Five reasons why public demonstration is a useless form of activism

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 9/14/2006 | Matt Harrison

[tang0r]

But alas, it was not so, and the world now finds itself in a sort of protesting renaissance. The ultimately unsuccessful protests against the Iraq War (an empirical example of their political impotence) were hailed by many a burnt-out hippie nostalgist as the reincarnation of the Vietnam protests. Now protests are fully coming back in fashion, with even the Lebanese recently offering their own demonstrations, unintentionally satirizing their own state of affairs. (The Lebanese president, Fouad Siniora, remarked that the displays of pointless outrage made him "proud of our democracy." How valuable is a democracy with public protests but without a government capable of even controlling its own territory, you ask? Answer: Not very.)

[cripplecreek]

I don't have a problem with people being opposed to war but open protest in the streets should come before the war. Once the war has begun they should turn to writing letters to elected officials and supporting the soldiers. Protests in the street invariably become propaganda for the enemy and demoralizes our soldiers and emboldens the enemy. The net result is a war that drags on much longer than it should with more dead than there should be.

[TitanicMan2003]

I, myself, have never had much respect for protestors. If the only thing you can do is to wave a sign and hollar at me (and make me late for class/work/dinner/etc.), then you must not have much left in the barrel. If I wanted an angry crowd, I'd go to a Lions home game.

MGY

[P-40]

The usefulness of the protest has a lot to do with the usefulness of the protester, I've found.

[rock_lobsta]

If I wanted an angry crowd, I'd go to a Lions home game.

Great example, actually... Look at what protesting did them. Matt Millen - still the GM! Go figure!

[Walkingfeather]

The results of your statements are the exact outcomes hoped for by those that protest.

[ashamedtobefromparkridge]

They nearly killed someone in Chicago in 2003 when they blocked an ambulance from getting through. The guy was very lucky he didn't die.