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I just don't understand why people march in the streets, with signs, protesting a lot, when it never does any good, and the government or society never listens to them. So why bother doing it really, unless I am missing something?
You can either sit on your tail, whining about what was done, whining to other people who will also do nothing OR you can get up and TRY to do something about it.
I just don't understand why people march in the streets, with signs, protesting a lot, when it never does any good, and the government or society never listens to them. So why bother doing it really, unless I am missing something?
Think about the following that you have missed. ( only a sampling of the good that comes of civil disobedience and protesting voices)
Gandhi's Indian Independence Movement was the first successful application of civil disobedience and protest on a large scale. 1930s (Salt Satyagraha)
Civil resistance and protest was a significant factor behind the dissolution of communist governments and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Civil Rights Movement. 1960s. The March on Washington 1963 was/is credited with helping build support to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Boston Tea Party 1773
Moratorium Against the Vietnam War, Nov. 15, 1969
Tiananmen Square, 1989 helped reshape the way the world saw the People's Republic of China, and it still speaks to the crowning power of peaceful protest in the face of an oppressive regime.
Purple Rain Protest in Cape Town, 1989. Stopping apartheid.
I just don't understand why people march in the streets, with signs, protesting a lot, when it never does any good, and the government or society never listens to them. So why bother doing it really, unless I am missing something?
Yes, you are missing something. Protests are a powerful element of democracy. I am curious how old you are?
Well I thought that Ghandi gained independence from India because of other factors, such as the British beating and killing the protesters in some of the incidents. I thought that was what lead to the independence, and not the actual standing around and holding signs alone.
I just don't understand why people march in the streets, with signs, protesting a lot, when it never does any good, and the government or society never listens to them. So why bother doing it really, unless I am missing something?
Because it pisses off the elites.
True, it never changes anything.
Millions protested against the Vietnam War, against Iraq War, against the corruption in the finance sector, against trade with slave labor nations and nothing changed.
The only way to change anything is to bribe politicians with a sack full of gold.
True, it never changes anything.
Millions protested against the Vietnam War, against Iraq War, against the corruption in the finance sector, against trade with slave labor nations and nothing changed.
The only way to change anything is to bribe politicians with a sack full of gold.
False, it has changed a lot in the world.
I stand by earlier posts that illustrate the positive power of protest and civil disobedience.
You should try it sometime, J746NEW, it is uplifting.
“For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
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I don't have a problem with "peaceful protest"...... but when protest becomes destruction of private property, threats of physical violence, and silencing those who have a different point of view it becomes a riot. And as thus, all those involved should face the consequences of their actions. Arrest, prosecution and jail, not a slap on the wrist and put on the cover of tomorrow's newspaper as the Social Justice Warrior of the Week.......
Well I mean it seems that there a lot of cases when protests do not seem to do good, but the violence does. For example, when Algeria wanted independence from France, protesting wasn't doing any good, so they resorted to a lot of violence to get the independence, and then after a few years they got it. But I don't know if it would have worked on just protesting alone, but maybe it would have.
MOST protests don't make any difference.It generally takes an issue which can generate mass protests for a significant period of time to make any difference.Most issues in this country won't generate adequate sustained numbers of protesters to matter.
In the United States lawsuits,and getting judges to 'legislate through the bench',are often more effective than protests/elections/referendums unfortunately.
Well okay, the Vietnam war was mentioned so I can use that as example. Why did the US go and fight the Vietnam more instead of just protesting to stop North Vietnam from invading South Vietnam? If protests actually work, then why not have the US troups protest against the North Vietnamese for years, to stop the war, rather than actually fight with violence?
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