May be phrasing it wrong, but I look at actions like Labor rights, Pride, Civil Rights, Black Panthers, etc. where actions of protesters felt much intense and made more of an impact in actually changing things vs now where there are protests but it feels like it constantly falls of deaf ears.
Have we just not hit that breaking point yet? Have we collectively been beat down so hard? Or have we forgotten how to truly fight for rights? Or… am I just completely off the mark and missing something else?
But should it be extreme? I reckon it should be effective instead. Whether effective means awareness, resignations or something else is a conversation that varies a lot from context to context.
Yeah, better not disturbe anyone when you are doing your awareness “protests”…
I’d claim that it should not be about “anyone”. It should be targeted. If you are to “disturb” someone, better do this intentionally and with the clear idea what such disturbance is meant to achieve.
I’m not saying you should stand still. I’m saying that you should think before (and after) you act. Wouldn’t hurt too much, would it?
Those do work better. Antagonising the people whose support you rely on to effect change is a horrible strategy, the more of a disturbance protests cause to the average person, the less likely said average person is to be supportive.
Only this strategy has literally never worked. Your rights were secured by people who caused all kinds of disturbances. And in the first place anyone who still hasn’t taken a side is a fascist in denial or will never take a side.
I was mad that the government was disappearing people, but then a protest made it so I couldn’t drive where I wanted to.
That’s a vast oversimplification of the thought process and emotions that’s going on there and an extremely uncharitable one at that (most people have their own lives to worry about, it’s usually less “I can’t drive where I want to” and more “I have to get to work”), but essentially yes. That’s the reality you have to work with.
Of course, but the metric you choose for “effectiveness” is critical. In the current situation the metric must be “removal from office”.
The beauty of pluralism is that it allows for different means (and metrics) of achieving a goal.
And I’m saying this as someone coming from a post-communist country where totalitarianism is the powerful position.