"Protest" away!
Deacon at Powerline asks:
No, though feel free to "protest" if it makes you feel better.
The only kind of demonstration that actually makes a difference is civil disobedience. However, most methods of protesting makes people less sympathetic to your cause for you are generally inconveniencing them somehow, whether by blocking traffic or sidewalks or just making lots of noise.
("Hey hey, ho ho, Bush and Cheney got to go! Hey hey, ho ho." Yeah, that did a lot.)
Seriously, please tell me the point of holding signs and chanting? I really don't understand it. If you don't like what the government is doing why don't you do something productive like run for office or donate money to a political campaign or call your congresscritter? SOMETHING that actually makes a difference, unlike hunger strikes or yelling into bullhorns. Let me tell you a secret: No one cares if you starve yourself. Go ahead, you're only hurting yourself.
Now comes the part where they say "but they wouldn't do it if they didn't believe in it so much. Well, no one cares how much you believe in something unless you actually do something to change it. Not eating or putting up a black background on a website for a day is not going to change anything except people may think you are an idiot. It is a waste of time and energy.
All of what I said above applies to protesting little things that can't be changed, or can be changed in other ways. (IE, protesting the inauguration of the President is not going to change much except make you look foolish in Michael Moore's next film.
Protesting can make a difference though when: a) there are large enough numbers and b) you have powerful people on your side. MLK and the bus boycott in Montgomery. Yushenko supporters in the Ukraine. You might even get a movie made about you featuring Sally Field.
The list of failed protests is much, much longer than the list of successful protests.
To sum it up: If you want change, you need to do more than just tell people that you're upset. GET OUT THERE AND DO SOMETHING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
BTW, to answer his question, dictionary.com says:
protest: verb. To object to, especially in a formal statement.
So it is technically a protest even if it doesn't affect anyone. What a waste of time.
Can something be a protest if those against whom it is directed (a) don't know about it; (b) can't be affected by it, even indirectly; and (c) would be completely indifferent about the conduct associated with the protest even if they knew of it?
No, though feel free to "protest" if it makes you feel better.
The only kind of demonstration that actually makes a difference is civil disobedience. However, most methods of protesting makes people less sympathetic to your cause for you are generally inconveniencing them somehow, whether by blocking traffic or sidewalks or just making lots of noise.
("Hey hey, ho ho, Bush and Cheney got to go! Hey hey, ho ho." Yeah, that did a lot.)
Seriously, please tell me the point of holding signs and chanting? I really don't understand it. If you don't like what the government is doing why don't you do something productive like run for office or donate money to a political campaign or call your congresscritter? SOMETHING that actually makes a difference, unlike hunger strikes or yelling into bullhorns. Let me tell you a secret: No one cares if you starve yourself. Go ahead, you're only hurting yourself.
Now comes the part where they say "but they wouldn't do it if they didn't believe in it so much. Well, no one cares how much you believe in something unless you actually do something to change it. Not eating or putting up a black background on a website for a day is not going to change anything except people may think you are an idiot. It is a waste of time and energy.
All of what I said above applies to protesting little things that can't be changed, or can be changed in other ways. (IE, protesting the inauguration of the President is not going to change much except make you look foolish in Michael Moore's next film.
Protesting can make a difference though when: a) there are large enough numbers and b) you have powerful people on your side. MLK and the bus boycott in Montgomery. Yushenko supporters in the Ukraine. You might even get a movie made about you featuring Sally Field.
The list of failed protests is much, much longer than the list of successful protests.
- Protests against forced integration of schools in Boston in the early 1970's.
- Anti-war protests of any stripe (no, anti-war protests did not end the Vietnam War, pansy politicians who couldn't 'stay the course' cost us that war).
- Air Traffic Controllers Strike of the early 1980's.
- Baseball strike in the 90's.
- Any protest by PETA (I prefer this PETA) or the anti-fur lobby.
To sum it up: If you want change, you need to do more than just tell people that you're upset. GET OUT THERE AND DO SOMETHING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
BTW, to answer his question, dictionary.com says:
protest: verb. To object to, especially in a formal statement.
So it is technically a protest even if it doesn't affect anyone. What a waste of time.
posted by Jordan Golson at
1:17 AM
