Participate - or shut up

Over the past few months, I've decided that it is time to be a Participant, instead of being a side-line complainer. I'm focused on two areas for this: 1. Politics; and 2. Social Media

POLITICS
So, like most Americans, I have been what I call a quiet complainer. I've grown up in an age of extreme political correctness, where it's become a bad thing to offend anyone, for any reason ... at anytime. I believe this is one of the reasons for the so-called silent majority, meaning the large number of people who do not express their opinion publicly. The term was initially coined by Nixon, unfortunately, when speaking of all of those who were not protesting the Vietnam War. Today, I believe there is a different group of silent level-headed folks in America who, because they are not extreme, stay quiet on most issues.

Anyway, I have been quietly complaining about U.S. politics with my wife & friends who I know share my views for years. In fact, I recall, I was quietly outraged when President Bush began beating the war drum for Iraq, just after our troops had been deployed in Afghanistan (which I agreed with). I believe I yelled at the radio in my car when I was driving alone when I first started hearing the Weapons of Mass Destruction talk. My voice went unheard.

Well, with new elections coming up - I decided to Participate in Politics this round. With this being a major election year, I attended a Democratic caucus for my precinct in Salt Lake City, which was amazing! For anyone who feels they don't have a voice, they need to shut up and participate! I was elected as one of two delegates to represent our precinct and will have the power to help select who will be on the ballet for Utah elections come November. Vying to be on the ballet for a seat in the Utah House of Representatives on the Democratic side are Kelly Ann Booth and Brian King. I have since met with and had a chance to sit down and discuss real issues and concerns with those running for a seat in the Utah House. I plan to post a few more blogs about my experience, but this is as grass roots as it gets. And I'm convinced that if people actually Participated in Politics, special interest groups would not have such a strangle hold on our political system. They say, elections are won by the people who show up, I'm starting to believe that.

At this early stage, I can see the process is run by citizens & seems fairly transparent. Can it be possible that this can occur at higher levels of government too ... ? So this round, instead of quietly complaining in my kitchen and scaring my dog, I'm going to be a part of it. If you don't participate, then you have no one to blame but yourself. At this level, at least I'm trying to make a small difference ... We'll see how it goes.

SOCIAL MEDIA
So, I've been wanting to learn about this new so-called Social Media partly as a way to stay atop of trends in marketing - but, now I'm finding, these new technologies are a great way to stay connected with friends & also a way to find people who are interested in the same things I am interested in. Very cool.

After attending several lunchin seminars and reading blogs about Social Media, I quickly realized the only way to learn about this new movement, was to actually roll-up my sleeves & participate. A well-read blog manifesto clearly sums up this new form of communication in its headline: The People Formerly Known As the Audience, where media has transitioned from one-way communication - to two-way communication. Whether it be through article talk back comments, blog posts or numerous other means of communications, the people have been empowered to publish their voices & opinions. No longer can a company simply blast out key messages to their target audiences & hope to get the same old results. No longer does the audience listen quietly with blank stares on their faces, and blink, then wait for the next set of messages. Today, we can TiVo through unwanted commercials, blast those we don't like, and with some emerging technologies, even vote down the ads we hate the most! The world of media has changed ... for the better.

So, my understanding of this, is that it takes people to participate to make it powerful, meaningful & impactful. If no one used LinkedIn, it'd be a useless waste of software code. And the only way to learn about it is, well to participate too; thus the kickoff of my blog, which you're reading, my Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and my tinkering with Digg, Twitter, etc. Fun stuff.