Musings from a Huntington Beach meeting

We need to figure out this social media thing. The key: Youthful outsourcing.

So yesterday afternoon I was invited to speak to the good peeps of Protect HB, a left-leaning Huntington Beach-based organization of grassroots volunteers. There were three guests—myself, Chris Kluwe and Buffie Chanl.

Here’s the flyer …

And it was fun. Really fun. The folks in attendance were engaged, inspired, fired up, anxious to do all within their power to defend their city from the MAGA buffoons on the city council and defend their nation from Donald Trump’s lawless band of election-denying douchebags. They handed out free chocolates, which is always a good thing.

And yet …

As I sit here, writing this, I find myself burdened by something. One of the big themes of the meeting was outreach via social media. Chris, in particular, delved into the highs and lows of a life lived online; of using Twitter and BlueSky and Instagram and such to try and inspire local voters to pursue righteousness.

Here’s a big chunk of his talk …

Chris is right. Social media—for good and for bad—is key. We can send 100,000 letters via mail in 2025, and a single TikTok video oftentimes carries more oomph. The problem, however, is so few people know how to use it. The related problem also, is that the people being asked to use it (as was the case at the meeting) are oftentimes, well, senior citizens with no experience outside of posting a grandkid’s school photos on Facebook. This, for example, is a brochure from the event …

Were the folks in attendance capable of many of the tasks? Probably not.

And, in writing this, I’m not criticizing anyone. Certainly not the awesome people of Protect HB. What I am suggesting, however, is that instead of looking inward toward longtime participants with minimal knowledge to suddenly emerged as “content creators” and Reddit experts, we (collectively) try and expand. Put differently: As we speak, there are plenty of high schools and colleges within a stone’s throw of Huntington Beach. If you’re Protect HB, reach out to them. Find out about campus Democratic clubs, campus media groups. Ask if any students might be interested in running a social media campaign. Collect some dough from your members (to offer as a stipend), and find out if, perhaps, a college/university would mark work as credit. Hell, if nothing else it’s amazing resume fodder in an age when students are desperate for the stuff.

We keep looking within for answers, when—quite often—there are young people itching for opportunities, while unaware they even exist.

Let’s step up.

PS:

Here’s the College Democrats of UC Irvine.

Saddleback College Young Democrats.

College Democrats of Cal State Fullerton.

Chapman Democrats.

It goes on and on.

PS: You can never, ever go wrong with Buffie …