ParliGASM

[Scribbly]

So, I had an idea on the way into work this morning - one of my jobs has been to handle mass emails to our clients. Why not put that to better use?

I'm going to send a template email to every MP, and I'll post the responses I get here. I think the chances of the email actually reaching most of them will be fairly minimal, but you don't really know until you try. Worst case scenario, wasted a couple of hours. Best case scenario, I find an MP who is worth a damn. 

I've signed up for the hotmail account PoliticalYouth@hotmail.com. My working template is:

Dear (Name)

I am 22 years old, and me and my friends are worried about the state of the country today. We feel that we have been robbed by the banks with the help of the government. We watched the G20 protests and saw peaceful protesters beaten down. We read about the police outright killing innocent people and not a single officer held accountable (we started reading about the IPCC after the riots, very disturbing). And we feel that the coalition government is determined to paint us - the 'youth of today' - as the root of the problem. We are told that we are 'sick', and this rhetoric seems to be used to justify hurting us - turfing families out of council housing, and sending people like us who have 'gone too far' to prison for long periods of time for crimes as vile as stealing a bottle of drink.

My friends have lost faith in the political system. They don't think that anything can be changed. They believe that the banks will rob us again, that (no offence) politicians are only interested in lining their pockets, and they have no way to make their voices heard. I would like to believe they are wrong.

Could you please tell me what you would recommend we do? If you could tell me how you, personally, are helping to make the system for us rather than against us, that would help as well. We feel powerless to stop the crazy situation our country is in, and though we'd like to live in a better place, we have no idea how to get there.

Thank you,

-Political Youth.


Any comments/ideas/advice would be appreciated. I'll post any responses I get in this thread. Going to aim to put the spreadsheet for the MPs together tonight (approx. 11 hours from now) and send it out shortly after.

[Telarus]

Interesting way to re-frame the rhetoric and shove it in their faces. Seeing responses would be cool.

[Placid Dingo]

Cool idea.

[Triple Zero]

I like it!!

[Cain]

I predict if Norman Baker responds, it will be a very interesting response.

[Scribbly]

Underestimated how long it is taking to put together this spreadsheet 

I'm up to 130/650. May take a couple of days.

Of course, when it is done, I'll have a spreadsheet for mass emailing the entire (current) UK parliament, with the possible exception of the Prime Minister.

If anyone might have a use for such a thing, drop me a PM and I can email it to you.

[BadBeast]

I like the idea, and it's perfectly presented. However, the person you are sending it to more than likely doesn't give a flying fart about trying to reassure young political youth. I predict that he'll do no more than sneer before sending your email to his trash box. It would be nice if I'm wrong, and he responds like a human being, addresses the issues you present in a considered, and thoughtful, reply, but somehow I'm not too optimistic about that.  

[Scribbly]

I predict that the responses I get will be from the offices, and they will largely be form email responses. I can't imagine that I'll get many personalized responses. They'll probably only be read by assistants.

But, there are 650 MPs, and some of them represent very small constituencies who have less demands on their time. Of the ones that represent larger places, there's always a chance that it'll get passed up the line. In contested constituencies I can particularly imagine that they will want to jump on *anything* that seems like it might bring them a few votes - thus why I'm coming in essentially asking to be converted.

If I get a 1/100 personal response, that'll be 6 responses that come from an honest-to-god MP who read the email.

[Doktor Howl]

I predict that the responses I get will be from the offices, and they will largely be form email responses. I can't imagine that I'll get many personalized responses. They'll probably only be read by assistants.

But, there are 650 MPs, and some of them represent very small constituencies who have less demands on their time. Of the ones that represent larger places, there's always a chance that it'll get passed up the line. In contested constituencies I can particularly imagine that they will want to jump on *anything* that seems like it might bring them a few votes - thus why I'm coming in essentially asking to be converted.

If I get a 1/100 personal response, that'll be 6 responses that come from an honest-to-god MP who read the email.

Also...At least here in the states, the staffers are the ones who actually form the agendas.   If you can coopt a staffer, you've coopted the representative.

[Scribbly]

Just a note - still plugging away at this when I have time.

The site I have for their email addresses comes with a photo of them.

These. People. Are. Horrifying. 

The half that don't look soulless and dead, as though moulded into the sharp suits they wear, are pasty and ... hungry. You can see it in their eyes; these are men and women who would gnaw off their own arm if it would get them closer to power.

I'm approximately halfway through the list now. I pray that I don't descend into Lovecraftian madness by the time I'm done.