It’s morally wrong to advocate for a status quo that’s wrought with carefully engineered suffering- that includes pretending to advocate against it by pushing methods that have proven ineffective over, and over, and over, and over again.
As far as calling on others to inflict violence, I’m actually paying them quite a lot of money to do exactly that. You are too if you happen to be a US tax payer. So I don’t have any issue at all with asking them to stop fucking around and do your job!!
Every single member of our military is oathbound to engage figures like Donald Trump the same way they do any other enemy of the US… so yeah, if they could maybe take a break from turning brown kids into skeletons and focus on an actual and growing threat to our country, that’d be greeaaat.
Will it happen? Probably not… If it was going to, it would have by now - apparently our military is as stuffed with traitors as our government. But that’s not going to stop me from bitching about it: that’s about all I have the power to do.
Peaceful protests are not the only option on the table, but they are one of the most powerful ones available to us.
The government cannot touch a peaceful protest with violence without drawing enormous amounts of anger from the rest of the population.
And the bigger and more regular these protests become, it pulls more and more people out of the labor pool and consumer pool, because nobody is working or buying much of anything on days of protests.
I can tell you have never been to a single one, because if you had, you would know that peaceful protests is where everyone is coordinating and spreading useful information, because you cannot do that online.
People who attend peaceful protests go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do.
The on-paper sales pitch you’re giving sounds great, but we’ve tried it. It hasn’t worked. When nonviolent protest isn’t effective, violent protest becomes inevitable. Even MLK Jr acknowledged that - literally in the middle of lengthy statement encouraging nonviolence.
The system we live in loves to ignore peaceful protests. We love looking at a crowd of people holding angry signs and saying “that’ll show em!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. “Mission accomplished!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. We get headlines like "Protesters have Republicans trembling in fear! or ‘fuming’! or ‘slammed!’ …and nothing changes, so we do it again. And we go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do. …and nothing changes, so we do it again some dude shoots a CEO dead for denying critical healthcare to millions of people: and claims approval rates skyrocket, controversial policies get rescinded, and the unethical nature of insurers takes the global spotlight for months.
Don’t get me wrong - I’d fucking love if we could just yell and angry-carboard all our problems away, but that is pure fantasy. It may well be a therapeutic outlet for the people protesting, but it’s not going to change shit. One dude with 3 bullets got more done for humanity than peaceful protests have in the almost 4 decades I’ve been stuck on this fucking planet.
So, if screaming into the void makes you feel better, by all means do it. I’ll even tap my horn and give you a thumbs-up as I’m driving passed you. But again, a hefty chunk of what would be my pay check goes to institutions and individuals whose function revolves around keeping our country intact and destroying our country’s enemies. Those institutions and individuals are asleep at the wheel right now while cartoonishly evil motherfuckers rip our country apart from the top, so I’ll say again to those people: do your fucking job!
It’s very ironic to me you are even bringing up Martin Luther King Jr because it makes my point.
You know how Black people finally got their civil rights?
Lawsuits. Lots and lots and lots of lawsuits.
Look it up if you do not believe me.
Black lawyers and their allies worked tirelessly to sue local, state, and federal institutions. The peaceful protests brought attention to the lawsuits so they could not be ignored and galvanized the Black community and their allies into a movement of orchestrated action.
Millions of people boycotting, even if imperfectly, is fucking devastating for corporate giants and 100% legal.
Violent action will not work because taking down an authoritarian regime is a marathon, not a race.
It’s going to take a long time to extirpate all the cancer plaguing our institutions, and violent conflicts just make it take even longer.
I’m sharing a link with you of an interview between John Stewart and Maria Ressa, who is a journalist that was targeted, attacked, arrested, and charged for her criticisms of Rodrigo Duerte.
It’s important to note the role that social media manipulation plays us all into thinking that challenges in court and peaceful protests do not work-- they do, just not in a way that is obvious to someone who is not used to fighting against an authoritarian regime.
It’s morally wrong to advocate for a status quo that’s wrought with carefully engineered suffering- that includes pretending to advocate against it by pushing methods that have proven ineffective over, and over, and over, and over again.
As far as calling on others to inflict violence, I’m actually paying them quite a lot of money to do exactly that. You are too if you happen to be a US tax payer. So I don’t have any issue at all with asking them to stop fucking around and do your job!!
https://www.army.mil/values/oath.html
Every single member of our military is oathbound to engage figures like Donald Trump the same way they do any other enemy of the US… so yeah, if they could maybe take a break from turning brown kids into skeletons and focus on an actual and growing threat to our country, that’d be greeaaat.
Will it happen? Probably not… If it was going to, it would have by now - apparently our military is as stuffed with traitors as our government. But that’s not going to stop me from bitching about it: that’s about all I have the power to do.
Can you not read?
Peaceful protests are not the only option on the table, but they are one of the most powerful ones available to us.
The government cannot touch a peaceful protest with violence without drawing enormous amounts of anger from the rest of the population.
And the bigger and more regular these protests become, it pulls more and more people out of the labor pool and consumer pool, because nobody is working or buying much of anything on days of protests.
I can tell you have never been to a single one, because if you had, you would know that peaceful protests is where everyone is coordinating and spreading useful information, because you cannot do that online.
People who attend peaceful protests go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do.
Can you not recognize patterns?
The on-paper sales pitch you’re giving sounds great, but we’ve tried it. It hasn’t worked. When nonviolent protest isn’t effective, violent protest becomes inevitable. Even MLK Jr acknowledged that - literally in the middle of lengthy statement encouraging nonviolence.
The system we live in loves to ignore peaceful protests. We love looking at a crowd of people holding angry signs and saying “that’ll show em!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. “Mission accomplished!” …and nothing changes, so we do it again. We get headlines like "Protesters have Republicans trembling in fear! or ‘fuming’! or ‘slammed!’ …and nothing changes, so we do it again. And we go back home learning about boycotts, sabotage, and feeling connected and inspired by others who feel just like they do. …and nothing changes, so
we do it againsome dude shoots a CEO dead for denying critical healthcare to millions of people: and claims approval rates skyrocket, controversial policies get rescinded, and the unethical nature of insurers takes the global spotlight for months.Don’t get me wrong - I’d fucking love if we could just yell and angry-carboard all our problems away, but that is pure fantasy. It may well be a therapeutic outlet for the people protesting, but it’s not going to change shit. One dude with 3 bullets got more done for humanity than peaceful protests have in the almost 4 decades I’ve been stuck on this fucking planet.
So, if screaming into the void makes you feel better, by all means do it. I’ll even tap my horn and give you a thumbs-up as I’m driving passed you. But again, a hefty chunk of what would be my pay check goes to institutions and individuals whose function revolves around keeping our country intact and destroying our country’s enemies. Those institutions and individuals are asleep at the wheel right now while cartoonishly evil motherfuckers rip our country apart from the top, so I’ll say again to those people: do your fucking job!
It’s very ironic to me you are even bringing up Martin Luther King Jr because it makes my point.
You know how Black people finally got their civil rights?
Lawsuits. Lots and lots and lots of lawsuits.
Look it up if you do not believe me.
Black lawyers and their allies worked tirelessly to sue local, state, and federal institutions. The peaceful protests brought attention to the lawsuits so they could not be ignored and galvanized the Black community and their allies into a movement of orchestrated action.
Millions of people boycotting, even if imperfectly, is fucking devastating for corporate giants and 100% legal.
Violent action will not work because taking down an authoritarian regime is a marathon, not a race.
It’s going to take a long time to extirpate all the cancer plaguing our institutions, and violent conflicts just make it take even longer.
I’m sharing a link with you of an interview between John Stewart and Maria Ressa, who is a journalist that was targeted, attacked, arrested, and charged for her criticisms of Rodrigo Duerte.
It’s important to note the role that social media manipulation plays us all into thinking that challenges in court and peaceful protests do not work-- they do, just not in a way that is obvious to someone who is not used to fighting against an authoritarian regime.