Go Big or Go Home!!!!!

I'm particularly partial to that statement as both an entertainment professional and as an attorney. To me, it means don't bring half-assed effort to what you do. If you're going to do something, put in all your effort. Give it all you have or don't bother wasting people's time!

One of my absolute biggest pet peeves is people who claim to be in support of an issue but then whine about the terminology used or about folks not wanting to be "nice" or "solicitous" to the other side. This particularly galls me in the realm of social protest or dealing with political issues.

Here's an example of the type of statement that pisses me off:

"War is war. What our government and politicians are doing to women is ignorant and unacceptable. Let's not wage wars. THere's too much fucking war in the world. If you all would tone down your headlines and verbiage, I'd be so much more interested, and likely, to read what your saying. The issues are important but, please, stop the violence, stop the hate."

I had to give a response to this moron. Much of what I said has already been expressed here & I will not go into details on my personal views on abortion since that's something you can see in earlier entries. This particular rant is a bit different.

Basically, the reason you can't call me a "tree hugging liberal" is because I'm not anti-war. I'm anti-stupid war. There's a difference. When someone is attacking me, you'd better believe I'm in favor of doing whatever I have to defend myself. You may very well get a war for messing with me or mine. As you may know, I believe committing certain acts means you've forfeited your human rights & should have no expectation that I'll treat you like a human being.

This particular writer pissed me off because she would rather play "friends" with people who literally piss on her rights as a woman instead of being in favor of real action to fix the issue, regardless of any argument or rhetoric used. I guarantee you these politicians didn't think for a moment about what she or any other one of these anti-war tree huggers thought. Why are they bitching about the terminology a group uses to rally people to fight back?

The Malcolm Xs of the world are the ones who made changes stick in terms of injustices. They are the ones who fought & said "no more." Do you think Malcolm X cared about offending someone's PC sensibilities or what some crybaby had to say about any terms he used in speeches?

Sometimes, nice doesn't cut it. I assisted on lobbying work with a former legal client in the past. You could not write passive, "Mother May I" platitudes if you wanted to get a response. You have to be bold, you have to be direct. Think anyone's going to listen if you use soft, cuddly phrases & imagery?

This does NOT mean you curse people out or threaten to hurt them. Anyone who's good at persuasion can make a point without resorting to violence or credible threats. However, you have to start making it personal. You have to remind politicians that they serve the people & are not royalty. As they say, if you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.

If you are truly passionate about an issue, you don't run around whining about the use (or lack thereof) of PC terms or act like everyone's your buddy or cares about you as a person. Because, newsflash: plenty of people do not give a shit about you or your position. Look at how much Bloomberg cares about the people's views regarding a Wal-Mart in NYC! Seriously, research this & see what's he's done. Need I say more?

It's a hostile environment & you'd better assume no one respects you as a person. Expect to get brushed off, pushed aside & so forth. If you REALLY care about your cause, you're going to get on board & understand this. You don't let people shove you down & trust has to be earned from you. You follow up & become a pest if you have to. Hey, if you care that much about a cause you don't worry about offending anyone or being people's friends. You're arguing a point & being respected should be far more important than being loved.

If it's my cause, I'm not walking in there like I'm groveling to the king for a bread crumb. I walk in as an equal and someone you'd better take seriously since I'm giving you rational, valid arguments that aren't easily refuted. This is where being a good debator/orator/researcher come in. You bet I'll go for the jugular in a debate. Lawyers have to do that in court; they can't be passive little flowers & fear offending people in making rational arguments. Their clients would feel cheated + the ethics rules require attorneys to "zealously defend clients".

Not "half-assed" or "tepid" defense but "zealous advocacy!!" Even unpopular people are entitled to lawyers, though I wouldn't be qualified to take some of those cases due to personal beliefs.

Going through life as a wimp doesn't help you do anything (yes, that's what these people are, including the author of that remark). I feel people who are so PC obsessed aren't committed to a cause and should just go home. They are also dead inside just like dream killers.