Decaturites Join in on Coffee Party
Decatur Metro | March 15, 2010From CNN…
The new Coffee Party movement deemed its official kickoff Saturday a “huge success,” with dozens of talks held at coast-to-coast coffee shops as members came together to discuss the issues most important to them.
…At Java Monkey in Decatur, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, coordinator Stacey Hopkins said turnout far exceeded expectations, with around 60 people participating at the “very productive” meeting where health care reform was the overriding issue.
“We had kids there, we had college students, high school students, and we had retirees,” she said. “It went across a very broad spectrum age wise and racially, and this is that we’d like to see.”
And while many will immediately assume that this is a more highly caffeinated, liberal reaction to the grassroots Tea Party Movement, the movement’s online home states that “Coffee Party USA aims to reinvigorate the public sphere, drawing from diverse backgrounds and diverse perspectives, with the goal of expanding the influence of the People in America’s political arena.”
However, regardless of whether they’re brought together by coffee or tea, the broader, less-covered story here is that the internet has ushered in a completely new era of political groups never before seen on this planet. And as many of a guru will tell you, the real challenge when creating these new groups with no central leadership is affecting any real change.
In a world social media, it’s now pathetically easy to find others like yourself with similar sympathies and goals. Via Facebook, Twitter, email, message board, folks can now arrange meet ups & real-life protests to the cows come home. But as Mr. Clay Shirky continues to say, the real challenge is taking it to the next level and actually collaborating to get things done.
That’s why any and all movements like these are a fascinating evolution of culture, regardless of political stripe.
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Personally, I am waiting for the Scotch Party.
I am joining the French Champagne Party
I hear they’re starting a Boone’s Farm Party in Milledgeville.
Will they welcome T J Swan folks too?
(Oh how I miss those “Easy Days” & “Mellow Nights”… !)
Coffee, Tea…it all tastes like Kool-aid to me.
The Java Monkey event was also mentioned in a report on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.
hardly organic
Cup o’ warm coffee, some vitamin C…