• Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I have been to a bunch of major protests in my life. This doesn’t describe them. Most of them hold until the government uses violence to stop them. This is still the same shit people have been saying about every protest ever. If it’s not too violent it’s impotent and useless. The vast majority of the opinion of people about protests, at the time they are happening, is negative. Doesn’t matter what the reality was. Anything short of a perfect gathering, where nothing, and no one, gets damaged, and huge change is made for a positive everyone can agree on, will be treated like you see protests currently being treated.

    • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Most of them hold until the government uses violence to stop them

      We’re saying the same thing.

      at the time they are happening, is negative

      There’s a reason for that. Protests are filled with people who don’t have the awareness to know why opinion of them are overwhelmingly negative.

      Anything short of a perfect gathering, where nothing, and no one, gets damaged, and huge change is made for a positive everyone can agree on, will be treated like you see protests currently being treated.

      There is lots of room beyond your options here to have effective protests. The clownvoy showed a great example of this. To the point people were bringing their whole family down to listen to bands, have a bbq’s and sit in hot tubs while the police couldn’t do jack shit since they did not have the resources and since most of the resources they could access were owned by people who favored them.

      • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I don’t find the clownvoy effective. They blocked traffic aeverywhere they went along with intentionally creating insane amounts of noise, as well as having nazi’s with them. Not a single place they went really had a good opinion of them. They were obnoxious, stopped people from going to work, destroyed property. The one thing they had going was that they were right wing, thus the police literally gave them special treatment and, unlike left wing protests, they had major media corporations acting like they were just the bestest people ever that definitely had no nazis with them. Even with the kid gloves and advocates they were still hugely unpopular in real life, didn’t accomplish their goal, and got a number of laws written that effectively made what they did illegal everywhere it mattered.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          6 months ago

          Yeah, it’s weird that they keep bringing them up. What exactly did they achieve with their infantile protest?

        • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I see them as effective in that they were mobile and so large police couldn’t stop them. Even if they did stop them they couldn’t process them because they convoy made it so they would have to do much more work by having trucks and cars with them. They were effective in organizing. It was different enough. Other protestors seem to walk right into the cops fists all on their own over and over again. With some tweaks the convoy is a great example of ways to counter police efforts.

          • QuaternionsRock@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Nobody cares about the arbitrary qualities you think every protest should aspire to possess. What did the “clownvoy” actually achieve? Or was all this “effectiveness” for absolutely nothing?

            • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I still see cars with convoy stickers. They achieved a protest that forced federal governments to shut them down because they rendered local authorities useless without any violence. That’s more than any protest ive seen in my lifetime

              • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                They got blocked out of, and kicked out out of, places by normal police all over the place. The feds took over when they arrived DC, because it was DC. There is also that the police largely supported their protest. That had more to do with it than them not being able to. There was literally police chiefs and sheriffs telling their local media they would not interfere with them. If they wanted the riot police could have easily cut them off, cut off exit routes, and went in. They aren’t the first mobile protest. They didn’t do that because they police liked them. There are BLM signs, stickers, posters in a lot of places I go. Hell I still see occupy stickers and signs around. In fact those protests are still talking points where as I rarely ever see anyone mention the clownvoy anymore. People are already coming around to the fact that the Occupy movement was right, because middle america is now at a point where they can’t deny what investment firms are doing as housing becomes unaffordable. I also see a growing anti-police sentiment, and that’s not just me, the government, and independent research, is backing this up. As this sentiment grows people I knew who staunchly stood against BLM are slowly softening their stance. Saying things like “well, I don’t agree with rioting, but I see why they were so angry” which is far toned down from the “their complaints are BS, and they are just a violent mob, who doesn’t want to follow the law” a couple years ago.

                Like I said before, hindsight perspective often shifts the large scale sentiment on these types of protests. It takes years, multiple waves of outrage, and growing discontent with the same things that are being protested, by the people who where originally in the “my life is fine, nothing is wrong” crowd. I am willing to bet that most people don’t even remember what the convoy protest was even about, let alone become more positive about it. I haven’t seen it mainstream headlines for a good while now, while I still even see protests from the Bush 2 administration being brought up.