In Memoriam: Jeff Hedgepeth @Alinsky Defeater
We were all greatly saddened by the news of the sudden passing of Jeff Hedgepeth, better known to all of us on Twitter as @AlinskyDefeater. We were not told of the circumstances of his passing, and we chose not to pry into his daughter Jenny’s privacy.
We first met Jeff when we were a still new to Twitter. He was already an established figure whose claim to fame was his outstanding understanding of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and how to use them against the left. Intrigued by his dry sense of humor and his knowledge, we decided to follow him. It was one of our best decisions.
Jeff was always friendly with us and quick to offer advice as we developed our own style of tweeting and reaching out to the Twitter world to deliver our message of a return to the original concepts of freedom envisioned by our founders. Through Jeff, we met other great patriots, such as @rdickerhoof (Ron) and @jenevalynne (Lynne), to name but a couple, and leaving a great many out.
It’s hard to remember now, but about three years ago, Jeff, along with Ron, started a new hashtag on Twitter known as #ocra, which stands for Organized Conservative Resistance Alliance. The founding document can be viewed here.
We remember the first night the #ocra tag was used. Jeff, Ron, Lynne, and we, along with maybe a couple of others moved over there for a quiet conversation, away from the noise of other tags. It was kind of fun. The liberals, of course, sniffed it out pretty quickly and did what they do best, moved in to ridicule it and troll it. But we were ready. On Ron and Jeff’s signal, we would mass block/report them, and they were sent packing with their tails between their legs. We were organized for awhile.
Unfortunately, we did not carry the momentum. Ron got sick. Jeff had his own dark issues, which we never understood because he was so intensely private about his personal life, but we did get a taste of what it would be like to be completely organized for one aim, at least for awhile.
Throughout the remaining three years, Jeff continued to mentor us in the ways of Alinsky, and we devoured everything in his blog. Unfortunately, it did not go far enough. We wanted more. We needed more.
Jeff solved that problem for all of us when he wrote “Rules for Radicals Defeated” and published the book both in paperback and kindle form and made his vast knowledge of taking on the left, using their own rules against them to everyone. We were one of the first to buy the book and recommend it to everyone. One can purchase a copy here. If you have not bought this book, we still highly recommend it, and it will help his family. We consider this our battle bible in our war with the left.
We look today at the #ocra hashtag that Jeff started, and it is missing something. Jeff’s voice has been silenced. The familiar LOL avatar is gone. His news links and snarky comments about the usurper in the White House will not be passing our timeline anymore. We won’t be hearing his soft gentle corrections about taking on the left without becoming like the left. There is a huge hole in our movement. We’ve lost a friend and a mentor.
But we will press on. We will press on in his memory. We will press on with the knowledge he left us, hopefully using it to its fullest advantage.
We will press on and make #ocra once again stand for Organized Conservative Resistance Alliance.
Nothing else will suffice to honor the memory of Jeff Hedgepeth.
Beautifully written!
Jeff was a very kind & caring man. He loved his family & his country. He was very passionate about what he believed & had a cutting wit when delivering his message. I remember his laughter, his smile & I miss him greatly every day.
Anna, my dear friend, you had an advantage many of us did not. You got to know him personally. And for that your loss must be all the deeper. Our prayers are with you and his family as you heal from the pain. — Greg
I give my deepest sincerest condolences to his family. I did not converse with him and do not know him, but have heard of him, and liked and agreed with his posts when I did read them..
In tribute to @AlinskyDefeater- Here is an excerpt from a recent article about Alinsky-ite Trolls, and my posted response-
WND EXCLUSIVE
DECISIVE ACTION AGAINST OBAMA’S LEFT-WING ‘TROLLS’
by JEROME R. CORSI
quote- ”trolls operating on WND forums attempt to defend Obama by posting specious and diversionary arguments with the goal of changing the subject and obscuring topics that could damage Obama” unquote
This is the key component ingredient in assessing the posts on WND, or anywhere. What is the direction and content intent of the posts, that is what is important in discerning who and what is a real troll, or just someone posting a different point of view.. Just because you may not like that view, does not mean that poster is a troll.. juts remember the points of analysis- Content of Intent.
In other words, use reading comprehension to decipher their posts, not emotional reaction, and you will not be fooled and mislead. Never take their bait. Use intellect, not emotional reaction in your thinking about what is said / posted. Think about the content intent first, the apparent direction they are trying to take you, and the emotional reaction baiting they are trying to utilize against you.. then think about your reply response reaction.
Never play their game of chase the liberal troll tail around the table, by responding with a direct quip, a quote that contradicts them, a reverse logic reproach, and or anecdote, that throws them off track, etc.
They will lose their objective, especially towards you and your effective counter measures.
Beautiful tribute, Greg. One small disagreement, though. I think #ocra is still huge presence. Ron used to keep track of that and it is still right up there as a compliment to tcot. Just maybe not as big of a force as it once was. I do try to tweet the meaning and manifesto, for those who don’t know, not as often as I used to though. Going to try to do that more.
#ocra is firmly established and not going away. It will carry on as a testimony to Jeff. It’s up to us to make sure it is an active force, not just a reactive one. I think that’s what you were expressing to me awhile back.
We all have busy lives and have gravitated to our own niches, in trying to expose truth. But I will be eternally grateful for the education and the wonderful people I have met through @AlinskyDefeater and #ocra. It is and will always be “home”.
No question the tag is firmly established. But it never really did become the organizing ground of conservative we had hoped. Perhaps our best tribute to Jeff will be to finish that work.
I’m fairly new to Twitter. I actually joined to praise Stacey Dash and give her support when I read about the racist left attacking her. This is the 1st time I’ve heard of Mr. Hedgpeth, though the name does look familiar. However, my condolences to Mr. Hedgepath’s family.
While reading your praise and credit to Mr. Hedgpeth I kept seeing Andrew Breitbart who was actually my inspiration for blocking out my fear and giving my first public speech.
With me being a newcomer to team #ocra I hope you will allow me to insert one small and humble personal opinion.
I do not think his passing should be viewed as a “hole in our movement.” I think instead it should viewed as now being an outside hand keeping the movement alive whereas before it was an inside hand.
One example is I (and I will guess others also) am now onboard at #ocra because of the light you shined on Mr. Hedgpeth’s love of the United States of America, his goals to save it, and his accomplishments.
So long as we keep plowing and watering the fields that people like Andrew and Jeff sowed there will not be a hole. If we leave these fields to wither and the soil to dry then there will be a hole. But the way I see it is that I and the other newbies are now the new crops sprouting from their seeding.
Now we, the new offspring, must help tend the fields as you and others continue to seed until we have enough offspring to clean the poisonous crop-killing Communists from our fields.
There is actually an order and rotation to the madness.
Those who guide and encourage us, through spirit amp; unfinished goals, to keep planting, plowing, and watering (that is now Jeff amp; Andrew);
those who sow the seeds (that is now you and others);
those who plow and water the fields (that is now myself amp; others);
and the resulting harvest (that is those who now realize they can’t just sit around and whine,; they must participate. even by simple letter writing).
So in the end, there is no hole Jeff is now another set of hands holding us up and pushing us from the outside.
Sincerely,
Tom Maerling
It was a sad day to see that our AlinskyDefeater had passed away. Geeze, so many of us have been twitter pals for 4+ years now, ever since the usurper began the official OCCUPY movement in OUR OVAL OFFICE. He will be missed, however, he left us with lots of his wisdom. It really felt like losing a part of the family. We know each other pretty well here in out twitter family, even though we haven’t met face to face. If I’m having a really crummy day (abt 4-1/2 years worth) I knew I could come and commiserate with my twitter pals. Thank God for all of you. Thank God for Jeff’s wisdom, his snarky remarks and great ideas. I’m sorry for his family. I know the pain, espcially when I lost my dad in 2009, 6 months into the muslims takeover. That WAS a bad year for me. So to keep busy, I tried to dig up as much as I could on this liar, who believes he is above the law. Karma is NOT fun and it follows him around all day, everyday, just like the Charlie Brown cartoon’s character ‘Pig Pen’ with the dust following him. I would NOT want the NAVY SEALS pist at me. I’m with those guys and they have been crapped on by this low-life, just as all the military members have; case in point, he watched and allowed four Americans die. Anyway, God bless you Alinsky Defeater. Help us out while you’re up there would ya??? To the family, God bless you, try to keep the faith and his loving memories close to your heart!! We, The People will defeat the enemy IN HIS HONOR!