One of the drawbacks of conservatives’ love of individualism is that we leave our heroes to fight their battles alone instead of leaping to their side when they are surrounded by packs of Leftie wolves baying for their blood.
I have been particularly concerned for Andrew Breitbart, since he is leading such effective battles against ACORN and the race-baiting of the Left. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, a thousand cuts can take you down.
So one of my goals in going to CPAC last month was to have a chat with Andrew Breitbart. I was in luck, and had two, one of which Melissa Clouthier videoed and posted on YouTube. (I will put it in a different post.)
The main thing I wanted to ask Andrew is whether it would be OK with him if I wrote public affirmations of praise for him. I wanted him to know my fell ulterior motives. First, what you put your attention on grows stronger, so I make sure to praise behaviors I want to encourage. And I support most of Andrew’s battles (and find him talkable on his opposition to same-sex marriage equality, if you’re wondering). Andrew is subjected to such vitriol from the Left that I want to counter that to the best of my ability. Second, my praise is heartfelt and not a manipulation.
Actually, Andrew agreed to be praised before I explained my motives. But there’s no way I would have started my “praise Andrew Breitbart” program without having him understand what I was doing first.
Anyhoo, I launched my little crusade a couple of days ago when I saw Andrew retweeting some of the more toxic attacks on him to humiliate his attackers.
Then something clicked about my grasp of the Twitter gestalt. Somehow I only just realized how much it is a conversation, like the blogosphere, only vastly quicker and more nimble.
Now I want to involve ALL of the conservative Twitterverse in the Wave of Love meme, identified in tweets by #wol. To participate in the Wave of Love, when one of our own is under attack, I’m asking every conservative on Twitter to tweet a Wave of Love message saying anything positive about the person being attacked. Here are some examples:
@(nameofLeftie) God bless and protect @andrewbreitbart #wol #tcot #tlot
@(nameofLeftie) I left my heart @andrewbreitbart #wol #tcot #tlot
@(nameofLeftie) @andrewbreitbart does the reporting the “news” media won’t do #wol #tcot #tlot
@(nameofLeftie) Wave of love for @andrewbreitbart #wol #tcot #tlot
and another favorite of mine and dear to my heart for her courage, intelligence and clear vision:
@(nameofLeftie) Wave of love for @SarahPalinUSA #wol #tcot #tlot #foxnews
@(nameofLeftie) God bless and protect @SarahPalinUSA #wol #tcot #tlot #foxnews
@(nameofLeftie) We laugh at you! We love @SarahPalin #wol #tcot #tlot #foxnews
I don’t think it’s necessary to try to be witty or original — just tweet “Wave of love for (fill in name)” quickly to respond to the negativity. It could create a Twitter “trending topic.” And it will definitely make some Leftie’s heads explode. So there’s the schadenfreude bonus to consider, as well.
P.S.
Hashtags — the # symbol — help people search and find tweets relevant to a particular topic. “#tcot” means “top conservatives on Twitter.” “#tlot” means “top Leftists libertarians on Twitter.” Use #p2 to include Progressives.
I am in LOVE with your brain Cynthia! 😀
Ad rem,
Thank you!
Matthew Vadum has taken the ball and run with it — he’s @vadum on Twitter.
Oh — and I’m @conservativelez!
So — #wol the power!
Cynthia
Oh, dear. Great idea. But this mean I’m going to have to learn how to tweet? You see, I don’t even have a cell phone!
Stinky,
Twitter is free and can be accessed through your computer and favorite browser.
I’m having a lot of fun with this — you fight the darkness by turning on the light. Toxic people know how to suck the life out of you if you reply on their level — but they have no way to respond to this. And when their targets look on Twitter to see who’s been mentioning them in their tweets, imagine how encouraged and inspired they feel to see their “Wave of Love #wol” messages! I’m enjoying this so much I’m starting to sign on to Twitter more often just to send waves of love to our conservative heroes. It’s a day brightener to give as well as receive.
Cynthia
Awesome idea.
One correction, though: #tlot means “Top Libertarians on Twitter”… not Leftist. The Leftist hashtag is #p2 the “p” is for the misnomer “Progressives”.
RB,
Thank you — I want to reach libertarians, too, but I thought #tlot meant “top liberals on Twitter.” So, it’s #p2 to reach the Lefties, is it? I guess “Progressive” is the compromise name until either the socialists or the Communists among them prevail.
Cynthia