Talk:March for Life

Hi I saw that you guys are coordinating some buses from New Jersey and I was hunting around for a way to get down there. How may I sign up for one of the seats, and how do I get there? Is there an e-mail I should send this request to? --Lifemarchny 23:17, 6 January 2011 (EST)

You can email us at "conservapedia@zoho.com" for details. Thanks for your interest!--Andy Schlafly 23:27, 6 January 2011 (EST)

Thank you very much! I will email now. --Lifemarchny 00:11, 7 January 2011 (EST)

Thanks, I've responded.--Andy Schlafly 00:25, 7 January 2011 (EST)

How many people does each attendee educate?

This is an interesting article on a worthwhile subject. I tried to make it more clear by separating footnotes from other references.

However, the claim that the "influence of the March for Life is approximately 20 times its attendance, as the average person who attends communicates his participation to 20 others" seems to come from the same place where we find that "at this moment" is a nuance of ιδού: it's a pleasing invention which fits the narrative.

AugustO 10:47, 24 January 2012 (EST)

It's a reasonable estimate based on logic and common sense. Feel free to finetune it if the improvements are justified.--Andy Schlafly 11:18, 24 January 2012 (EST)

• So what's your reasoning to come up with the number 20, why not 10 or 30?
• Have you performed any survey which leads to the factual statement: the average person who attends communicates his participation to 20 others? Average person somewhat implies that there has been a sample taken...
• What's about the overlap? In you sample, have you asked for the number of people which whom the individual communicated? Don't you think that many of the participants of the march communicate with the same people, as they share a circle of friends?
• Or did you look up surveys of other demonstrations? I'd love to see a link, as this seems an interesting line of research.

AugustO 11:36, 24 January 2012 (EST)

All that is needed here is a distinction between controversial and uncontroversial facts. No one would dream of asking for a citation for an uncontroversial fact, such as "the sky is blue". No one would dream of letting a controversial claim, such as "more than half of people have seen at least one Shakespeare play" pass unchallenged. The question is whether the bit about talking to twenty people each is uncontroversial or self-evident enough not to require further explanation.

Now, I would argue that it is. It must be a rare person who doesn't know 20 other people, and since march participants are keen on their cause, no doubt they are going to talk about the march to most of the people they know. And as the article states, some such as clergy (or those running popular blogs) are going to reach a lot more people - maybe hundreds or even thousands. So it seems to me that 20 is if anything a low estimate, and if any change is to be made at all, the number should be increased. I think 35 or even 40 would be reasonable, taking into account high-reach individuals who are going to drag the average (mean) up significantly.--CPalmer 11:46, 24 January 2012 (EST)

Excellent points, CPalmer. A member of the clergy did attend our trip, and he mentioned it repeatedly to his entire congregration - perhaps a thousand people. Adults who are employed at companies had to obtain a day off, and that required telling everyone who might look for them at work that day, in addition to family members and friends. And so on.--Andy Schlafly 11:55, 24 January 2012 (EST)

In order to make the article more informative and convincing more concrete examples should be given instead and there is an overemphasis on quantification as there is no solid research being referenced. I think the more concrete you make things, the more convincing it will be. Speculation absent of solid research makes the article less convincing. Here is an example from 2010: "Kristan Hawkins, the head of Students for Life of America, is one of the pro-life advocates featured in the video. Our goal is to influence as many pro-lifers as possible to come to Washington on Friday, January 22nd and say ‘No Abortion in Health Care’ and then march up to the Capitol to meet with their elected representatives," she told LifeNews.com today."[1] You could then cite someone talking to their representative. I also think the article should simply declare that the March for Life has an influence significantly beyond the 400,000 people who attend because the march attendees share their march experience and pro-life information with family and friends plus it spurs additional activism in people. You could also mention that clergy members who attend share their march experience and pro-life sermons after the events. Various examples could be given of actual people. I realize that some people love to quantify, particularly people with education and backgrounds in science and engineering, but I just think that quantifying absent of solid research opens the article to needless criticism. Conservative 12:32, 24 January 2012 (EST)