The inaugural edition of FOCUS 2018, West County Democrat Club’s foray into evening action meetings, exceeded expectations of the organizing committee. “We were expecting maybe 20 people and hoping for 5 new club members,” a committee member reported. But nearly 45 people filled the event space at the Walnut Grill in Ellisville to participate in a meeting complete with an action component. In attendance were Deb Lavender, State Representative from the district 9, Brian Legate and Marti Maurer, Committee Persons from the Chesterfield Democratic Township and many new faces.
West County Democrats, a well-respected Democratic and Progressives club in St. Louis County, long has sought to educate and inform its members. In fact it is wholly the mission of WCD. “But to complete the true educational cycle, we have to take some kind of action germane to the topic.” Commented Mark Kumming, meeting host and facilitator. “We have to apply what we’ve just learned. That’s what anchors the knowledge for adult learners.”
So, “take action” is what this group did. After viewing a 20 minute segment from Jen Senko’s documentary, The Brainwashing of My Dad and learning of the slick propaganda tactics the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh use to persuade rather than inform, the group wrote post cards to various business establishments in the community to ask them to Turn Off Fox News in their public waiting areas.
Elaborating on the propaganda aspect, Don Corrigan, Professor of Mass Communications and Journalism, noted author and editor wove into the fabric of the meeting a telling history of Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, Fox News and the rise of reptilian journalism – writing that appeals to the most basic of our human instincts.
So 45 people eagerly addressed pre-stamped post cards and wrote polite but informative requests to hospital administrators, car dealerships, school boards, gym proprietors, restaurant and tavern owners to Turn Off Fox News. The post cards were mailed that very evening. If you missed the meeting or would like to mail more postcards, click here for sample addresses, text for the postcards and Prof. Corrigan’s flyer from the meeting. Keep sending those postcards to TOFN!
Submitted by FOCUS 2018 Committee, West County Democrats
This was a great event. Lots of good information. Lots to think about. Lots of new faces. Many of the new faces were squarely in the demographic that FOCUS 2018 targeted. With help from everyone, we can plan on carrying this through to become even more successful.