08/12/2025
Adapted from an idea by Aaron McLoughlin
Every so often, someone finds a metaphor that perfectly captures how Brussels advocacy feels. Aaron McLoughlin’s “Turtle Worship” allegory does exactly that. It’s funny, sharp, and slightly painful – because it’s true.
The story goes like this: imagine someone utterly devoted to “Turtle Worship,” convinced that their cause is so obviously important that EU institutions will rush to legislate once they’ve read a few position papers or watched a LinkedIn video. They believe that if they show enough enthusiasm, a proposal will magically appear in the Commission Work Programme, sail through Parliament, glide across Council, and enter the Official Journal with fanfare.
We’ve all met this person – passionate, earnest, and slightly baffled when others don’t share their level of obsession.
Turtle Worship is a joke, of course. But the underlying pattern is real.
The Imaginary Majority
One of the most common mistakes in advocacy is believing that personal passion equals political support. When you care deeply about an issue, it’s easy to imagine that everyone else must also care – or at least should.
But EU policymaking isn’t powered by invisible masses of likeminded believers waiting to be awakened. It’s shaped by a few hundred people working within institutional, legal, and political constraints. If we don’t understand who these people are, what interests them, and how decisions actually move, we’re lobbying in a fantasy.
This is why so many campaigns, even well-intentioned ones, go nowhere: they start from emotion rather than analysis.
A Better Starting Point
The alternative model Aaron proposes – and which aligns with what we see in successful public-interest advocacy – is almost deceptively simple: understand the decision-makers.
Before drafting papers or knocking on doors, it’s worth pausing to answer a set of uncomfortable but essential questions:
- Who makes the decision?
- What motivates them?
- Do they trust you?
- Is your proposal actually legal?
- When will the real decisions be taken?
- Is your case clear, relevant, and supported by credible evidence?
- Do you have allies who will speak publicly?
- Do you have the resources to follow a file through all its stages?
Most campaigns that quietly collapse do so because they never honestly faced these questions. The enthusiasm was there, but the foundations weren’t.
Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is stop – before wasting scarce time, goodwill, and money.
Why Stories Matter More Than Obsession
Another key insight: people support proposals for different reasons. A campaign built only on one narrow argument – however compelling to its originator – rarely wins. Successful advocacy involves reframing, adapting, connecting your cause to the motivations of others.
Some of the most surprising policy breakthroughs have happened because campaigns linked issues to unexpected concerns: public health fears, corruption scandals, celebrity attention, procedural errors, or even airport security. Good arguments travel farther when they are flexible.
Obsession alone rarely persuades. Relevance does.
The Role of Public Campaigns
Public mobilisation can help, but it’s not a shortcut. It takes time, money, skills, and credibility – none of which materialise just because an issue is worthy. When done well, it can shift political incentives. When done poorly, it burns resources and raises expectations that institutions cannot meet.
Brussels runs on relationships, not viral moments.
The Real Lesson of Turtle Worship
Turtle Worship isn’t about turtles. It’s about the narrow, sometimes insular passion that many of us bring to our work. Passion is good – it drives change. But it becomes counterproductive when we assume that intensity is a strategy.
The real lesson is simple:
Good advocacy starts with curiosity, not conviction.
Curiosity about how decisions are made, who makes them, what matters to them, and how your idea fits into their world.
If we want our turtles – whatever they may be – to survive, we have to understand the ecosystem they swim in.
If you’re looking to turn passion into impact with a strategy that works, we can help – explore how The Good Lobby supports advocacy, campaigning, and coalition-building HERE.