What are your thoughts on protests?

[Crazy4u]

Disclaimer: this is not about blm protests

Some people arrange protests about different economic, social, and political issues to get attention from the news and the organizations involved. Do you think protests are effective?

 

[Life_and_Death]

When it's a peaceful and respectful protest yes. However they tend to get out of hand.

 

[The Divine Comedy]

One must allow freedom of speech and demonstration for a civilised society.

They are generally effective at raising awareness, however this often does not translate into real change.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

I've rarely seen protests be all that effective, peaceful or not. Especially when a government can simply deem them illegal and shut them down at the drop of a hat. They're no doubt useful in terms of increasing public awareness regarding certain matters, but as far as effecting any real change... doesn't often seem to happen.

 

[TheBroken]

Protests may make the protesters feel a meaningful thing is happening, but the politicians are already owned by big business and private interest groups so it mostly just gives them something to laugh at while sipping wine and sitting on their stacks of money. Or maybe stacks of gold, although the gold is harder to sit on so I'm not sure. You'd have to ask one of the 0.1% to find out more information on their wine sipping.

 

[Someone123]

Disclaimer: this is not about blm protests

Some people arrange protests about different economic, social, and political issues to get attention from the news and the organizations involved. Do you think protests are effective?

Protest work sometimes. For example circuses with animals are shockingly cruel to animals, and I have protested these in a respectful way a few times. and I'm pretty sure that some of the people I chatted with decided to not come back to the circus. Changing minds is stough, though, you can count on a success rate of uner 10% at almost any type of protest.

 

[whatevs]

Protests are just a warm-up, violence will come eventually, and it's inevitable when a group is truly challenging power (which of course BLM doesn't, they are useful idiots, unwitting foot soldiers of the power structure).

 

[Someone123]

Someday I'd like do a protest against protests, just to be difficult. Can't people just agree and avoid all of these silly protests? I think we all need to unite and protest the protests themselves!

 

[summers]

When it's a peaceful and respectful protest yes. However they tend to get out of hand.

Only large scale violent protests are effective in bringing about change.

 

[Weebster]

They're often virtue signaling for social media points. And people do it I suppose because they want to feel part of something significant because their lives are empty.

 

[Someone123]

Only large scale violent protests are effective in bringing about change.

That's just not true- more and more animal-based circuses, which have extremely bad animal abuse behind the scenes, are being eliminated in the u.s. and they're bing replaced by people who do acrobatics and clowns, etc. It won't be long before all animal based circuses are gone in the U.S. based on an accumulation of non violent protests. Non violent protests also were key to ending the u.s. war in Vietnam, and Mahatma Gandhi successully used non-violent protests to free India from England. The Montgomery Bus Boycott started by Rosa Parks led to desegregation in the U.S. just one year after these protests started.

 

[Crazy4u]

Protest work sometimes. For example circuses with animals are shockingly cruel to animals, and I have protested these in a respectful way a few times. and I'm pretty sure that some of the people I chatted with decided to not come back to the circus. Changing minds is stough, though, you can count on a success rate of uner 10% at almost any type of protest.

Animal cruelty protests in my city were effective. The council improved the laws in response to the protests. Many people love animals

Protests are just a warm-up, violence will come eventually, and it's inevitable when a group is truly challenging power (which of course BLM doesn't, they are useful idiots, unwitting foot soldiers of the power structure).

The protests turn into riots when the government is too weak (hello, Portland,OR) or when government is too violent and bad and people don't have many things to lose

 

[onlyanimalsaregood]

One must allow freedom of speech and demonstration for a civilised society.

They are generally effective at raising awareness, however this often does not translate into real change.

Indeed. It's a right that people have.

 

[T90-Alpha]

Protests never work out, unless it fits the Current Narrative™

 

[Al Cappella]

They can be very effective, for sure. But I think they're a bit outmoded now, considering how opinion can be massaged deliberately. But. Personally, I don't like them. They devolve into chaos and looting way too quickly…

 

[Kismet]

Just like advertising I guess. Somewhat plants ideas that lead the way for change and sometimes sheds light on things in a different perspective