Submitted 1 week ago by Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
I’ll go if
There is probably more but these are ones that come to mind.
It will take the protests being armed.
Because if the protests aren’t armed, they’re not going to accomplish anything. There will be no change if the wealthy class isn’t made to live in fear of the public.
Elect Luigi as President
Strike power is real power
True, but in America, you’re far more likely to get an armed protest than a general strike.
Calm yourself Mario, Luigi tried & failed
tried and failed
He literally shot the guy three times in the head lol
Implying he’s in the hole and will never see the light of day again when his trial hasn’t even started
When republicans realize the massive fuck up they created and join the protest as well. Otherwise no protest will matter. You’d need a Luigi miracle realistically
Luigi didn’t solve anything. He’s barely ever mentioned anymore. All he did was empower corporations to become more corrupt.
You think him not being mentioned is a coincidence? I think it’s mainstream media doing damage control
His plea was entered just the other day
All he did was empower corporations to become more corrupt.
Oh whatever. They didn’t need an excuse to be that way.
He invades Canada.
Sorry yall but I left America so I’m hoping you can sort out your own shit.
Protesting accomplishes very little (I won’t say nothing) so I’m gonna go with… nothing, I’m gonna continue using my time better.
Speaking as a former longtime activist.
Go meet people and form communities, working groups, whatever. If going to a protest makes you feel better go nuts.
But the actual work is done outside the protests. If you want to do something useful, find that.
Many years ago, I formed the opinion that protests rarely accomplish anything useful. If the government has decided to pass a particular bill, build a dam, cut costs or whatever, people often respond by protesting. Usually, the bill is passed, the dam is built and costs are cut regardless. The way I see it, protesting gives people a chance to feel like they’ve done their part, while the government does what they wants anyway. From the perspective of the government, it’s useful to allow people to have a channel where they can safely vent their anger. If you make protests illegal, people will form a resistance and start a guerrilla war, and that never ends well.
There are notable exceptions too, so not all protests end up being useless. It’s just that the probabilities aren’t in our favor. You proposed other forms of political activism, and I totally agree.
To me, all of this is rather theoretical, because I’ve never actually participated in any of this. Instead, I’ve just observed these events from the outside, while you’ve seen it from the inside. I’m really curious to know if agree or disagree with these thoughts.
I formed the opinion that protests rarely accomplish anything useful.
Mass Protests in China (which were probably illegal btw) may have contributed in the CCP recinding the “Zero Covid” policy.
So maybe there were 99 other protests before that did nothing, but even if out of every 100 protests has one that did something, it’s still worth it.
Protests are great for bringing issues to light. They can make people and groups visible to garner support. They also take a long period of time to be effective, because people have to understand and find a way to relate to thr message.
All of the shit the current administration are doing are blatantly illegal and protests won’t address that because the people who can do something about it are complicit and the morons who voted for this are getting what they wanted. They may eventually regret it, but only when they are personally impacted.
I’ve been to protests; and I’ve volunteered for political campaigns. The second actually flipped a (US House) seat from red to blue (obviously the work of many people; I’m not thinking I was the deciding factor but it was a close election). The first left me with a pink hat and no noticeable change in how elected leaders acted.
I need to be convinced the protest will achieve measurable changes; otherwise I’ll spend my time looking for the upcoming elections where there are close enough margins to feel my actions make a difference.
Okay okay
Why were you convinced protesting achieves change? How does that happen?
What changes did you want to see? How did you expect those to be implemented?
This sounds to me like “I’ve done a politics once”, not any actual understanding of protests and their history
protesting is where you meet these communities and working groups.
Yeah that’s the only part I consider useful
I’ve already taken to the street in protest, starting eight years ago. Anyone who hasnt yet either isn’t going to or is just now coming of age.
Same. I was there for the Women’s march, there for BLM, after George Floyd, and most recently for the 50501 (which was surprisingly well attended despite it’s quick set-up). Let me know if there’s another one, and I’ll be there too. All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
Chronic pain and non-typical sensory needs will pretty much forever keep me from marching or protesting. That and the number of times I’ve been “disrupted” or “inconvenienced” because “that’s the point of protest and if you don’t get that then you’re clearly part of the problem”, only to have nothing change in the long run after said protest, I’m not willing to put my limited physical and mental resources on the line for “maybes” and “hopefullys”.
literally anyone asks me to set up my grill at the protest. I’m down.
If Trump starts invading my country, I’ll happily not only take to the streets, but I’ll sign up for military training and defend it.
I’m waiting for the 2A nutjobs to realize this is the moment they’ve been fantasizing about their entire pathetic lives.
Guess I shouldn’t hold out for them.
They are cowards. Trump being their man is enough to keep them in line.
Spent their lives toting big guns, but all they ever really wanted was a big man to call Daddy.
Probably: getting laid off due to collapsing economy.
Your second “or” happened already.
Talking Jan 6th?
I’m not American, so probably not until he escalates his messing with other countries to the bombs and guns stage.
Nice try, Elon.
If I was musk, I’d look you up with all my government knowledge and send the IRS after you.
A viable protest of decent size in my city that I can join. Even a few hundred people would be enough. Organized enough that I hear about it a week out and can shift my plans to be there.
Other people actually giving a damn enough to do something other than post about it. I protested in the past and absolutely nobody gave a shit and it had zero effect. I don’t even think the protest was covered on the news.
I suspect that for any average American (or even a single digit percentage of them) to bother getting involved things are going to have to get extremely bad.
I volunteer to be the barrier troops for the 1%ers, politicians, landlords, and employers. They should all drafted for front line combat. It’s their nation after all. Not mine, which is painfully obvious as I am forced to be exploited by all of these people for the privilege of living in their country
I just want them to be good patriots and for them to die for their country. No retreat!
I’ve heard each CEO is worth 500+ times the amount of working class people. Shouldnt need to many of those super soldiers to win every battle right?
The street outside my house is a county road, I don’t think anybody is gonna see me for awhile.
I need to get:
An M40 gas mask and spectacle insert
A bullet-resistant helmet
A burner phone
That’s about it, really.
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
I’ll be honest (please don’t judge me):
I’m scared to protest. My brother got a bit aggressive last night and I felt so scared, I can’t imagine seeing the streets full of fascist pigs (cops), my fight or flight response will probably make me freeze or run away. If I ever protest I’ll be the first ones to get arrested/tortured/killed. I don’t know if I’ll ever find the courage to do it. I’m dealing with severe depression, and I don’t think I can even handle the stress.
If I joined protests, I could also face backlash from the Chinese American community, because I’m sure some are gonna be like “why are you trying to paint a target on our backs” (especially the first generation immigrants), because that’d be my mother’s reaction. Remember than Chinese American support for the democratic candidate is not as high as Black Americans’ 90+%, I think its more like 50% to 60%. Some don’t even vote. I would feel like the “odd one out” which would further discourage me in protesting.
But, I think there might be one scenario that I would feel empowered to take a stand. If trump declared Chinese Americans (or just Asian Americans broadly) as enemies of the state, I think my parent’s would probably be supportative of me joining the protests. I think the peer support from my fellow Chinese Americans and solidarity, would make me feel like I’m not just alone in this. I would feel safer since I’m part of a bigger group, I would feel like my part in the protest would feel more meaningful, because protesting alone feels like my efforts are in vain. On top of that, it’d also be a lot harder to identify me. Imagine being the only [insert racial group here] person to attend a protest, they’d find you and jail you so quick. Imagine like 1/5th of Chinese Americans protested. Good luck identifying 1 Million people. (Also better if other Asian Americans of similar skin tones attended, that’d make surveillance much more difficult)