May 18, 2015
From Jim Babka and Perry Willis, Co-Founders of Downsize DC and the Zero Aggression Project
Our story in reverse is nearly done. After this, there are just two more messages before we unveil the new Zero Aggression Project website. So far we’ve…
- Explained why the Zero Aggression Principle persuasively ends arguments
- Given you a tour of a Zero Aggression society
- Showed you how that society was created
- Described how universal visibility was essential to that outcome
- Demonstrated that there are already enough libertarians to achieve that universal visibility
- Outlined a 5-step process to recruit libertarians and move people who disagree in your direction
- Described a new approach to persuasion using software that measures movement in your direction.
Episode #7: The day you started using the ZAP polling campaigns
You remember the day you started using the ZAP polling campaigns. It changed how you shared libertarian ideas.
- The Zero Aggression Project developed polling campaigns for each issue
- In each campaign you found multiple pages with specific, brief arguments
- You could easily find the argument you needed, because each page was titled with a question
- Everyone, including you, could register an opinion
Now you had a resource for every issue. You were better prepared for conversations. Your online discussions were more productive.
You simply went to the relevant polling campaign, searched for the relevant question, and shared that page on Facebook, Google+, or…
You used Zero Aggression Project Outreach Tool to import your email contact list and send polling questions to friends.
You could even see both if they responded and how, using each campaign’s Your Results page!
There were also measurements to track how many people were moving toward the Zero Aggression position, or away from it, and by how much.
This was revolutionary! Never before had you been able to measure…
- the results of your outreach
- how many people were moving in your direction (or away from you)
You had been “flying blind” before, but not now! And that wasn’t all…
There were also petitions at the bottom of each polling page. People could sign petitions either for the Zero Aggression position or against it. That seemed crazy to you at first until you realized…
People are more likely to interact with your material if you give them a way to disagree!
And every time someone signed a petition they also became a subscriber — which made them a new vector for reaching even more people.
Things began to happen on the very first day you started sharing the polling questions. You could see…
- People responding
- Opinions shifting
- Petition signatures accumulating
You began looking for chances to use these tools in more places. And you found those chances everywhere, in Facebook and Google+ discussions, and in blog comments.
You could always find a page in a polling campaign that was relevant to the discussion. And this was how you began to…
- Find and recruit the 1-in-5 Americans who already self-identify as libertarians
- Discover points of agreement on specific issues
- Move non-libertarians in the direction of Zero Aggression
- Plant ideas that could sink-in over-time, to have a persuasive impact on a later day
You stopped wasting time making long arguments with no feedback mechanism. Now you could send people to pre-written arguments and then measure the response in meaningful increments beyond simply yes or no!
From that day forward, you were on your way…
The Zero Aggression movement grew. The Principle spread until it was universally visible. A new social consensus was the result, so that using political force to coerce others, was considered immoral.
Our next episode will describe EVEN MORE TOOLS! In the meantime…
If you’re not already a member of the ZAP Founders Committee please consider joining before it closes on May 31st.
Founders will be immortalized on the ZAP website.
You’ll be able to say, “I was in on the ground floor of the Zero Aggression movement.”
- Become a Founder by donating here. Or…
- If you’re already a member, raise your current listing on the roster by donating more (the names are ranked by size, cumulative)
You can take a quick tour of the new ZAP site when you visit the contribution form. Some sections are already open, and some are behind a curtain, to be unveiled after we finish our “story-in-reverse.”
Please stay tuned for the second-to-last installment of that story. And…
If you have libertarian friends who might be interested in ZAP, please forward this to them.
With high hopes for the future,
Perry Willis & Jim Babka
Co-creators, the Zero Aggression Project