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why protests don't work in the long run

starting a following is easy to do if you know how, for instance an opposing ideal. what usually happens next is a formulation of people organised to start a protest against the ideal by means of (ideally) peaceful marches to grab attention

so why doesn't it work?

once the protest is over, people who joined the protest but were sitting on the fence, so to speak, will do nothing further and think their work has been done.

i'm not entirely sure, but i think the majority of the protestors in a lot of cases of protests would have an almost 'sitting on the fence' frame of mind where they wouldn't do anything further than attend the protest.

i've noticed that protestors sometimes seem to think that the people in power over an ideal are almost completely wrong on all of their ideals, and victimize them by bending the truth about them, or even spreading completely false information about them.

this is not the way to change things positively for the future. in fact what usually happens is the people in power will smother the flame of the protest, and nothing gets accomplished.

solution?

work THROUGH the system to get things changed. if people don't take you seriously when you offer an opposing ideal, get signatures proving that there are more people who agree with your opposing ideal, and take it to those in power to help them realise there is a problem with their original ideal.

only then, will the formulation of think-tanks to find solutions to problems that they were unaware of in the first place begin to form. perhaps with signatures AND original ideas from the people who sign about the opposing ideal, would it be possible to solve a problem.

simply put: a protest grabs attention, but only for a short while.

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Topics: london riots protest protesting psychology revolution socialogy
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  • Walter Allan

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    Aug 27 2011: Protest don't work because it is inane babbling and rambling. What good is it to rage against anybody or anything? As George Carlin said "power will do what it does." Let me tell you all something, as long as any of you are invested in the system in any way, shape, or form, your position is compromised. For a 'movement' to work a total repudiation of all of human thought, thinking and functioning must be in order. Protest are simply a form of clinging, a cheap supplication to inherently corrupt and deficient systems. We need to withdraw! Not bark and claw!
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      László Szantor

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      Aug 28 2011: Walter.......for you, perhaps it is "inane babbling", for others it is a fight for justice. The peace march on Washington was not a "cheap supplication", but a just demand for equality. It mobilized all who call themselves human. Fifty years later a memorial is erected to Martin Luther King for a reminder: if he didn't urge people to stand up in the face of injustice, blacks would still be sitting in the back of the bus. Compromise is a good way to start, but nice talk did not get you far with the descendants of slave owners. You may not be in need of any change, but there are many who are oppressed in ways not tolerable any longer. They face losing their human dignity. "Power will do what it does" but letting it walk all over you is like saying: "here, take me, do whatever you wish with me, I have nothing more to say". It is up to you , if you are prepared to live a life of submission....
      withdraw if you want. However, your strong opinion on the subject doesn't apply to those who are willing to take up the fight. To these I say: "bark and claw" if you must. It may work in the long run.

      • Walter Allan

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        Aug 29 2011: What are you going to do? You are only one man. I am only one man. Can anybody truly change the 'WORLD' ?! I think not. There is no change only a recombination of previous modes of understanding and conduct. All of histories notable people have not made it easier for anyone to function. Confusion persists and their wish and desire for 'change' compounds into the present moment. When is it going to stop? Changes of policy don't help. New ways and systems don't help. Everything is met with skepticism and abhorrence. Degeneracy is inherent in all things. This is the end.

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