this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024
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United States | News & Politics
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Well its in the news so it worked. Protest is literally one of the only thing that's ever actually effected change in this country so stick with it. The more people it pisses off, the better. If a protest leaves people feeling safe and comfortable, it wasn't a protest, it was a parade.
I would say that this kind of protest just makes people mad at you and your cause. If I was stuck in traffic for X hours I would probably be mad at the protestors and not sympathize with their cause.
Exactly, the worthy message is completely lost in the immoral delivery.
I can see it would be good if it were done on a smaller road that is visable, but fuck keeping people stuck in their car when they dont have any way around it.
Inconveniencing people, and more specifically disrupting industry, is the only way that protests actually do anything.
I am just saying what would be effective and what would make people hostile to their cause. If they set up a line of people in front of one of the weapons manufacturing locations, I think that would be an example of an effective protest.
Protesters accuse Raytheon of abuses, block plant entrances
It's amazing how protesters already tried that and nothing happened.
18 people facing charges for allegedly defacing Raytheon sign during protest in Tewksbury
Somehow, the "effective" protests you recommend don't seem to be doing anything. Do you have any other bright ideas? Maybe something that the average person will actually learn about?
How was that not effective, they got a news story and more news stories when it comes to their court trials?
Is getting a news story all that matters for an "effective" protest? If so, you must think blocking traffic is an incredibly effective protest strategy.
I think news stories or any media is one of the most effective things, but it has to be a sympathetic news story. Holding up business of Ratheon - good news story; holding people in their cars on the freeway - bad news story.
What do you think is an effective protest?
I think the most effective protest would be one that directly acts against what they're protesting against, like putting traffic cones on self driving cars or the Tyre Extinguishers deflating tires.
But that kind of protest doesn't really apply to sending billions of dollars worth of weapons overseas unless you want to do something very illegal or violent. So whatever the people protesting think will help seems good enough to me.
But do you understand how the freeway protest pushes me further away from them, but the one in front of raytheon pulls me closer?
No, I don't think you're going to do anything either way. When there was only the Raytheon protest, I doubt you called your state representatives about Palestine. Now that they're also blocking traffic, I'm sure you'll continue to do nothing.
I dont think it works either way, they are pushing us into war with the muslim nations, Russia, and China all at once. Me calling my local rep isnt going to stop their desire for war.
Yep, I think what people aren't getting is that if any protest group undemocratically gives itself the right to block freeways, then any protest group could claim the same rights. What if pro-life people start blocking freeways next, then pro-Israel protestors next. The level of passion about the topic does not grant automatic acceptance of the method.
I think it would just turn harsher punishments for protesting.
I agree and would also say that society demanding harsher punishments for this kind of protesting is a pretty dang good indicator that it's morally wrong.
Would you think its okay for pro life people to do this on the freeway?
No, nor pro choice people and that's exactly my point. The acceptability of the form of protest can't be related to how passionate the people are about their cause, or every passionate social justice group could justify this. That's clearly a result society can't take and leads to the few saying to the many: "my favorite cause is more important than...well, whatever you have going on today." What makes it wrong is targeting random people with no attempt at majority support, an indifference to the risks, and trapping people in the protest. It would be wrong no matter the cause.