Stop Whining and Fight Back

This is great advice but a little hollow. In fact, Warren's column essentially does the same thing it decries:

Stop Whining about Political Impudence
They’re doing to Rae what they did, so successfully, to Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff: They’re shaping impressions about Rae before Rae does.

The best strategy, then, isn’t to call for yet more laws restricting legitimate political speech.

The best strategy is to hit first, and twice as hard. Be swift and brutal.

Remind people that Harper moved us from a surplus to a deficit. That he didn’t see the recession coming. That he wants to dismantle health care. That he favours Alberta over other provinces. That he has a far-right SoCon agenda. Whatever you do, progressives, do it now. Don’t wait.

Now, before you decide I'm out to lunch, consider that this entire column is essentially a cry for somebody, somewhere, to take action.

That's whining believe it or not.

We live in an instant world. We communicate endlessly. We point to interesting and damning articles using Twitter, Facebook and blogs, thinking we are accomplishing something. Better writers do the same thing in political and editorial sections of more traditional media circles.

Yep, it's all whining.

Let me refer you to my New Year's resolution. In short, I plan to be effective this year. Take a look at the last statement of my resolution. I will organize initiatives and foster concrete action. Holy shit, I might have to step away from my keyboard and get my hands dirty.

Here is some advice concerning how to stop being a whiny nambypants:

• Yes, of course, organize, collect and notify others of issues using Twitter or whatever.
• Volunteer time to organizations more in line with your viewpoints.
• Speak out, demonstrate, support or otherwise physically participate on behalf of those who are not powerful enough to resist abuse of power on their own.
• Donate resources to those who are physically working to be effective.
• Put together an action plan that others will be willing to donate to.

You don't have to be rich. You don't have to give until it hurts. You don't have to do anything except think long and hard about how you can make what contribution you have be effective.

I haven't had long to work on my goal of being effective but here are some things I've been trying to put into place based on the concept of being effective:

• Create this blog.
• Point to problems with the mantra of free-market capitalism.
• Start to define and discuss some initiatives concerning longer term change.
• Set up a Facebook page (and advertise it) to find others unhappy with government policies.
• Acquire domain name to organize participants and raise funding.

Now, I'm sure not everyone will be interested in the actions I am trying to take. That is fine. My job is to find people passionate about the things I think are worth being passionate about, convince them using the same whining everyone else does, but then to do something about it.

Stop whining and fight back. Do more than simply write words. Take action or join others who are taking action. We are in the majority and if we can get our asses off the couch, stop watching television, and make our voices heard, we can change things.

In the words of a crass commercial entity known to take advantage of cheap labor, just do it. I am.