Family Council of Victoria

FAMILY COUNCIL OF VICTORIA
Communication 'THINK TANK' Forum 2003

PURPOSE OF FORUM

The Family Council of Victoria upholds that, of all co-habitating structures, the ideal family structure from a societal strengthening perspective consists of Mum and Dad - married, committed for life and focussed on the raising of children. This ideal structure is commonly referred to as the traditional (or natural) family.
'Traditional' implies a natural phenomena pre-dating development of large communities.
'Natural' implies a natural order of social existence -a natural way of living in society.
Governments, and other key society builders seeking to improve community living, should be strongly encouraged to provide incentives aimed at increasing the number of people choosing to co-habitat within this ideal structure. They should introduce strong disincentives aimed at reducing numbers choosing other co-habitating structures.
It appears that promiscuity is seen as fine but commitment is seen as unimportant.
Our success rate in lobbying for the above has not been high within Australia. Recently passed government legislation can at best be referred to as Godless and heading in the wrong direction.
The purpose of this forum was to seek ways of turning this around. To identify the forces/specifics/phraseology of those who work against the family and set up strategies for proactive opposition, thus equipping our members to effectively counter opposing rhetoric.
OPPOSING FORCES (Those opposed to the promotion and elevation of the natural family)
Who are those speaking against the natural family? Which groups are not accepting our message?
We identified the following groups and subsets

Academia (Academics, educators, bureaucrats)
Activists (Same-sex, feminist, Greens)
Decision Makers (Politicians, professional bodies)
Youth
Singles (Divorced, single parents, career women)
Other (Liberal Church leaders, atheists, humanists)

We identified philosophies (worldviews) that seemed to drive those subsets.

Secular Humanism/Marxism
Feminism
Economic Rationalism - globalism
Individualism
Pagan, Godlessness (which drives all)
"New age" spiritualism

HOW DO WE REACH OTHERS WITH OUR MESSAGE (Without compromise)?
Reasoned Debate v one liners or name calling
Carefully derived strategies
Researched evidence - using facts relevant to target group.
Use secular language conveying simplicity and reality.
Find right language for each group.
Reclaim language being exploited. (eg; 'gay', 'reform')
Be careful not to use words that can be turned against us.
Never say I 'hate' … - play the ball not the man.
Activist stance - Proactive community-based concepts.
Reassessment of our values system - we must know why we hold certain values.
Concentrate on the big picture. Many issues are small parts of the whole - we must stay focused.

RHETORIC OF OPPONENTS (With our possible responses in brackets)

Language is changing - we must understand the language

Feminists

In relation to abortion
Right to choose (Babies should have 'right' live - divert focus to child)
(Health issues - abortion-breast-cancer)
(Our body does not belong to us)

In relation to male association

Empowerment (Yes, but with shared responsibility)
Patriarchal male dominated society
(Is natural order - but requires love and responsibility)
(Man is the head - women the neck on which it turns!)
Gender equality (Complementary - equal but different)
Non-sexist language (creates a level playing field which is not level)
Inclusive language (denies difference)

Homosexual groups

Gender fluidity (Gender is not fluid - God made only male and female. Fluidity is a
concept of choice - not design )
Discrimination (Society must discriminate [make wise choices] against unwise behaviour
such as prostitution and homosexuality just as we do against the rapist,
child abuser or the paedophile)
Partner (Spouse - husband, wife if applicable)
Homophobic (What does that word mean?)
(Is non-homophobic - heterophobic?)
Bigot (Means stubborn & ill informed - we can take credit for being "half a
bigot" - we are often stubborn about upholding 'good' values but we must
be well-informed)
Gay (Means happy - this is a typical 'Spin on words' to benefit a cause)
Androgyny/transsexual (Physiological problem of identity - Male and female are distinctly
different - not only in chromosomes but physically. Some rare cases of
children born with indeterminate genitalia)
Genetic cause (No such gene ever been found - Ask for evidence - What gene caused it?)
· "God created me like this" (If God created homosexuals, He would not have condemned
homosexuality in his Word - Old and New Testaments - God is not
inconsistent)

LIFE ISSUES

Human embryo experimentation (Baby butchering) (Human vivisection)
Death with dignity
- (Palliative care = dying with respect)
- (No dignity in killing/murder)
- (Family has responsibility to care)
- (Doctors should heal - not kill)
- (Suicide is an escape - not a solution)
- (Over populated)
- (De-population is the real concern)
- (Humans are an endangered species)
- (Stats disprove eg; people/sq km)

SINGLE PARENT, CAREER WOMEN/HOMEMAKER

It must be said in the least offensive way possible that single parent families are not the ideal.
Single parents do a courageous job but two parents make family life easier. Much debate is augmented on image and emotion eg; "I am a victim and you are oppressing me".
This victim mentality stems from a feeling of guilt where women want to be at home with their children but, as breadwinner, cannot always be so.

The following points are generally agreed and commonly held facts:

Homemaking as a career - self employed, multi skilled.
Motherhood is cool - a valuable vocation.
Two-parent family brings balance to a home and family.
Economic coercion is often used to downgrade motherhood - Domestic Manager.
A women's choice for 'domestic management' or 'homemaker' must be respected.
Young children need a mother close by as a first priority - always.
Income splitting and tax vouchers will aid home management.
Divorce is no solution. Divorce hurts everyone.
Marriage breakdown comes at an enormous family and community cost.
Divorce robs children of their 'rights'.

Remedies

Compulsory pre-marriage counselling
Encourage skilled parenting.
Churches/Schools should run "good parenting courses'.
Baby-sitting groups should be available within all communities.
Good parenting skills will increase harmonious families.

COMMUNICATION

Communicating with the general public and the activist
Communication is vital if we are to move forward in family, pro-life and sexuality debates.
We cannot win if we are not confident of our knowledge about what we are debating.
We lose when people do not know how to express their Christian feelings in a secular world. 'Christian' statements mean little to secular recipients.
We must learn to communicate our position with simplicity and logic - but always backed up with good quality research data.
We need to improve our impact with statements that are short, sharp, attention-getting and consistent.
We need to know WHY the Bible says something is wrong, not just that it IS wrong

Communication with politicians
There is no one effective way of reaching a politician. All ways should be used.
Our greatest assets are ourselves - personal visits are essential to your own representatives and/or Ministers of relevant portfolios. Take copies of good research to leave with them.
Next best option - Hand written letters - they invariably get personal attention
Computer generated but individually named and signed - always let them know you live in their electorate (That lets them know you can actually vote for them - vote them either in or out!)
Email is useful to reach them once you have established a relationship.
Keep it to one short page only - don't be abusive, be constructive.
Back up arguments with evidence - good research.
Praise when it is due.
Always ask for a specific reply. Write again if you do not receive one.

Letters to the Editor.

Act fast when an issue is hot.
Keep letters relevant to one issue only.
Never use more than 250 words - not more than 150 if possible.
Use humour where appropriate.

Talk back Radio - TV
For talk back radio/TV, have phone numbers on hand, have short phrases available on major issues before you ring. Do not carry on long debate unless you know your subject well. You can simply make your statement and hang up.

General lobbying Tools
Our greatest assets today are the computer, the internet and emails.
Computers - can generate multiple letters fast - always store them for re-use.
Make sure you have a good filing system on your computer. This will save time and energy
Always back up your data regularly and that you have a good virus protection program.
Internet - gives you a huge resource data base with research at your fingertips.
Access to world-wide media information and alerts.
All political parties and many activist groups have web sites - you can find out exactly where they stand on most issues - Many product companies and major corporations have web sites. Most of the above have a 'contact us' page with the ability for you to send them a message through the web or by email.
Email - Email is useful to reach a lot of politicians/companies and supporters quickly, cheaply and efficiently.
Keep messages as simple as possible. - Brief outline of information in body of email - backed up by good research in an attachment or following in the body AFTER your signature.
Ideal for protests, bombarding an email address, email is an effective activist activity even with politicians. Encourage everyone to have Internet/email access. Educate people on how to write letters/submissions correctly.
Subject in Email should be eye catching eg; 400,000 missing people, and message focussing so that even if they do not read further, your message has been received. If possible state your whole message in the first two lines.
Having Email allows you to receive daily media reports - pro-life updates, newsletters, research reports.
Many newspapers have free daily 'news' highlights - Lancet and other major scientific and medical & bioethics journals put out a simple 'index' of latest news.
Microsoft Outlook is one of the best programs to use - ease of use - storage of info in unlimited folders - simple multi-emailing facility - work offline until ready to send.
MO also has 'signature' facility - common used pre prepared statements/messages can be stored for easy insertion into emails.

Other general hints are as follows:

Be prepared to persist with your well-researched opinion.
Don't overload people with too much information.
Petitions are not helpful.
Individual letters are best - short with one or two points.
Ask for a specific reply. Write again if a reply is not received.
Use bullet points and your own words.
Email to all newspaper editors.
Email using bcc field as this hides list from recipient.
Email without attachments
Speak language of target audience.
Strike while iron is hot.
Use humour eg; Adult stem cells are the Anna Kournakova of stem cell research.
Be civil and friendly
Build contacts with media and other groups.
Be prepared to work with 'opposition' on issues of agreement. (Many feminists are anti-porn or anti-prostitution - some are even anti abortion) Get the facts - be well informed and evaluate current 'popular' position.

This document may be copied and circulated to your members UNCHANGED.
For further information Contact
The Family Council of Victoria
PO Box 599
Frankston Vic 3199
Emailed jabrennan@omni.net.au