We've been discussing the Vote for Meadville campaign, as well as their connection to groups such as Crawford County United, PA United, NAACP, and Movement Voter Project. We began to really look into what some of these organizations stand for, some of their projects and what this means for us here in Meadville. We've made a lot of discoveries along the way, which we will go into piece by piece. We want to start with PA United, and the Deep Canvassing/Persuasive Politics push that they are part of. This stems from the People's Action and The New Conversation Initiative.
By now, you may be aware that deep canvassing entails knocking on a lot of doors and having conversations. What you might not be aware of, is that there has been training to aid these "door knockers" in persuading voters. Part of which, they describe as an experiment.
You can see, Pennsylvania isn't the only state that is part of this experiment.
We had wondered what some of the "training" was, and we're starting to make some interesting discoveries.
Now, you might be wondering. What exactly is deep canvassing?
They really do like to use the word "persuade" a lot. Now, please go back and read that last paragraph over again. Then, do it again to be sure you understood. How is this not considered brain washing? Is this false empathy? How about "the practice of sharing narratives also is perceived as less manipulative and more engaging than facts". Did they really just state they are trying to use empathy to persuade and manipulate people into voting a certain way? This is sick and wrong.
If you wanted to learn how to persuade people yourself, you could even sign up for "The Deep Canvass Institute".
So the next time someone comes and knocks on your door with a clipboard, and starts to "empathize" with you.... consider if you're being manipulated so they can win the world and move us towards "Democratic Socialism".
You know, I went to high school with someone that worked directly on the campaigns of every Western PA candidate. She knew how engaged I was (at the time) in national politics, and reached out to me on three separate occasions about the possibility of my running for a City Councilman seat. Granted, my political views have since shifted, and their group wanted to be able to use my family's music venue in Lawrence County as well - but I wish I had taken her up on it to be a voice of common sense at the table.
I've since looked at what running next cycle would entail, but it'd be a uphill battle I think