The right to protest peacefully is an inalienable right in a liberal democracy. Only public demonstrations of a racist nature are deemed beyond the pale, and even then are usually banned on the grounds of maintaining public order rather than on the basis of the views expressed.
Personally I’ve never been much of a demonstrator. It’s not apathy, there are certainly issues about which I feel strongly, it’s just that most of the people who go on marches are sanctimonious, self righteous, twats. They are absolutely certain in their world view, and cannot conceive that any aspect of their beliefs could possibly be misguided.
There’s something about the herd nature of mass public gatherings that disturbs me. There’s an element of ‘me too ness’ about the affairs that suggests to me that most of the people involved just like the reassurance of a mass huddle with a bit of right on chanting. To be honest, I found the anti-war protesters waving ‘Not in My Name’ placards intensely irritating. There’s just something smugly self congratulatory about the phrase; as though they’re indulging in a collective back slap about their supposedly superior civilised values.
The other problem is that demonstrations are usually infiltrated by various hard left and anarchist groups that have more interest in destroying property and goading the police than any real concern with a specific issue. These fuckwits think that smashing in a MacDonald’s window strikes a massive blow against their bourgeois oppressors.
Anyone who’s been to a football match knows that crowds are perfectly capable of mass unthinking violence. I prefer to steer clear. The rational individual voice will always be preferable and more persuasive to me than a crowd chanting mindless slogans.
17 comments:
exactly!
I've tried telling these sorts that their protest is pointless, no one will listen, and they've just increased their risk of bodily harm or arrest.
It's these quasi-human/ape brains that think becuase they have some knowledge, they are smart enough to carry out some rallying plan to make others listen.
We don't CARE and if we do, you get more flies with HONEy....Yes folks, I'm more of a letter writer or accepter....I cannot abhorr argumentative grouping to find the solace of knowing: we're all the same.
Right on Garfy!
"Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
That was an OK chant. Most chants are wank.
Do you remember or ever attended the Peace Marches during the 70s?
Usually ended in a riot.
I can vaguely remember them. Much hot air and not much in the way of results.
As someone who turns his chair away from everyone else's during meetings you will expect me to heartily agree with you.
History has shown that it is those who speak the quietest are those who are heard most. People tend to turn away from shouting; you hear just noise and no message. On the other hand, if somebody speaks quietly, you have to listen.
It's not how loud you shout, but what you say that matters.
Those fucking anti McDonalds terrorists are just a bunch of thugs who act on behalf of nobody other than their own egos. What gives them the right to vandalise property that has no connection with the things they protest against?
Cocks.
Well don't blame me,there was no toy in the Happy Meal!
That is indeed a cassus belli Cold Earth. Your anger would be just.
Chrissie Hynde once told her audience to "go burn MacDonalds".
Fucktard.
Chrissie Hynds is just a twat. No, if she'd have said "Go burn down a Whacky Warehouse", I'd have been right behind her.
Or a Wetherspoons. A petrol bomb through the window would give the place some of the atmosphere which it so sorely lacks.
Gosh, ain't we naughty?
But I like it!
amen to torching wacky warehouses....
last demo i did was the legalise cannabis one in about 1998 or something (i forget....!). it was ace - from what i can recall. of course, with hippies marching for grass there was no violence. just smoking, drums and oh god, the fucking munchies...
oh, and a random man with a satchel and a scrapbook that proved that the US had made the moon for their own evil ends....
Didn't see the programme about protestors at the G8 summit by any chance did you? Loads of anarchists who thought they could eradicate world poverty by talking in funny voices and dressing as clowns. Wankers.
"sanctimonious, self-righteous, twats"
I wholeheartedly agree whether it was silly women (suffragettes) marching for right to vote or civil rights protesters (uppity blacks)marching to be treated like human beings. Sanctimonious, self-righteous, twats every last one of them. They would have been better off writing a letter to their local newspaper!
There are exceptions to every rule anon. Those were quite a long time ago.
I do take your point however.
like just about everything else, a powerful political statement and tool has been taken up by every moron, every signle-minded, operating with blinders special interest group, every person with a fringe radical belief out there and has been twisted into absurd displays that dont convey any message but simply turn into public spectacles that invite derision. People saw the success that the suffragettes and civil rights protestors had and decided to take the idea and run with it. So now we have "Seven Mom March" demonstations by soccer moms in support of the public execution of gay doctors who perform third trimester abortions on non right wing christian mothers who were victims of rape by violent convicts who were released by activist judges due to prison overcrowding. Of course no one is taking them seriously but themselves.
" every signle-minded, operating with blinders special interest group, every person with a fringe radical belief out there"
Hey just like you guys :)
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