Gaza war protesters shut down Golden Gate Bridge, block traffic in other cities

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 654 points –
Gaza war protesters shut down Golden Gate Bridge, block traffic in other cities
nbcnews.com
378

You are viewing a single comment

counterpoint: the people who would enact this change are far beyond our reach as citizens so there is no way to target them with effective protests.

Besides, some of the best way to affect policy is to A. Cost large businesses money or B. To cause general unrest over an issue. Both of these things will piss your fellow American off but this is how protests work nowadays.

I think most protestors don’t want to block cars of normal people or throw paint onto paintings or whatever. But they have to because if you look at the laws, organized protest has no bite anymore. Go ahead, annoy the politicians, they’ll just arrest your outside of their house and no one will hear about your issue.

That's the problem. No one is actually doing anything worthwhile. You are right, standing outside the mayors house will get you arrested. Do it anyway. Get arrested. You want to make big moves for your cause, do something worth being arrested over. Imagine if all of those people on the bridge yesterday had been blocking traffic to the mayors neighborhood instead. What are they gonna do, arrest a thousand people in a suburb street? That's a fucking news story. Blocking a bridge is bullshit, it carries no weight because there is nothing on the line. Congrats, you fucked up a half million people's day, I guess someone should call the genocide off, now.

What do you mean it carries no weight? That was my entire point. Make the public mad, the angry public starts yelling at the mayor. The business owners whose workers can’t get to the office start getting rather upset. Whereas if a minority inconvenience a politician, cool, but they don’t care. They will just find ways to avoid it. And in this case, you don’t have access to politicians that hold weight in regard to Gaza.

Go ahead, egg your senators house, they don’t live there most of the time. Threaten to vote them out, they run unopposed. The ways in which to express political efforts is now so narrow that stuff like blocking a bridge has become almost inevitable.

I do not think we live in the same world, where someone being late to their job will make the business owner consider political change.

counterpoint: the people who would enact this change are far beyond our reach as citizens so there is no way to target them with effective protests

Literally go to the capitols instead. Or go to their houses. Some place that actually effects them rather than complete laymen.

Seriously! Protesting has never accomplished anything ever and is totally useless unless it's done explicitly for politicians that are totally receptive and eager to assist their constituents!

They won't do that because they can and will get an armed response from three-letter agencies and LEOs. It's the same reason these absolute clowns never protest where the weapons are made and shipped from, they'll get beaten and shot, and they know it, so instead they harass everyone else.