<p>Politics is the art of shouting louder than the other guy, but as we all know actions are far louder than words. I am not suggesting you martyr yourself or go on hunger strike. I am simply saying... for our unique group of very different, and supremely opinioned group of folks, maybe politics is not the arena we are best suited for tackling this issue in.</p>
<p>We can get what we want, but the only way to do that regardless of approach is to make everyone else want it too. From my experience, the best way to make people want something is simple and elegant. Show them how awesome it is. Let them decide for themselves that it is something they want.</p>
<p>I guess what I am saying is, talking at people, promoting an ideology, and various other sundry bits of politics do not bring to my mmouth a flavor I am willing to share. </p>
<p>I'd rather we focused on being an example of what open source / diy collaboration are actually capable of achieving. That will have a stronger message than any pamphlet or soap box. And, with success there, we will likely reach an even broader audience.</p>
<p>Put a soldering iron in every home and see how easy it will be to lock them out of their appliances. The vcr didn't win out over the mpaa for any other reason than popularity. Popularity is the name of the game and we're pretty cool.</p>
<p>I guess what I am saying is... the very function of hackerspaces, and their success is paramount in furthering the cause of educating the average person on stem fundamentals. Between our own projects, or work and family responsibilities, and that... we have used up most of our time. I feel we should focus on no more than we are able to. I've spread myself far too thin in the past and still find myself searching for a happy medium.</p>
<p>That's just an opinion.</p>
<p>-Matt</p>
<p><blockquote type="cite">On Apr 27, 2010 8:26 AM, <<a href="mailto:quemener.yves@free.fr">quemener.yves@free.fr</a>> wrote:<br><br><br>
<br>
----- "Matt Joyce" <<a href="mailto:matt@nycresistor.com">matt@nycresistor.com</a>> a écrit :<br>
<p><font color="#500050"><br>> Have you considered offering some free tech events to lawyers,<br>> legislators, and local leos? I m...</font></p>I did in three different organizations. Not to lawyers though but to a more general public. I think it is good, valuable, that it is working and that we need more people doing that. I think that more and more people have at least partial understanding about what free softwares are, what hacking is about and why the freedom to tinker and do science by yourself is interesting. However, official policies go increasingly contrary to this tendency. The goal of making a political party is to provide a metric to lawmakers to show them how much ballots they lose by having this kind of policies. I really see that as a political widget : the goal is not to get elected, the goal is to influence policies by the mere act of being existent and having voters.<br>
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I'm really not saying that hackers should stop hacking and go to protest with a eye-patch, but instead that people who feel politically deceived should take a bit of their time to look into this pirate party thing and see if it can be changed into something they would like.<br>
<p><font color="#500050"> <br>> Reach out be a positive force. Be an example. Stop complaining about<br>> the color of the bike she...</font></p>Black is the color, mate ;-)<br>
<br>
Iv<br>
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</blockquote></p>