I talked to a few Manchesterites last week who are working to relaunch the Free Manch blog, which has been abandoned for a long time. I’m excited, and I want them to be successful. So, to help motivate people to make this happen, here are 4 good reasons that every liberty activist in Manchester should want a well-maintained blog:
1) Attracting new movers.
The Free Keene blog has attracted all sorts of liberty activists to New Hampshire. (Myself, for example!) It does an excellent job of showcasing local activism, and gives liberty-lovers elsewhere a taste of New Hampshire. In my judgment, this is the biggest reason that Keene is a hub of libertarian activism, rather than just another small NH city.
From what I’ve heard, there’s plenty of activism in Manchester– but it doesn’t seem that way to the rest of us, because there’s no good blog to present it. How many more people would move if they were aware of Manchester’s activism?
2) Exchanging ideas.
I didn’t realize this until last week, since Manchester has no blog, but apparently Manchester has the biggest, most well-organized activist community in New Hampshire. Those of us living in wimpy activist backwaters like Keene could certainly use the tactics and ideas developed by Manchesterites, in order to make our own activism better. We don’t have the manpower to reinvent all of this ourselves. Give us a hand!
3) Competition.
I like to compete. Just the knowledge that Manchester has better-organized political activism than Keene fills me with envy, and spurs me to work harder, so that one day I can one-up you Manchesterites.
It’s easy for me to forget about this vendetta, though, when there’s no blog to constantly remind me. (Manchester who?)
Of course, prospective Manchester bloggers should account for the fact that they will likely lose all competitions with Keene. Sorry, but facts are facts.
4) Influence.
There are some activists in Manchester who like to complain about those Keeniacs and their misguided civil disobedience antics. But do you know why this has been so popular in Keene?
In large part, it’s because the civil disobedience in Keene is consistently promoted on the Free Keene blog. Historically, there hasn’t been a lot of Keene political activism to promote. As a result, civil disobedience is popular here, and politics, eh, not so much.
If a more politically-oriented city had a good blog, promoting political activism, that would help to change things.
I’m working hard to promote politics in Keene, but I need help! I can’t make politics cool all by myself.
(Sometimes I hear people complain that civil disobedience is inherently easier to promote than politics. This is not true. The simple fact of the matter– and a real fact, not me boasting– is that civil disobedience activists have generally worked much harder to document and promote their activism than political activists. Don’t blame the subject matter.)
So I wish luck to aspiring Manchester bloggers.
Naturally, a Manchester blog will never be as good as Free Keene, because Keene is just better, and it always will be, and that’s all there is to it. But having the second best liberty blog in New Hampshire is nothing to be ashamed of, and it would do a lot of good.
