Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
Advice for Dr. Dean and Others Victims of the Press
Posted on January 28, 2004 in Crosstalk Journalists & Pundits
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise….
The blind forces of insipidness and ridicule have completely gone for a loop over Dr. Howard Dean following his so-called “I have a Scream” speech. Doc Searls gives excellent advice to Dean — and for anyone else who has been mangled by Big Media (MoveOn, etc.):
Look at media coverage as nothing more than transient conditions, like weather. And navigate by the stars of your own constituency.
The main lesson from Cluetrain is “smart markets get smarter faster than most companies.” The same goes for constituencies and candidates. Your best advice will come from the people who know you best, who hear your voice, who understand the missions of your campaign and write about it clearly, thoughtfully and with great insight. They’re out there. Your staff can help you find them. Navigate by their stars, not the ones on television.
And write back to them. On your own blog. In your own voice. Not just on television and on the stump. Take the time to do that and you’ll ride through the storm.
I second Searl’s advice for Dean, Kucinich, and all the other nonestablishment party members. The greatest enemies are the quitters among us, whether the issue is a political candidate, a cause, or the quest for peace. These quests end when we lose our head: the trick is to keep our heads while the pundits are losing theirs. Then we will have a movement, my friends. Then we will have a real movement that will be hard to stop.*
*See Kipling’s If.
