Angry in the Great White North

The NDP is trying to use the internet, and in particular, the blogosphere, in a better way:

The NDP is working to grow and improve its online presence - especially in the blogosphere. If you're an NDP-friendly blogger, the Party wants to hear from you.

How can the Party and bloggers work together to increase NDP news on blogs? In general, are there ways you think the Party could be using the internet better to get its message across?

Send your thoughts and ideas to bloggers@ndp.ca. Even after the consultations are over, the bloggers@ndp.ca address will continue as a way for the blogging community to give tips, share thoughts, or get in touch with the NDP's communications team.

Hmmm, getting the message across in a better way.

Here's an idea, and a serious one. This is not a post to mock the NDP. I really do want them to succeed, because I think Canadians are best served when they are exposed to all political opinions.

My first suggestion to the NDP is that they take firm control of their brand. The NDP logo is being displayed on websites that no political party ought to be associated with.

Take this, for example:

Interestingly, the logo is currently positioned to the immediate right of this post:

THE ETERNAL LEFT

by Robert McClelland

Well I see the right whingers are going gaga over the two newest variations of The Eternal Jew that have been directed at the left over the past few years.

The first is Dinesh D’Souza’s hate filled tome that claims the left is responsible for 9/11 and the second is Nick Cohen’s odious bit of propaganda that claims the left just can’t stop loving their dictators.

Now here’s what I want to know. Is there any valid reason why these two pricks should not be beaten up?

In case you are interested, the books are Dinesh D'Souza's The Enemy at Home: the Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 and Nick Cohen's Whats Left? How Liberals Lost Their Way.

These are no doubt tough reads, and pretty controversial. But then in the aftermath of 9/11, we have heard a steady stream of rhetoric from the left insisting that terrorism is a reaction to American foreign and environmental policy, and so is the fault of America's right wing.

But to the issue at hand. The NDP wants to get its message across. I see this post on a top NDP blog challenging readers to come up with a legitimate reason why two authors ought not to be beaten for expressing an opinion. I see the NDP symbol and the face of NDP leader Jack Layton immediately to the right of the post. I get the following message:

Now I know the NDP does not support that sort of thing. But this is about message and packaging. Any NDP message "packaged" inside of a blog like this one is going to be tainted by the constant stream of insults and subtle (and not so subtle) suggestions that the expression of right-wing political opinion ought to be met with physical violence.

So the NDP wants to know how to communicate better? Here's my suggestion:

1. Evaluate where the NDP brand is being displayed. If the party communications people have concerns about that site carrying the NDP banner, insist that the logo be removed.
2. Establish a code of conduct for NDP bloggers. In order to carry the NDP logo and to be added to the NDP bloggers blogroll, a certain minimum standard of writing quality must be maintained.
3. Take control of the NDP blogroll. Then hand it over to a blogger trusted by the NDP based on his or her adherence to the (newly written) code of conduct.

But hey, these are good ideas coming from a conservative, so I guess I ought to be beaten up for sticking my nose in someone else's business. Still, I wear two hats. I blog for the Conservatives. But I also blog. I want to see Canadian blogging succeed for all bloggers whether they are blogging about the left or the right or about their cats. Consider this my attempt to improve the quality of blogging for all of us.