Backfired

I think I've mentioned that I'm helping out with communication for a non-profit here in Toulouse. They aren't very well known, even though they work with the Conseil Régional to offer housing to people who can't get a logement social. A year or two ago they suffered from some really bad press when they discovered that there were squatters in an abandoned building they'd bought from a church diocese (to convert it into apartments). The squatters claimed they had a cultural organization in the building (if playing african drums in the street is an orchestra...) and that they were losing their community center. The founder of the non-profit become a priest in retirement, so that became an excuse to blame the Catholic church for any and all injuries received or perceived. The non-profit ended up abandoning the project to convert the building and except for those involved, the affair has been mostly forgotten.

Enter me being told I need to find volunteers to help with the informational campaign in November, and preferably young people or students. I knew of a message board frequented by young people in Toulouse, so I copied and pasted some text from the org's website and said we were looking for volunteers. One person emailed me with interest, and someone else left a response "I'm a neighbor of the building they tried to take and force people onto the street, and you shouldn't post politically controversial subjects here. This isn't a place to advertise for catholic charities." I responded with a simple "It's actually not recognized by the Catholic church, and no one's forced to participate, it's just if you're interested..." I figured the thread was dead.

But yesterday I got a call that the org got an email directly from someone complaining about the message on the forum/message board, and I imagine (but don't know for sure) attacking them again about the squatter episode. I've now been told I shouldn't post messages calling for volunteers without prior approval.

What sucks the most is this stubborn misinformation. It's like the clip I saw of people in West Virginia explaining why they wouldn't vote for Obama: "Oh, he's Muslim, so I can't vote for him." "Well, he's black, and with all the violence between the races, I just can't vote for him."

How do you combat against that?! When people are so convinced that what they know is right, how do you get them to see that maybe, just maybe, there's another side to the story, and that what they heard the first time around wasn't right? I'm worried that instead of being able to share with people the reason why the non-profit is great and needs their support, I'll constantly have to defend it and deal with this old squatter issue.

I hate to be a quitter, but I think I'll stop volunteering after the November campaign. Besides all the negative press problems, all the other volunteers are over 60 with limited computer knowledge, which leads to 3 hours meetings where we argue about how a database should function and why when you print out all the data it's 4 pages wide and impossible to read (ummm, because a database isn't supposed to be printed out... it's meant to be used on a computer...). They're all pretty wealthy as well (there are several "de ....."), and sometimes I think they don't get how the rest of us live. I want to suggest making a blog, to talk about their projects, put pictures, and communicate their successes, but I'm sure that if I do, I'll be greeted with lots of "Huh? What's that? Aren't there ads for adult magazines on those?" and other general confusion.