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Solution to Healthcare Townhall Ambushes
Seems to me you don't have to "speak" to have a town hall meeting - especially if your office has a projector, laptop, a screen, and a staffer who types well!
Tell the crowd the rules first (one speaker at a time, no applause, no interruptions, etc), and if if factions in the crowd drown you or someone else out, fire up the laptop!
Take the questions by hand - pass out pencils and paper, and have the questioners pass the questions up front. Shuffle the questions.
Re-type the question.
Type the answer.
As long as the crowd plants don't get violent, you've just gained control back over your town hall...
Tell the crowd the rules first (one speaker at a time, no applause, no interruptions, etc), and if if factions in the crowd drown you or someone else out, fire up the laptop!
Take the questions by hand - pass out pencils and paper, and have the questioners pass the questions up front. Shuffle the questions.
Re-type the question.
Type the answer.
As long as the crowd plants don't get violent, you've just gained control back over your town hall...
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Safer than wading into the crowd and taking questions individually...
August 4, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe it's an excellent backup option. Most participants would prefer spoken exchanges to written questions, but if the noise becomes disruptive, it would be a good idea to use visual means of communication to continue the discussion.
August 4, 2009 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
An additional note. No means of communication is invulnerable to disruption, but if an anti-reform mob disrupts spoken dialog, and then proceeds to find a way to disrupt even a civilized form of visual communication, I believe the public backlash would be substantial.
All disruptions of this type, including the ones recently reported, tend to backfire in the long term even if they succeed in temporarily suppressing free speech. The greater the disruption, however, the greater will be the tendency of an open-minded public to conclude that the reason the mob won't let others speak is because the facts are on the side of those who wish to speak.
August 4, 2009 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink