From: bhelm@sisters.cs.uoregon.edu (B. Robert Helm)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.esperanto
Subject: Re: Recruiting Esperantistojn
Summary: More discussion of E'o recruiting
Keywords: recruiting novice
Date: 2 Sep 92 22:05:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Sep2.220512.20386
Distribution: inet
Organization: University of Oregon Computer and Information Sciences Dept.

B. Robert Helm asked:

>>  Would more agressive marketing of Esperanto  violate the philosophy of the "movado?"

Michael Urban replied:

> But I think a lot of Esperantists are also aware that Esperanto is
> widely regarded -- when it is known at all -- as a `crank' pursuit,
> and there is a certain reluctance to be labelled as a crackpot or
> worse.  At science fiction conventions, this is rarely a problem :-) ,
> but in other contexts (e.g., suggesting Esperanto as a working
> language for an international conference) a lot of Esperantists will
> prefer to remain silent rather than confront the skeptics.

> There is a paradox here: every Esperantist feels at least a _little_
> missionary zeal for the language -- after all, even if it is `just a
> dumb game', it is a game that is more fun the more people you can get
> to play.  But it is not easy to go out and try to sell people on a
> language that most people think is the province of cranks and
> crackpots. 

I agree that this is a paradox.  One way to break the crackpot image,
it appears to me, is to make people more familiar with the idea of
Esperanto.  If people see the word "Esperanto" frequently, even in a
negative context, they may be less inclined to dismiss it as a bizarre
fringe entertainment.  Mass marketing methods, as opposed to
individual support and training, can expose large numbers of
non-adherents to the Esperanto movement and make it appear more
respectable.  Where mass media are concerned, I'm not convinced that
familiarity breeds contempt.

I could be missing some historical context, of course.  Have
Esperantists had bad experiences with mass exposure?  Did the Reed
article in Time Magazine lead to piles of hate mail on the desks at
ELNA?  Have mass methods been tried and abandoned?

> Finally, yes, mass mailings cost money, and I suspect that that money
> is best spent doing things like publishing textbooks and so on.  It is
> not at all clear that there is enough of a movement in the U.S. at
> present to handle a really huge surge of interest in Esperanto.
> Suppose Bart Simpson took up Esperanto one week (`Ne nasku bovon,
> ulo!'), and a hundred thousand people decided to write to ELNA for
> information, or to learn the language, or whatever.  There are simply
> not enough texts in print, or enough instructors, or enough ANYTHING
> to handle a demand like that.  So perhaps it is best that we continue
> in the tradition of Zamenhof's `gutoj malgrandaj', the small drops
> that we hope will eventually wear away that granite mountain.

I guess I was thinking about something between `gutoj malgrandaj' of
interest, and millions of people `naskanta bovojn' over Esperanto.  I
have no hard evidence to back this up, but I imagine that

(a) Mass marketing could gain the goodwill of numerous non-speakers of
    Esperanto, and 

(b) that goodwill is required to gain widespread, experimental adoption
    of Esperanto by institutions like conference program committees and
    international organizations.

As an alternative to the `gutoj malgrandaj' approach, Esperantists
could put more resources into building support that is broad, rather
than deep.  They could try to create a base of numerous
fellow-travelers, rather than the small, committed core of true
believers that exists today.

Also, all mass campaigns have a target group, often a very specific
one.  I agree that a target group for an Esperanto mailing would have
to be much smaller than the number of people who watch America's
favorite underachiever.  I also agree that follow-up has to be
carefully thought out.  What I suggested was more aggressive attempts
to reach small groups of potential sympathizers -- foreign policy
thinkers and SF/Fantasy fans, for example.

Finally, one might consider taking a page from the presidential
campaign.  While the candidates do spend ridiculous amounts of money
on TV commercials, they also stage idiotic media stunts to pull in
free publicity.  Could Esperantists cheaply create spectacles that
would attract at least local reporters?

Again, I've only recently become interested in Esperanto, so I have no
right to be critical.  Esperantists have done an amazing thing,
keeping a language alive without the proverbial "army and a navy."
But from the figures I've heard in this newsgroup, it appears the
number of speakers and occasional users has shrunk over the years; in
any case, it has not kept up with world population growth.  Could
recruitment strategies be part of the problem?  After all, LLZ didn't
live long enough to see people talk about their underarm deodorants in
front of 240 million fellow citizens.  If he had, he might have thought
about different ways to break up the granite mountain.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.esperanto