Oh so BLM didn't happen huh?

In some cities people literally set fucking buildings on fire, and guess what? It didn't change shit. Mindless fires, looting, and destruction of property doesn't mean you'll magically get the government to care. It gets all the local mom-and-pops to close and the grocery stores to leave, giving you mothing but a food desert.

I'm so fucking tired of all the EU people on Lemmy making fun of people for at least getting out there and showing others we should care. Senless violence will not solve all of our issues. Someone could shoot Trump tomorrow and sure, maybe we'd get Civil War (so fun am I right!), but that doesn't mean his chain of succession won't exist. Are we going to kill the entire fucking cabinet then?

Also isn't the UK struggling with Isreal protest arrest right now? Where's their mass violence and fires? Why don't we care about them?

I'm getting fucking tired of coming onto this site to see endless outsiders eagerly jeering at us to risk our lives in a random blaze of glory that will lead nowhere without a true guide and rebellion. The gun fetishsts are not the ones who hate Trump. They fucking love him. Us normal people hate the idea of touching them. The only people willing to do a suicide mission are those who have nothing to lose, and most people aren't there. Go be Luigi, and watch how you either die or get stuck in jail limbo for decades. What did shooting the CEO change? Absolutely nothing. Our healthcare system still sucks, because this isn't a violence problem, it's a legislation issue.

Should we make fun of HK protesters for being peacful? Iran got a dictator blown to bits and is still going to be in hell.

I genuinely will be curious to see how all of these armchair rebels react if there's ever a case of mass government corruption in their country in a decade or so. I don't want for anyone to be in a situation like this, but we'll see if you keep that same attitude up when it's your lives on the line.

Have people already forgotten the summers of 2016 and 2018? I can promise you Americans can riot with the best of them.

The difference is they have the capability to completely censor riots now.

It's an inflammatory comment but it's one worth repeating: a protest with a permission slip is a parade.

There is one obvious permission structure and one non obvious permission structure at play here. The first and most obvious permission structure at play here is the state, and what the state is willing to accept in the form of protest. The other, less obvious permission structure, is what we as a collective society are willing to accept and consider valid as a form of protest.

We often focus on the first without acknowledging the latter. There are some absolutely legitimate criticisms to be made of protests which seek permission from the state.

What we don't often talk about is that protest, for it to be effective, also needs to make the other members of society around you uncomfortable. the discomfort is the point, and modern protests in the US are done in a way to reduce discomfort and inconvenience for all, both the government and the protesters, but also society. And if the discomfort created isn't so bad, protest can and will be readily ignored.

The elephant in the room is that while peaceful protest worked, it was effective in a time where it was fairly novel and society didn't have great ways of compartmentalizing it. The state and society adapted tools to be able to manage the inconveniences created from protest in such a way that protest is basically 100% ineffective in the US.

If a protest is safe, it can be safely ignored. If a protest doesn't inconvenience people in a manner that causes them to change behavior, it has no teeth.

I think too many people are too self conscious to join a protest. I think they're (protests) belittled too much to feel impactful, and a lot of that lies in the division falsely created by the media.

I see the propaganda is working, soon no one will remember Blair mountain or any labor history!

Protests aren't the only thing that activists in the US are doing. It's not an either or situation.

IMO peaceful protests do have an impact; however, there is a point where those stop working and more direct action needs to be taken. Problem is people don't want to out of fear of the police.

Totally. US citizens are armed to the teeth and the best they can do is knit hats.

They still don't have color photography in Europe?

I laughed out loud because it’s true.

It took a depression to get people’s asses in gear last time

Too many people in the US keep pushing the idea that "violence never solves anything" when the opposite is absolutely true. If you want positive long lasting change, then you're gonna have to get your hands dirty with more than just glue and paint.

They're doing more than you! What have you done?! ReeeEEEEEE