Peaceful protests are not the only option on the table, but they are one of the most powerful ones available to us.
The government cannot touch a peaceful protest with violence without drawing enormous amounts of anger from the rest of the population.
And the bigger and more regular these protests become, it pulls more and more people out of the labor pool and consumer pool, because nobody is working or buying much of anything on days of protests.
I can tell you have never been to a single one, because if you had, you would know that peaceful protests is where everyone is coordinating and spreading useful information, because you cannot do that online.
People who attend peaceful protests go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do.
The on-paper sales pitch you’re giving sounds great, but we’ve tried it. It hasn’t worked. When nonviolent protest isn’t effective, violent protest becomes inevitable. Even MLK Jr acknowledged that - literally in the middle of lengthy statement encouraging nonviolence.
The system we live in loves to ignore peaceful protests. We love looking at a crowd of people holding angry signs and saying “that’ll show em!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. “Mission accomplished!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. We get headlines like "Protesters have Republicans trembling in fear! or ‘fuming’! or ‘slammed!’ …and nothing changes, so we do it again. And we go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do. …and nothing changes, so we do it again some dude shoots a CEO dead for denying critical healthcare to millions of people: and claims approval rates skyrocket, controversial policies get rescinded, and the unethical nature of insurers takes the global spotlight for months.
Don’t get me wrong - I’d fucking love if we could just yell and angry-carboard all our problems away, but that is pure fantasy. It may well be a therapeutic outlet for the people protesting, but it’s not going to change shit. One dude with 3 bullets got more done for humanity than peaceful protests have in the almost 4 decades I’ve been stuck on this fucking planet.
So, if screaming into the void makes you feel better, by all means do it. I’ll even tap my horn and give you a thumbs-up as I’m driving passed you. But again, a hefty chunk of what would be my pay check goes to institutions and individuals whose function revolves around keeping our country intact and destroying our country’s enemies. Those institutions and individuals are asleep at the wheel right now while cartoonishly evil motherfuckers rip our country apart from the top, so I’ll say again to those people: do your fucking job!
It’s very ironic to me you are even bringing up Martin Luther King Jr because it makes my point.
You know how Black people finally got their civil rights?
Lawsuits. Lots and lots and lots of lawsuits.
Look it up if you do not believe me.
Black lawyers and their allies worked tirelessly to sue local, state, and federal institutions. The peaceful protests brought attention to the lawsuits so they could not be ignored and galvanized the Black community and their allies into a movement of orchestrated action.
Millions of people boycotting, even if imperfectly, is fucking devastating for corporate giants and 100% legal.
Violent action will not work because taking down an authoritarian regime is a marathon, not a race.
It’s going to take a long time to extirpate all the cancer plaguing our institutions, and violent conflicts just make it take even longer.
I’m sharing a link with you of an interview between John Stewart and Maria Ressa, who is a journalist that was targeted, attacked, arrested, and charged for her criticisms of Rodrigo Duerte.
It’s important to note the role that social media manipulation plays us all into thinking that challenges in court and peaceful protests do not work-- they do, just not in a way that is obvious to someone who is not used to fighting against an authoritarian regime.
It’s very ironic to me you are even bringing up Martin Luther King Jr because it makes my point.
Again, MLK Jr himself contradicted you in his own statement. He doesn’t place much emphasis on it - he prefers the nonviolent route, 100% - but even he acknowledged that nonviolence ignored leads to violence. It’s the Birmingham Jail letter if you’re interested - I recommend it.
You know how Black people finally got their civil rights? Lawsuits. Lots and lots and lots of lawsuits. Look it up if you do not believe me.
Lawsuits, nonviolent protests, and you’re skipping a pretty important ingredient: violence. Lots of violence. The Black Panthers were standing by with rifles to enforce the efficacy of their nonviolent counterparts. Direct military engagement such as by the 761st Tank Battalion or Tuskegee Airmen, which fostered a huge amount of respect from the nation at large by showing patriotism even in the face of massive discrimination, and -you guessed it- a professional aptitude for violence.
MLK Jr’s movement was a subset of a greater movement; his was nonviolent, the rest of it wasn’t. If the violent components were removed, the nonviolent components would have failed.
Millions of people boycotting, even if imperfectly, is fucking devastating for corporate giants and 100% legal.
First off, never conflate legality with morality. You strike me as someone who already knows this. Slavery was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Legal only means it’s sanctioned by the state, and when that does align with morality: cool, follow the law. When it doesn’t align with morality: fuck the law.
In any case, you’re correct, we can and should be boycotting corporations that dip below a certain moral standard. That isn’t mutually exclusive to violence though - you know what else is devastating to corporate giants? Cutting its head off, which is what Luigi just did to health insurance, and he single-handedly accomplished more for us by a single action than every healthcare related protest or boycott in my entire lifetime. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t boycott, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t engage in nonviolent protest: but if you find yourself in a room alone with Hitler and you’re packing a revolver, that isn’t the time to shake your fist at the fucker and explain to him the error of his ways: it’s time to pull the trigger.
It’s going to take a long time to extirpate all the cancer plaguing our institutions
Justice delayed is justice denied. That’s also addressed in the MLK Jr’s Birmingham Jail letter.
and violent conflicts just make it take even longer.
Not according to current events, but we’re circling back to the start of this conversation.
It’s important to note the role that social media manipulation plays us all into thinking that challenges in court and peaceful protests do not work-- they do, just not in a way that is obvious to someone who is not used to fighting against an authoritarian regime.
Different tools for different jobs. A paintbrush being really effective for its intended purpose doesn’t mean it’ll make a good sledge hammer, nor vice versa. You are correct in that there is a great deal of painting that needs to be done; but there are also some walls that need to come down.
Can you not read?
Peaceful protests are not the only option on the table, but they are one of the most powerful ones available to us.
The government cannot touch a peaceful protest with violence without drawing enormous amounts of anger from the rest of the population.
And the bigger and more regular these protests become, it pulls more and more people out of the labor pool and consumer pool, because nobody is working or buying much of anything on days of protests.
I can tell you have never been to a single one, because if you had, you would know that peaceful protests is where everyone is coordinating and spreading useful information, because you cannot do that online.
People who attend peaceful protests go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do.
Can you not recognize patterns?
The on-paper sales pitch you’re giving sounds great, but we’ve tried it. It hasn’t worked. When nonviolent protest isn’t effective, violent protest becomes inevitable. Even MLK Jr acknowledged that - literally in the middle of lengthy statement encouraging nonviolence.
The system we live in loves to ignore peaceful protests. We love looking at a crowd of people holding angry signs and saying “that’ll show em!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. “Mission accomplished!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. We get headlines like "Protesters have Republicans trembling in fear! or ‘fuming’! or ‘slammed!’ …and nothing changes, so we do it again. And we go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do. …and nothing changes, so
we do it againsome dude shoots a CEO dead for denying critical healthcare to millions of people: and claims approval rates skyrocket, controversial policies get rescinded, and the unethical nature of insurers takes the global spotlight for months.Don’t get me wrong - I’d fucking love if we could just yell and angry-carboard all our problems away, but that is pure fantasy. It may well be a therapeutic outlet for the people protesting, but it’s not going to change shit. One dude with 3 bullets got more done for humanity than peaceful protests have in the almost 4 decades I’ve been stuck on this fucking planet.
So, if screaming into the void makes you feel better, by all means do it. I’ll even tap my horn and give you a thumbs-up as I’m driving passed you. But again, a hefty chunk of what would be my pay check goes to institutions and individuals whose function revolves around keeping our country intact and destroying our country’s enemies. Those institutions and individuals are asleep at the wheel right now while cartoonishly evil motherfuckers rip our country apart from the top, so I’ll say again to those people: do your fucking job!
It’s very ironic to me you are even bringing up Martin Luther King Jr because it makes my point.
You know how Black people finally got their civil rights?
Lawsuits. Lots and lots and lots of lawsuits.
Look it up if you do not believe me.
Black lawyers and their allies worked tirelessly to sue local, state, and federal institutions. The peaceful protests brought attention to the lawsuits so they could not be ignored and galvanized the Black community and their allies into a movement of orchestrated action.
Millions of people boycotting, even if imperfectly, is fucking devastating for corporate giants and 100% legal.
Violent action will not work because taking down an authoritarian regime is a marathon, not a race.
It’s going to take a long time to extirpate all the cancer plaguing our institutions, and violent conflicts just make it take even longer.
I’m sharing a link with you of an interview between John Stewart and Maria Ressa, who is a journalist that was targeted, attacked, arrested, and charged for her criticisms of Rodrigo Duerte.
It’s important to note the role that social media manipulation plays us all into thinking that challenges in court and peaceful protests do not work-- they do, just not in a way that is obvious to someone who is not used to fighting against an authoritarian regime.
Again, MLK Jr himself contradicted you in his own statement. He doesn’t place much emphasis on it - he prefers the nonviolent route, 100% - but even he acknowledged that nonviolence ignored leads to violence. It’s the Birmingham Jail letter if you’re interested - I recommend it.
Lawsuits, nonviolent protests, and you’re skipping a pretty important ingredient: violence. Lots of violence. The Black Panthers were standing by with rifles to enforce the efficacy of their nonviolent counterparts. Direct military engagement such as by the 761st Tank Battalion or Tuskegee Airmen, which fostered a huge amount of respect from the nation at large by showing patriotism even in the face of massive discrimination, and -you guessed it- a professional aptitude for violence.
MLK Jr’s movement was a subset of a greater movement; his was nonviolent, the rest of it wasn’t. If the violent components were removed, the nonviolent components would have failed.
First off, never conflate legality with morality. You strike me as someone who already knows this. Slavery was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Legal only means it’s sanctioned by the state, and when that does align with morality: cool, follow the law. When it doesn’t align with morality: fuck the law.
In any case, you’re correct, we can and should be boycotting corporations that dip below a certain moral standard. That isn’t mutually exclusive to violence though - you know what else is devastating to corporate giants? Cutting its head off, which is what Luigi just did to health insurance, and he single-handedly accomplished more for us by a single action than every healthcare related protest or boycott in my entire lifetime. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t boycott, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t engage in nonviolent protest: but if you find yourself in a room alone with Hitler and you’re packing a revolver, that isn’t the time to shake your fist at the fucker and explain to him the error of his ways: it’s time to pull the trigger.
Justice delayed is justice denied. That’s also addressed in the MLK Jr’s Birmingham Jail letter.
Not according to current events, but we’re circling back to the start of this conversation.
Different tools for different jobs. A paintbrush being really effective for its intended purpose doesn’t mean it’ll make a good sledge hammer, nor vice versa. You are correct in that there is a great deal of painting that needs to be done; but there are also some walls that need to come down.