Strange that they'd put together a whole page about this without ever mentioning who this person is or what he's doing that messes with the internet.
There seems to be a tendency among people who are really involved with politics to assume that everybody else is also really involved with politics, and therefore don't need any explanation about why we should be so angry about whatever it is we're supposed to be angry about.
But we're not. So if you want us to get behind your cause, you're going to need to tell us what it is. Possibly on your giant billboard itself.
Well, I live in Ontario, Canada, and I don't know who Lamar Smith is exactly, but I do know if I saw that billboard that I'd get the idea. Or I'd go online and look up what it was all about. So now I am more informed than I'd be otherwise.
There is a tendency among some to conclude that a big billboard must have a lot of information. But people are driving by at high speeds and can barely finish 5 words. I think in this case, simplicity works for the cause.
Seriously. Why not, "Lamaar Smith tried to Destroy the Internet." Hyperbole, sure, but it's a billboard.
If you want something like this to be effective, you have to take your inspiration from political attack ads. Throw his desaturated face up there on a black background.
Completely agree with your assessment on taking a more "shocking" approach, and also with the original comment that many do not know that SOPA and Lamar Smith are connected some how.
It think they are using the current phrase as a parody of the famous anti-litter ad campaign "Don't Mess With Texas" [1]
As a Texan who happens to live in Lamar Smith's district, I think the effectiveness is entirely dependent on where in his district it is bought. His district includes SW Austin and many rural areas such as Kerrville.
Edit:
for some reason the wikipedia page is not linking correctly to wikipedia. using google search
Hopefully everyone in Lamar Smith's district knows who Lamar Smith is and what he stands for. SOPA triggered a mainstream debate and you don't need to be 'really involved in politics' to know that.
This sentiment that people with political agendas need to inform their potential constituents is what has created our current political problems in America. When people don't pay attention, anyone who can attract eyeballs and make a reasonable sounding argument gets to do as they please. If we were paying attention, we wouldn't let these people wreak havoc in our society.
edit: What does it mean to live in a democracy where nobody knows whats going on? I know we're all familiar with and jaded to the current state of affairs, but I'm asking that we spend more time thinking about that state of affairs and what we expect of ourselves and our politicians.
Texas's 21st congressional district had 651,619 people in 2000. The district contains parts of the Austin and San Antonio metro areas, which grew 37% and 25% respectively in the intervening decade. Let's use the lower value since there are rural areas in there as well. That gives a 2010 estimate of 814,523 people. 27.3% of Texans were under 18 in 2010, which gives a voting age population of 592,158.
In 2010, 236,284 people voted in the district, of which 162,763 voted for Smith. Let's assume all voters know who he is and what he stands for, and that everyone else probably doesn't. That gives us 40% of the district's population that know what's going on. Fewer voted for him, and even fewer like what he stands for, since voting is usually a compromise.
To the people who down voted, do you honestly think my comment was an expression of support for him?
There are clearly some number of people who support this guy, and assuming that everyone who sees his name is also aware that he's a bad person is naive at best.
Nope. Some people downvoted because your assumption that people know the positions of their representatives is wrong.
The average person on the street is has a level of understanding that's closer to "Keep the government out of my medicare!!". People typically don't know the names of their representatives, the policies they stand for and the impact those policies are going to have in practice. They have to know all of those things in order to understand the meaning of "Don't mess with the internet".
I'm amazed at some of things some Arizona[0] politicians support, such as the NDAA, things that should properly outrage the average citizen. But they don't, indeed these people get re-elected, and I believe it is precisely because of the outrageous things they support.
Even if the average Texan knows that Lamar was behind SOPA they may, for whatever reason, still think SOPA was a good idea.
I live about ten feet away from his district (literally, I'm on the line) and I can assure you virtually no one in San Antonio knows what he stands for or knows about SOPA.
I see the same thing in open source software. People who are really involved with their project assume that everyone who lands on their site is also really involved with their project and so don't see any need to explain what their project actually does. I've left sites after digging around and never discovering what the project is about. People do this in all areas.
I don't want to speak for Alexis, but I think he just thought he'd send it out to friends and people he's gotten through the SOPA ordeal to see if it had a chance of getting funded - wasn't really a "let's rally the internet" kind of thing (I literally think he set the whole thing up in about 10 minutes).
I think they assumed that most people who'd be donating to the cause already were aware about SOPA, and Lamar Smith (the representative who sponsored SOPA.)
And considering the location (Texas), a slogan of "Lamar sold you out for big government" would have been much more effective and achieved the same goal. We have to remember that we are targeting people who may or may not give a shit about internet (and people who cares will hopefully vote the right way)..
as bostonvaulter noted below, i don't think it's so much about illumination on the issue (given there is only a billboard to work with). i think the idea is finding whatever will be the best vector for further news articles about the issue, local and national.
plus #dontmesswiththeinternet is a tiny bit shorter than #lamarsoldyououtforbiggovernment
There seems to be a tendency among people who are really involved with politics to assume that everybody else is also really involved with politics, and therefore don't need any explanation about why we should be so angry about whatever it is we're supposed to be angry about.
But we're not. So if you want us to get behind your cause, you're going to need to tell us what it is. Possibly on your giant billboard itself.