Public Alliance

In a recent interview with Foreign Policy, Gene Sharp, a well-known “democracy activist” and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, said of the internet: it’s a “useful tool, but it still matters what you’re communicating. For that you still need, perhaps more than ever, knowledge and understanding and good judgement. To think that simply having a tool of communication means that you’re the equal of Thomas Paine is a gross distortion of reality.”

Dr. Sharp was talking about the usefulness, or not, of the internet by “freedom fighters” in toppling dictators around the world, but his statement is relevant in any sense. In bringing up Thomas Paine, the “Father of the American Revolution,” to lecture today’s would-be revolutionaries, Sharp reminds us of two important facts. First, that Paine’s Common Sense was a monumental document not because it was a collection of original ideas, but because his remarkable gift for bold and graphic expression made him an artful and powerful communicator. Through his use of rhetoric and unique political style of writing, he made some very complex ideas understandable to the everyday reader of the time. Second, the mode in which your message is transmitted (or, as Sharp says, “tool of communication”) – a pamphlet in Paine’s time and an ever-widening assortment of “tools” in ours – is critically important. Your ability to effectively utilize these “tools” is the difference between success and failure (or continuing the Paine analogy, between being “citizens” or being “subjects.”)

When it comes to communicating your messages, your ideas, your products or your services, are you connecting? With ever-shortening attention spans and an instant gratification culture, are you doing what’s necessary? We’re surrounded by information technology, but most people’s ability to fully grasp its role is sorely lacking and even when they do, they suffer from “TMI.” It can be frustrating, and maybe that’s why you’re reading this. You want to make sure that your message is getting through because you know that in today’s highly-competitive marketplace, this is no time to “go it alone.” We can help. We’ll be innovative partners employing sound strategies to ensure that, like Paine, you reach your audience with the right message and with the right “tool(s)” of communication.

Thomas Paine helped change the world. His works galvanized the thirteen American colonies at just the right time with just the right words. Luckily for all of us, his message got through.