There must be anecdotes that go the other way as well - For example our group recently had a friend of a member attend a meeting. This person was not sold on EA when he first heard the idea, but over the year as he saw more things on Facebook, heard our member talking about his EA views etc he decided he wanted to know more. More personally my Aunty was first exposed to EA simply through my Facebook posts. The posts weren't pitched to her more heart felt nature but this didn't mean she was permanently turned off. Eventually after a year of me posting about my pledge10 donations we had a conversation about why I was doing what I was doing, and now a year later her business donates 10% of profits.
Furthermore - I think that the enormous amount of press that has occurred - Peter Singer, Will MacAskill etc has all been pretty broad EA ideas, ideas that are not too pushy, therefore not likely to turn people off unless they are people that we are unlikely to reach anyway, even with a pitch directly tailored to them.
There was recently an article posted about how measuring impact isn't always the most efficient thing to do, and considering how difficult it would be to measure the results of EA outreach it seems to me that to put outreach on hold until we have perfected it seems like it could just be delaying what could potential be huge impact.
I agree that there is a failure to reach a broader audience, but I disagree that every exposure that isn't a win is a loss. Its just not a win yet. Or it may never be but not because they were 'put off' EA but simply because we can't expect every brain in the world to work the way ours do.
There must be anecdotes that go the other way as well - For example our group recently had a friend of a member attend a meeting. This person was not sold on EA when he first heard the idea, but over the year as he saw more things on Facebook, heard our member talking about his EA views etc he decided he wanted to know more. More personally my Aunty was first exposed to EA simply through my Facebook posts. The posts weren't pitched to her more heart felt nature but this didn't mean she was permanently turned off. Eventually after a year of me posting about my pledge10 donations we had a conversation about why I was doing what I was doing, and now a year later her business donates 10% of profits. Furthermore - I think that the enormous amount of press that has occurred - Peter Singer, Will MacAskill etc has all been pretty broad EA ideas, ideas that are not too pushy, therefore not likely to turn people off unless they are people that we are unlikely to reach anyway, even with a pitch directly tailored to them. There was recently an article posted about how measuring impact isn't always the most efficient thing to do, and considering how difficult it would be to measure the results of EA outreach it seems to me that to put outreach on hold until we have perfected it seems like it could just be delaying what could potential be huge impact.
I agree that there is a failure to reach a broader audience, but I disagree that every exposure that isn't a win is a loss. Its just not a win yet. Or it may never be but not because they were 'put off' EA but simply because we can't expect every brain in the world to work the way ours do.
http://ssir.org/articles/entry/measuring_impact_isnt_for_everyone?utm_content=buffer199b8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
He did sing though, Hakuna Matata. Which pretty much translates to the same idea, don't worry just let it go. :)