Dear #YangGang: Issue 1 - Humanity First

This will be the first article in a series about the culture and values of the Yang Gang and what we can do to support Andrew Yang in his candidacy. It was first published here on medium. A lot has been changing and to the surprise of everyone, except us, the ranks of the Yang Gang are swelling.

This is great news and exactly what we want. The challenge is that we are contending with a larger movement and it gets more challenging to keep the message focused and accurate. Everyone that has joined and will join has their own reasons for doing so and their own perspective on life and that tints how they interact with others and how they support the campaign. This article is about the main thing we all must share.

For context, I and others have noted a definite upswing in the amount of vitriol coming from members of the Yang Gang. I think part of the problem is where we interact, which is predominantly Twitter. Twitter is…for lack of a more tactful term, a dumpster fire. It promotes zingers and clever insults because that is what tends to get hearts and follows. Problem is, that behavior isn’t humanity first. I am no exception and I have fallen into this trap as well, it’s a devious trap, and it’s easy to start thinking the world is out to get Yang and the movement if all your information comes from twitter. I’m working on it, and asking that everyone else do the same.

I think this theory covers my view of social media better and more succinctly than I could with 1,000+ words. (If you're a nerd and into gaming check out Penny Arcade btw)

Anyway, back to Humanity first, I am calling this the campaign's first principle, it is the core of Andrew's campaign. Old hats and newcomers alike need to support the humanity first message. Our candidate is respectful to everyone, never attacks the person and maybe most importantly he listens. All of his policies stem from this simple and powerful idea.

So what does Humanity First really mean? Have you thought about it?

At its most basic humanity first means acknowledging the intrinsic value of everyone. It doesn’t matter if you share the same ideas, culture, or favorite flavor of ice cream. Our mentality must be that our basic humanity outweighs all the things that make us different. Race, ethnicity, religion, gender, beliefs, language, how we like our coffee...to say these things are irrelevant is, in my estimation, a denial of reality. That said the beauty of the Yang campaign is that we can accept that truth and still work toward a common goal. I’ll offer a personal example. Had someone suggested six months ago that I would find myself politically aligned with @Alyssa_Milano or watching interviews from The View, I would have told them to get a mental health screening as soon as possible…but that is exactly what has happened.

To be humanity first you have to accept that we are different, believe that is ok, and work toward our common goal with class.

We are passionate and energetic in our support for the campaign.

This is truly awesome. When I wrote the first draft of this I was listening to the #AskYang live stream and virtually all the callers have said some variation of "you [or the campaign] give me hope." I see this sentiment constantly in my Twitter feed and I can relate and this is the passion that deserves our focus. I have never before donated to a campaign, bought swag, nor have I ever volunteered to work on a campaign but for this one I have done all three.

This shouldn't surprise anyone but we don’t always focus our energy in a positive way. If we remember that our first principle is humanity first and we remember our goal is getting Andrew elected it gives us direction on how to get there. I, and I know I am not alone in this, have seen a lot of energy being spent on negative passion lately. Again, I am not innocent here, I have done this, it is very easy to get sucked into the black hole for hope that Twitter can be. Just remember, Twitter is a useful tool for organizing and sharing information but it's also a dumpster fire.

So every time we get mad at a news article, or some omission of Andrew, or angsty anti-Yang trolls and other forms of internet...dickwad we should probably take that energy and put it somewhere positive. No one has ever changed an uninterested mind on Twitter...it just doesn’t happen. So some suggestions to get involved:

• Yang people. Your family, your co-workers, your barista, random strangers, yang them all.

• Get involved with the campaign, the more us that get engaged, the more resources we make available to the cause and the better shot we have at getting Andrew to the White House. canvass, phone bank, or text bank.

• Donate. I saw someone mention rage donations after they saw Andrew left out of a new graphic today. This is more useful than yelling at CNN or MSNBC or any of the rest on Twitter. News flash: They don’t care. Nor will telling them literally anything via social media make them care.

So let's all work on keeping it positive.

Try and notice when you start getting outraged, or want to retaliate, or insult someone, even if, to quote every child ever: “they started it.” When in doubt, just disengage. We make no friends and don’t help Andrew by accepting every challenge on Twitter. This election will be won in the real world.

Instead of engaging or screaming into the void, go get some food and Yang the serving staff. It’s better for you, it helps Andrew more and, hey...food.

We will need to help each other out on this one. You see a blue hat getting frustrated, help them calm down, remind them to be #HumanityFirst.

I guess the point of all this is, use your energy and passion to positively assist the campaign, we’re not going to win the nomination by winning Twitter, besides we’ve already done that.