble opinion.

mj, I'm afraid to ask but what was the gist of what you heard?

Thanks.

This campaign is being encouraged all over Twitter. It was made public by the San Diego Examiner and Zenny Blog.

I posted this poll as a "member" of UFF2, not as an Admin. I was outraged when I first read about it.

Not only will it be the laughing stock of Washington and the media - the packages will never make it to the Capitol.

I truly hope people who have the money (I don't!), will not waste it on an advocacy campaign like this.

I am speaking as a frustrated, broke and very depressed 99er, not as an administrator of the forum. I was curious to know if it was just me who found this stunt to be an embarrassment to our cause.

It has already started! This is being tweeted by the promoters of the "Ex-Lax" campaign!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1tqgsdAaIs

This is about as dumb as it gets.

I find it embarrassing! This is not the type of attention we need at all.

X,

to answer your question, to the best of my knowledge it appears it started and was created just recently from the hosts of the shows who are advocating along with us, although it appears they haven't yet taken much time in gaining input from others' or our 'team of friends in our support groups', just shows I guess we still have long way to go before we become united, and how important it is for us to be on same page and 'connect' as much as possible and think taking advantage of all the advocacy forum boards (like this established existing one) is quite useful with all positive efforts/outcomes up to this point from networking standpoint. I believe it was on Paladette's show where it originally evolved.