Increasing awareness of the obvious: why?

[Dan]

So, this morning, while I'm in the bathroom getting ready for work, I'm listening to the morning show on the community radio station. The guest was some young director of a new organization that was working, more or less in his words, "to increase local awareness of the environmental harm of hydrofracking."

Uhhh ... okay, a group to increase awareness of hydrofracking in a community of passionate environmentalists that happens to be ground zero of the national anti-hydrofracking movement? A place where, on practically every block, you'll find one or more of these signs.



Seriously, there's people in this town that are unaware of hydrofracking?



I mean, really?



Really?



I agree with the sentiment, but still, isn't yet another local group working to "increase awareness of hydrofracking" in a community where locals consider it the first, second, and third most important issue sort of like preaching to the choir? You know, kind of like ...



"Allright! We got called to serve in Provo!"

I'm wondering if there's other groups that work to increase awareness of an issue to a community that is already intimately familiar with it.

[dw914er]

"Increasing Awareness" itself is a useless goal anyways.

[dvdneal]

We have all the usual issues not to bring up unless you want a one sided argument like guns, the constitution, and zoning, but we don't broadcast it like the fracking people. In Kansas we do have our preaching to the choir sign on the interstates:

I love the lady elected as Miss Anti-Fracking, it should go on her modeling resume. I also like that frack is the made up word that the old Battlestar Galactica show used to get around censors.

[ofos]

We have all the usual issues not to bring up unless you want a one sided argument like guns, the constitution, and zoning, but we don't broadcast it like the fracking people. In Kansas we do have our preaching to the choir sign on the interstates:

They never say who that farmer is or what the rest of them are doing. Maybe you can't find that in the Bureau of Made Up Statistics.

[mendelman]

One of my cousins went on a mission trip to Italy.

Yes. The home of Catholic Christianity for the last, oh, 1900 years.

My cousin is a fervent nondenominational evangelical Christian, so I guess those poor Italians are simple heathens and aren't real Christians.

[btrage]

One of my cousins went on a mission trip to Italy.

Yes. The home of Catholic Christianity for the last, oh, 1900 years.

My cousin is a fervent nondenominational evangelical Christian, so I guess those poor Italians are simple heathens and aren't real Christians.

My BIL made an identical, evangelical mission trip to Italy a few years back.

[Maister]

It's been a while since I had any marketing classes and I forget the exact term for it, but there's a type of advertising that's not designed/intended to actually sell or inform consumers/public about anything in particular, but rather is intended to create a constant background awareness of a name or a product or a word or something to the point that it saturates your subconscious. Maybe the fracking folks aren't intentionally trying to pursue this sophisticated manipulation technique, but that would seem to be the actual effect there.

[Mud Princess]

It constantly amazes me that there are so many organizations all doing the same thing... or preaching the same thing... or preaching to the already-converted, etc. It just seems so inefficient!


And those volunteer "missionaries" to Italy? They're just going for the wine & food.

[Wannaplan?]

I'm wondering if there's other groups that work to increase awareness of an issue to a community that is already intimately familiar with it.

Such groups exist to ensure that the issue stays at the forefront of the community and to instill anxiety and fear into the hearts and minds of the nasty speculating corporate mineral prospectors.

[mendelman]

And those volunteer "missionaries" to Italy? They're just going for the wine & food.

+1 (for you)

[hilldweller]

Seriously, this guy should take his little anti-fracking group to western PA or Ohio or somewhere where he's not just preaching to the converted. Probably too stoned to get off his couch though.

[ColoGI]

Seriously, this guy should take his little anti-fracking group to western PA or Ohio or somewhere where he's not just preaching to the converted. Probably too stoned to get off his couch though.

Come to Colo. Took my wife to the airport yesterday and you could smell the gas wells for 15-20 minutes, yet we have contentious hearings about setbacks for some reason. At least we don't have the earthquakes (yet) or the spills as on the Marcellus. Soon enough though.

[wahday]

Uggh! Preaching to the choir. There is this show played on our local public radio station called American Radio (or “AR”) hosted by this guy David Barsamian. The show features very progressive speakers speaking on progressive issues to progressive audiences. The smugness is sometimes overbearing even though I enjoy some of the topics. What I object to is the sense of righteous outrage and indignation on the part of someone who is speaking to people who already share their point of view. What the heck is the point of that?! They aren’t convincing anyone of anything they don’t already know and believe. If they really want to be the revolutionary and influential thinkers they believe themselves to be, they should take their message to the street and communities that are not already in their pocket.

Its unnerving…

To the fracking group, it sounds like there may be room for a group to be organizing and centralizing a strong and clearly articulated anti-fracking message that could eventually be crafted into some sort of proposed legislation, but a mission of “raising awareness” is not going to get them there. Its all in the mission, baby. It may also be about chasing some money. A funder may have said they would support such a group and they sprung up in response but maybe without a lot of forethought.

[Random Traffic Guy]

It constantly amazes me that there are so many organizations all doing the same thing... or preaching the same thing... or preaching to the already-converted, etc. It just seems so inefficient!

they are just mining in their own way, mining the pocketbooks of gullible public-spirited people to fund their salaries. Easier than getting a real job. More organizations means more director-level positions, more boards to be on to fluff resumes, etc. There's a lot of money in non-profits, once you learn to fake sincerity then you've got it made

[Whose Yur Planner]

This thread reminds me of Captain Obvious from Non Sequitur

[dvdneal]

not the right one, but it gets teh point across.

[wahday]

they are just mining in their own way, mining the pocketbooks of gullible public-spirited people to fund their salaries. Easier than getting a real job. More organizations means more director-level positions, more boards to be on to fluff resumes, etc. There's a lot of money in non-profits, once you learn to fake sincerity then you've got it made

Wow. I'm guessing you don't work for a non-profit...

Personally I think these folks are probably inexperienced and misguided public-minded folks, but I wouldn't go so far as to suggest they are deliberately gaming the system for profit (and if they are, they are going to be sorely disappointed). At this level of non-profit (as opposed to the upper reaches of places like the United Way, UNICEF, etc. where there is greater potential for corruption because of the amounts of money they are dealing with) I would be surprised if the organization could even get off the ground given the mission. But I'm not as cynical in thinking its some kind of scam. I've worked in the non-profit sector for over 20 years and have yet to come across anyone who is not genuinely sincere about their work. Lack of competence, most certainly, and also some serious organizational dysfunction, but not insincerity. At least in my experiences....

Raising money for general operating expenses, especially through donations from the general public, is the single hardest aspect of any non-profit's fundraising activity and typically comprises a pittance of the overall budget. Grants are typically program-specific and strictly limit the amount that can be used for salaries or general operating expenses to 20 percent of the total award or less (the rest being directly tied to program delivery costs). And giving, even from large foundations, is down markedly since 2008.

Just sayin...

Still, I think its a pretty poorly conceived mission.