KLAMarine said:
Wow, talk about restrictive! Okay SpokenTruth, you've convinced me! Where are these people who are against protesting through ALL of the following means: looting, wearing a shirt, marching with signs, kneeling during a game, speaking during a play, and during a graduation. I want to get in touch with these people and ask them myself: what is the right way to protest? |
What are you even talking about? I can not tell if you are just purposefully being intellectually dishonest, or if you just do not understand how reactions to political movements or protests usually work. No one would ever say, or identify themselves as, someone who is against all types of protests. Firstly because that would be too specific of an identifier, secondly because even among the biggest fans of America, openly stating that you are against all protests comes off like a negative attitude towards one of the most fundamental parts of American culture. Even with those things acknowledged, you probably could find some random person who openly states they are against all forms of protest.
What a large number of people are ALWAYS against, although for the most part entirely subconsciously, is the protest for issues related to race, the black experience, or other things that can be safely put under "trivialities" to those not experiencing them. Not out of racism or prejudice though (well ... speaking broadly). Even I can admit to this, as someone who is tired of America's political discourse mostly being about racial tensions that always seem to be experienced entirely different from every group of people. People do not like to have to think about issues which do not concern them, they also do not like feeling as if something is given greater importance than it actually has relevant to the real world. Hell, a lot of people just do not like to think of important issues in any way, whether black or otherwise. These issues are complex, and a lot of people do not know how to feel about them, or feel very distinctly one way. And so being reminded of them in any way makes them dislike protests. That's not to say that they will be negative to any protest ever regardless of subject, but especially towards political protest this is true. That's not to say that these reasons are valid, but these kind of suspicions can ruin the idea of protests entirely (in today's society where most people experience a constant streaming of problems relayed through twitter and television, it is easy to be apathetic to most issues, and so many times protests are mostly convincing to those that are already close to being convinced or already feel passionately one way). I am guilty of this, I don't like having to see stuff crammed down my throat, because it can feel pretentious, I don't like being reminded of how little I actually know of America's systematic issues, and I do not like feeling as if a statement is being made that I can not take a part in. These are never things I would think out-loud, unless I spent serious time reflecting on them. They are mostly subconscious, and whether or not systemic racial issues in the U.S. exist, these kind of reactions are almost always based on some kind of unreasonable emotional core.
