Advocacy for Michael- How do we remain credible?

windy09

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Hello MJJC Family,

Being that we are deep into our work for advocating for Michael, we wanted to discuss about how we respond to the various stories; negative or positive. This is being addressed across the many fan sites and advocacy groups who are doing work on behalf of Michael. You’ve seen in the various posts where we request that we represent ourselves in a way where we are taken seriously as people responding to something we feel is unethical, wrong or untrue and not as emotional fans of Michael Jackson. We say this with love, L.O.V.E. We all love Michael and we want to defend his legacy to the end of time, but we need to be cognizant of how we are being perceived by the media and public at large. Here are some points which we feel will help us maintain credibility as we push forward in our advocacy work on behalf of Michael.

· Do not use Michael Jackson avatars
· Avoid Michael Jackson screen names
· Use gender neutral screen names, concerns originate from both sexes
· Avoid emotional language, love letters to Michael are irrelevant and counterproductive
· Always check your spelling and grammar
· Be respectful

Not revealing your identity as a Michael Jackson fan can be beneficial in the cases we handle. People driven by their emotions are often associated to lack of objectivity and credibility. We are all proud to be Michael Jackson fans, however when we seek to persuade people of our messages we are reaching out to a much wider public. We are dealing with misconceptions and twisted stories, and we are definitely addressing not just the producers of such content but most importantly their audiences.

For the reasons stated above, an obvious fan identity is counterproductive to effective advocacy. As we all know, Michael Jackson fans have repeatedly been treated with irony and skepticism by media outlets. It is therefore essential that we assume our more generic identity as concerned, level-headed human beings when we address these issues if we want to enhance our impact. Appealing to people's reason instead of passion establishes common ground of understanding and adds value to what we have to say.

All this applies to positive stories as well. So it's important to note that we have been successful in our advocacy work. To name a couple known examples, the Gardner Elementary School sign is now displaying Michael’s name again and we were also able to stop the Discovery Channel from airing the mock autopsy. There are other examples as well. We were able to accomplish this because as a community we approached it from a reasonable and respectful manner. This is tangible proof that it can be done.

We still have a lot of work to do, especially as the trial of Conrad Murray draws near. So in closing, we want to say that we sincerely appreciate your continued efforts to defend, protect, preserve and honor Michael’s legacy and that of his children. Truth and Justice will prevail. Keep the Faith!

The MJJC Legacy Project Media Advocacy Email Alert Team
 
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