Beautiful Trouble! A delicious idea for a website, giving information to those who can really use it to their benefit. I often wonder what more secrets and tactics the higher-ups ($$$) are ready to employ... Regardless, I really like what this website had to offer and I thought of some Principles, Tactics and Theories as they might apply to U.S.-Cuba relations.
I read the principle of 'using others' prejudices against them' and immediately thought of how my white skin could be an advantage for getting ideas across to some people. Unfortunately, there are many people in the U.S. who may disregard one's opinion if one is not white. They effectively cut themselves off from the outside entirely, so they don't have to deal with it. To turn it on its head, this whole framework of thinking makes white people that they have never met trustworthy. All it takes to get in the door is a smile and some manners, in theory. So, what if I gathered up some close-minded white folk and brought them to a private film screening (The Bijou, maybe!) where I showed them a film that displayed the Cuban lifestyle and even had images of Cubans and Americans interacting and sharing space together positively. It also displays 'action logic' which involves direct and clear actions meant to start conversation or what have you. By having some whites-only folks see other white people interacting with non-whites, it helps normalize the idea that white goes with other colors. To show certain images of Cubans helping Americans could be very powerful in changing one's mind about that topic.
Finally, I'm taking an idea from the 'advanced leafleting' section that talked about waiters asking if people ordered 'this war' and then telling them they paid for it. It might be a strong display of the US's stranglehold over Cuba if it was simplified and compared to a game like Monopoly. Between your four players, distribute money and properties very unevenly and tell one player that they cannot make trade with anyone but the player who has the most ((but that player doesn't need anything the player with nothing has!)). It could be effective (and illegal?) to literally handcuff somebody on the street (given their active participation, of course) and tell them to perform a series of tasks that would be very difficult to do in handcuffs- but they only chance they have to get out of handcuffs is if they complete these series of tasks. Ideas go a long long way when they are mixed with real, physical examples. Seeing is believing!
I read the principle of 'using others' prejudices against them' and immediately thought of how my white skin could be an advantage for getting ideas across to some people. Unfortunately, there are many people in the U.S. who may disregard one's opinion if one is not white. They effectively cut themselves off from the outside entirely, so they don't have to deal with it. To turn it on its head, this whole framework of thinking makes white people that they have never met trustworthy. All it takes to get in the door is a smile and some manners, in theory. So, what if I gathered up some close-minded white folk and brought them to a private film screening (The Bijou, maybe!) where I showed them a film that displayed the Cuban lifestyle and even had images of Cubans and Americans interacting and sharing space together positively. It also displays 'action logic' which involves direct and clear actions meant to start conversation or what have you. By having some whites-only folks see other white people interacting with non-whites, it helps normalize the idea that white goes with other colors. To show certain images of Cubans helping Americans could be very powerful in changing one's mind about that topic.
Finally, I'm taking an idea from the 'advanced leafleting' section that talked about waiters asking if people ordered 'this war' and then telling them they paid for it. It might be a strong display of the US's stranglehold over Cuba if it was simplified and compared to a game like Monopoly. Between your four players, distribute money and properties very unevenly and tell one player that they cannot make trade with anyone but the player who has the most ((but that player doesn't need anything the player with nothing has!)). It could be effective (and illegal?) to literally handcuff somebody on the street (given their active participation, of course) and tell them to perform a series of tasks that would be very difficult to do in handcuffs- but they only chance they have to get out of handcuffs is if they complete these series of tasks. Ideas go a long long way when they are mixed with real, physical examples. Seeing is believing!
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