Seth Godin is speaking about America's current war, but he raises some points which are universally true. When we want to counter bad idea viruses, we have to spread a more powerful message.

The best way to counter an ideavirus, any ideavirus, is not by challenging the medium in which it spreads. It didn't stop pirate radio or salacious TV shows or online porn. What has always worked the best is countering one ideavirus with another one. To use the same medium to spread a different, better, more powerful ideavirus. You don't counter racism by making the act of uttering racist statements against the law. You do it by spreading an idea (racism is hateful, wrong and stupid) that keeps the racist from expressing his ideas because all his friends will shun him if he does.

If you want moderate ideas to spread in a community, promote the people who are spreading those ideas. Make them heroes. Amplify their message and help it spread.

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This can apply to just about any message, from reducing racism, through to reducing our impact on the environment. The important thing to note though is this: do we realise which message we're helping to spread?