I voted they're useless and a complete waste of time.
Honestly, when was the last time a protest, be that peaceful or violet/riot, ever change a damn thing?
You'll get 15 mins of fame for the protest or riot and then forgotten about. At best, you'll get a politician or two in front of the cameras to make a speech about hearing their voices, but nothing more other than "we'll look into it."
I moved to Melbourne back in 2011 and boy, do people love their protests here, especially during lockdowns. Before COVID, there were frequently scheduled protests in the city over just about every dumb shit thing you could think of. Sure there were protests back in Canada where I lived over the years, but not as frequent as they are here. You become desensitised from it all and just stop caring.
But, I guess it gives the college kids something to do and make them feel like they're changing the world (they're not) while they March down a street, chanting slogans and pointless shit. They don't change people's opinions. People just want to watch the circus freak show to change things up in their routine and then carry on afterwards like nothing happened.
You know what seems to be more effective at making change than protests and riots?
Strikes. Strikes are typically used by unions and employees in specific businesses or industries over specific issues like pay, rights, safety and such. They affect the industry, town/city or business economically, forcing their hand and having to negotiate and make change.
Rather than performing useless protests, people would see far more productive results through networked/collective strikes. Not just within their local communities, but state/province wide or even national or globally. Once you put the squeeze on the economy and the government's bread and butter, you'll see just how quick they'll snap shit and come to the table to talk.
Protests are a dated method that seemed suited for the era when TV was more mainstream and seeing such a spectical on the news really caught people's attention. But nobody gives a shit these days, so the methods must evolve for a new way of digital life.
A networked collective strike on a massive scale, even for a single day, is enough to really mess things up.
If half a city or half a state/province called in sick all on the same day (or everyone scheduled annual leaves/holidays at the same time) businesses and those in power would feel the burn. If the greater majority of the population did this, just for a day, it would be crippling. Do it for a week or more in a rotational pattern and you got those in power by the damn balls as they lose out on money and businesses start bashing down their doors to fk'n do something.
There are many different methods available that are peaceful yet far more effective than protesting. The above is just one quick brain storm by one person. Get like minded people together and I'm sure they'd come up with something even better.
There has to be an action done regardless of violence / weapons / death making.
If not mistaken, I reckon in Ireland (correct me if wrong) when egg prices went up and people wanted to protest they simply didn't not purchase. And they whole situation went well for their side.
So there has to be some major action done. Usually such a realistic or tangible action has to have some sort of sacrifice. Protesters want something while authority wants another, most likely happened that peacful protesters gain nothing in such a case. Unless authorities are actually in service of community not themselves, by then it may make some sense. Still protesters will make some roit by logic. So it is all about making the right, proper, decisive action. That is the weapon. Something that applies [true] pressure without direct or indirect violence.
Always and ever: "Violence is way of the weak", be it from either sides.
I feel that the question implies either violence or not. Even if that had been the most recent experiences, it doesn't mean it's the proper way.
It REALLY depends who is defining “Peaceful Protestor” because I’ve noticed that the main stream media seems to believe that smashing windows, looting stores, and burning down those buildings qualifies as “peaceful protest” in one amazing clip from CNN, a journalist claims the protests “have been for all intent, been extremely peaceful!” yet right behind him, a building is burning, and looters with arms full of stolen goods are running by! I have absolutely zero tolerance for anyone who uses a protest as an excuse to rob, loot, & beat-up anyone with whom they disagree! However truly peaceful protests are not only a constitutional right, they are the FIRST constitutional right amended to the constitution! And I am absolutely in favor of truly peaceful protests! I also believe, that the exercise of ONE constitutional right does not void out all others! In other words, if it is legal to open carry in that state, doing so during a protest is NOT provocative! In the same way you have the exercise you constitutional right to remain silent, and ALSO not be subject to an illegal warrantless search of your person, papers, vehicle, or home, and it is not provocative, and it does not mean you are guilty, it doesn’t even give police “probable cause”! Exercise your right, or they will disappear… mark my words! I’m a person who comes from a family of life long liberal Democrats, and I originally registered AS a Democrat, but now I’m independent, as are my parents. However I STILL consider myself a true classic liberal! I believe in absolute free speech (ugly, unpopular words do not need a constitutional amendment to protect them.)
Usually I am for A, but these days 'Peaceful Protesters' seem to block traffic and cause problems.
Nothing like trying to come home from work and have a bunch of idiots surrounding my vehicle and banging on it, telling me I'm not getting through, even when I support what they are protesting. Now I no longer support them.
Far as I'm concerned, soon as they block traffic or any of the group starts rioting, looting or breaking the law they are no longer peaceful and should disburse. Those that block traffic should all be arrested.
I believe it is a huge waste of time, but I disagreed with that option on the poll that said they should just go home. I think if they want to sit at the intersection waving signs with their time, that's just fine and they have the right to do so.
When I see people peacefully protesting, I almost always think that there will be no actual change from their actions, and that it's ineffective. I have a very negative view of our system. I don't even think that voting will effect any sort of meaningful change. Even if the way you voted is the way it goes, that's not change. That's just you getting one of the limited options that were presented to you.
Let me put it to you this way. I work with people with behavioral and developmental disabilities. I help them every day in a one on one type interaction, where I am offering them all kinds of things throughout the day to help them have a good life. I offer them snacks, drinks, activities, exercise, hygiene and self care, doing chores, a bunch of different things throughout the day to facilitate a good day for them. But the trick to this scenario and how it is relevant to this conversation is that they do not actually have freedom, they are restricted. This is the same thing with voters and protestors and people who want "change". You're not going to get it. Just like the people I work with are not going to get to go to Disneyland unless someone else decides they get a special trip there. They don't get to eat ice cream all day long, go out for a walk in the woods by themselves, etc.
We are restricted by our system and by each other. No one and not even a group of people gets to decide how it is for everyone else.
It greatly depends on the Peaceful Protest, it should not impede anyone and not have a negative impact on people going about their normal lives.
We have a history of striking in the UK, some are peaceful and simply hit the company at a financial level, others start turning intimidating where people cross picket lines.
then you have extinction rebellion type, where they fuck up peoples lives, while peaceful I am against those.
A historic March occurred in the North east before WW2, where poverty, lack of jobs were creating a life where people had rickets, starving etc.
Depends on what. Union protests to me i see as positive and help a lot, and they tend to stay peaceful.
But stuff like protesting ageist wearing masks eh. Protesting over a voted in leader eh. Protesting over abortion rights eh. Or protests that fundamentally do nothing but just annoy people like a climate change one here it was just about 20 people sat on a road blocking traffic (Just in what world would that change anything, rather than just annoy people who need to go past on that road.) This is the kinda bs that goes no where and people in such protests honestly need to go find a hobby because... they probably don't have many to be doing such things.
Depends on the reason for the protest, the modalities and who gets damaged by their protesting. For instance, the no vax lot is protesting regularly in Milano these last 2 months. Well the store owners of the city can't work since those people keep cutting off traffic in that area and that means that lots of people gets damaged by their peaceful protesting. Their freedom to protest shouldn't cause harm to those store owners right to do their jobs, so I'm not ok with a protest that I'd be pretty much "meh" about.
The best place for protests are in stadiums. The issue is that the owners of those stadiums, including cities, know that destruction and vandalism normally result and won't allow their property to be used for that purpose.
Public parks are fine venues, but parks adjoin city streets, and spillover is expected. They must have permit to be on the public right of way, which means everyone would know ahead of time that they will be on the street and can avoid them. Otherwise, if they are on a public street, they are a hindrance, an obstruction, or a public nuisance.
I pay a LOT of taxes, and I don't want to be bothered- by anyone. As a result, my general views on protests are negative.
I live in central Florida. No surprise, there are lot of black people who live here with me- fine. There was a protest march in my county, and our county Sheriff, who was born and raised here in this county, was in the protest march- right up front. Everyone knew ahead of time where the march would be held and what streets would be closed. It was completely peaceful.
Thoughts: "Oh God here we go again..." protestors are just an annoyance. I just pretend they aren't there and keep walking and doing my own thing. votes are the most effective way to deal with change, not blocking up walkways and traffic.
it's their freedom of speech and they are entitled to practice it in this way. I just find it not the brightest to waste ones day being less productive in one's on personal life when cast a vote will get the job done. I'd hate to live in a city, be on a lunch break, and then go hungry because I couldnt get around a large, annoying crowd blocking the path to the pizza shop.
Yes but peaceful protestors need to remember they’re still very much in danger. Martin Luther king was arrested when he tried to peaceful protest and rubber bullets were shot at protestors.
The right to protest has always been constantly questioned
@zagor there’s nothing wrong with burnin and looting. I care more about the fact that an unarmed black man was murdered unjustly by a system that was meant to protect than some big businesses that already exploit and kill enough people overseas anyways
Yes, I said what I said. I don’t care, y’all will pay attention way more at people burning and looting than if we do shit peacefully. So if we need to burn shit down to get your attention than we absolutely will.
Peoples lives matter way more than property. Revolution and true change NEVER happens peacefully
When we say “No justice no peace” we absolutely mean it.
No one is calling George Floyd a hero so don’t try to straw man. He was absolutely murdered by a system. The first police in this country were referred to as “slave patrols”. Once slavery was abolished they never changed, they made slavery legal when incarcerated which followed up by the creation of laws that disproportionately incarcerated black men.
The system never changed, reform has never worked. It won’t change till we create a better just court and prison system that focuses on rehabilitation more than punishment. That gets rid of the legacy of black codes and the prison industrial complex
As for a better justice system, look what is happening in places where the laws were loosened for property crimes - violence has soared, gangs have thrived. If you want a glimpse of what you seem to want, then go to Haiti - you'll already have it. Here, people won't put up with that shit for long. But if you want to create more Rittenhouse's, that is on you.
I don't know if I would consider either of those protests in the picture peaceful. But I don't care as long as they aren't making a mess and disrupting anything it's fine. I think ones where people just sit together are more powerful and speak volumes.
It's been my experience that you needed for me for protest. At that protest police claims are for order. At the protest when it starts to get dusk it starts to get dark somehow some way demonstration with the permit and the police presence presence turns into demonstration protest turns to demonstration when it turns dark outside no one is demonstrating anything at a piece for rally of any race except for experience from the police department back in maybe the '60s and 70s to those who have eyes with them here
It doesn't actually do anything and if it has anything to do with LGBT, 90% of the time it just provides more evidence for bigots to feed their own confirmation bias. Imagine you're convinced gaya are all a bunch of degenerates who love to show off their sodomite lifestyle in public, then you see some hairy, bulky dude in drag and sucking fake penises in public while saying that's just part of his sexuality. Great. That guy just helped reassure you you're right and you should continue treating non-hetero men like garbage. Similar things happen all the time at other protests. People act a fool and ruin public opinion with the people they actually should be trying to reach. It's all just a bunch of virtue-signalling and saying "look at me, I'm a good person, I'm better than peoplr who don't protest."
I'm not against it, but I'm not sure how effective it is. I mean, even the very largest protests only draw maybe 1% of the population, so they don't reflect the breadth of support for the cause, only how vocal the supporters are in their support - and there are plenty of unpopular causes with very vocal die-hard supporters. But then, I don't really know what the alternative is - a vote every four years, between two poor candidates, doesn't really cut it...
I’m generally mildly irritated when they get in my way but I totally respect their right to bring attention to their issues. Given they’re actually showing up to do something about it I would say I like them/have a positive take on them as the standard these days is to be a keyboard warrior.
I'm indifferent to them, so long as they are just protesting, and remain peaceful about it.
Rioting, blocking traffic, or creating a nuisance? Nope. I don't care if they're left, right, black, white, robot, or Klingon, as soon as they cause a problem, then I have an issue with them.
Peaceful protestors, sure; I view them as positive because we have every right to protest and speak our minds. Obviously, I don’t find it peaceful when it becomes violent… such as threats to others.
I don’t have any other views on peaceful protests because it’s just a simple right that we have in the U. S…
I'm in the middle I definitely approve a peaceful protest but it can very easily swing violent with just one person throwing a rock or one person throwing a punch. It's like how Freddy's mom was a nun and got raped by the 100 inmates in the same night. Like yeah it's risky to try to rehabilitate 100 psychotic criminals and just like that It could make a turn for the worse
People have the right to protest over what they want so it doesn't really matter what I think of them. But to answer your question my opinion of peaceful protesters is based on whatever issues they're protesting over
Your definition of Peaceful would be the deciding factor! I have participated in some quite and peaceful marches in my union days. Usually it didn’t get us anywhere! But then we didn’t burn down the neighborhood!
Peaceful protest is a good thing, all people in any civilised Country should be free to publicly protest. Problems usually arise when criminals hijack protests as cover to loot and cause mayhem.
I'm hugely in favor of PEACEFUL protesting. I'm glad those people have the power to express their opinion. I think their opinion is borne from a false narrative they've been taught, but I'm glad they have the right to express their opinion.
Actual peaceful protests and not "mostly peaceful" protests are fine. Even when I don't agree with them, they're well within their rights to do so ~99% of the time.
Whether I agree with them or not, it’s the most American value. The freedom to express oneself in person and in the public forum is huge, as long as it is peaceful.
Like them when they don't escalate to violence. Protest what you want. But, when you destroy other people's property or worse, you should go the fuck to jail.
I have been with the black panthers , I have been with the proud boys, I have been with anti pipe line people and many others. Peaceful but loud protests are great as long as they do no damage to people or property.
It's great that they're being peaceful but I think they're wasting their time because peaceful protests don't change anything. Also "peaceful" protests can be hijacked by violent groups.
As long as they don't interfere with other people's lives, they're fine with me. In fact I think that civil disobedience is one of the best types of protests you can possibly do.
I guess you could try working for the government or place of power that you disagree with their way of doing things other than that not much you can do I feel
If you're gonna ask a question about peaceful protestors, you should actually post pictures of peaceful protestors. It's amazing what they call "peaceful" these days.
Well, it depends. If I agree with their cause, then I support them, as long as they are really peaceful and polite. But, I'm sorry, but very often some people just make a living from such protests.
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