I've often been dismayed by the failure of so many in the RKBA community to recognize the importance of positively influencing public opinion or to have any real clue about how to determine how to go about doing that.
During the course of my career I've had a pretty fair amount of experience working with business clients who needed to be able to influence public perception, understand how to make advertising effective and find the best ways to effectively communicate their messages.
When a lot was at stake, they didn't just guess they didn't assume that their audiences would think the ways they did or have the same values and perceptions. They consulted with psychologists and others who have studied human motivation and perception and beliefs. They thoroughly analyzed the demographics of the audiences and tried to understand what they cared about, what they were scared of, what made them happy or feel secure, what they believed and didn't believe.
They also tested their conclusions with surveys and focus groups. They paid attention to what was happening and made adjustments in their messages and techniques if things weren't working the way they wanted them to.
And I've strongly suspect that our opposition has been doing at least some of those things, and now we have good reason to know that they are.
bergmen said:
...Regardless of how they are thinking that they can effectively fan the flames of gun control, they are building their "arguments" on a house of cards. They seem to think that there is enough gullibility out there that they can sway at will...
Really? How can you be so sure? What evidence do you have that this has worked for us?
bergmen said:
...Simple, logical arguments from our side will put a little hole in this balloon of theirs and it will deflate before your eyes....
Really? And what evidence do you have that this have been working for us?
I've had any number of clients who needed to be reminded from time to time not to take their own press releases too seriously. They needed to test how their messages were being received by the public and make whatever adjustments necessary to actually get their messages across.
We need to understand that data and facts aren't enough. We need to understand our audience well enough, and hone our communication skills, to be able to communicate facts and data in ways that resonates with, and makes those facts and data accessible to, our audiences.
We also have to make sure that our facts are verifiable.