>the only thing that counts is
>numbers.
And this is the reason why the antiwar movement has progressively lost support with every war. Numbers are not all that count; coherent arguments that appeal to people are far more important. There is an obsession with rallies and getting bodies to them that drains energy and intelligence from what the left needs to do.
As I've said, if 20,000 people go to DC, that will be a far less valuable use of their time than if they spent the same twelve or twenty-four hours all collectively going door-to-door talking to neighbors about the issue.
20,000 * 12 hours is 240,000 person hours of outreach. Assume that you talk to only four people each hour. That one action would reach 1 million people directly, which is far more effective than a brief mention in a newspaper article that will be biased and won't convey the clear message that a personal discussion would.
Rallies have some use but they have become the be-all and end-all for large segments of left activists. And they have a point of diminishing returns, largely because they are so predictable and stereotyped. Only when unexpected people show up at those rallies does it have any impact.
-- Nathan Newman