My big frustration with my local event, which was big, was that none of the speakers knew how to direct a crowd into taking focused and specific action.
This is a constant issue.
It's worth getting up there and asking people to call congress, and walking them through how to leave a voicemail.
While crowd sizes are difficult to estimate, organizers said that more than 600,000 people had signed up to participate and that events also took place in U.S. territories and a dozen locations across the globe.
If we assume one million people attended, then that's... uh... nice I guess. If they can consistently engage this many people and expand their numbers there might be hope for America.
Nationally, it's something like 2.3 million who signed up. Probably more who turned out.
Next step is to get them all in DC for an indefinite stay (but probably not much longer than a week)
That's remarkably hard with a crowd that big; it's a 40+ hours of driving time from most of the west coast. The US is BIG
Where did you find that number?
I'm hearing it second-hand, supposedly from folks at Indivisible.
FWIW I heard it second hand too, but they pointed me at a couple of different sources, none of which I could actually verify.
Supposedly the 2.3m is an old estimate though, and it's gone up. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.
Registration sizes are going to be way under crowd sizes. I went with a bunch of folks. None of us registered.
Or OR you don't shit on what's going right, regardless of numbers.
I'm pretty sure I kept my comment within the realm of constructive criticism.
There was nothing constructive about it, literally just said "not good enough" lmao
No? I said "if they manage to do X and Y they might succeed".
In the small majority red city I grew up in there were well over 1000 people which is telling for that area.
In the even smaller somewhat red city I currently reside, multiple hundreds turned out.
That is very indicative to me.
Both of these protests were like...dozens the first few times. It's growing. I'm excited to see it.
Was anything disrupted? Did they do anything that wasn’t easily ignored?
No? Okay, then. Just write “had parades.”
And what did you do today that helped the cause? Complained online? How lazy of you. I guess MLK’s marches were “just hosting parades” too.
Canadian here. Probably best not to demand we get your house in order.
I didn’t demand or ask you to do anything. I asked what you have done. What I’m saying that something is better than the complacency that’s been happening since the election. I’m also saying your dismissiveness of these protests is more fodder for Trump and his ilk. So get out of here with that who cares bullshit.
You know what is fodder for Trump and his ilk? Impotent “peaceful protests” that move the needle not one inch. By repeatedly ignoring and disregarding, the chuds can further assert and display their supremacy.
You know what follows a large scale protest at critical mass? It's not shrug and go home...
Dumbass commenters in this thread will be finding flaws in a literal insurgency...
There was a lot more going on with MLK then the marches
Canadians online “where are the protests? Where is the outrage?”
Today happens:
Canadian asshat on fediverse “Was anything disrupted? Did they do anything that wasn’t easily ignored? No? Okay, then. Just write “had parades.” “
Kindly eat a bag of penii
Republicans are already getting cold feet about Trump's tariffs. A protest doesn't have to be immediately followed by or be the cause of some major event to be effective. It's a clear indicator that people are unhappy and that the GOP majority is in jeopardy, if not their lives.
I’m not saying it’s pointless to own a fire extinguisher. I’m saying that the time to use it was when your kitchen cabinet caught fire- currently your entire house is burning down and while your fire extinguisher is very nice and cute, there are other things you should probably be doing. Also (not directed at you, but others in this thread) these things don’t include getting defensive toward the people next door who are pointing it out.
Except what you're suggesting is not a nice controlled egress through the emergency exit or calling the fire department. The only "other thing" that you could possibly want is violence in the streets. Easy to call for when it's not your neighborhood or safety on the line.
I can think of plenty of things that aren’t violence in the streets.
Destruction of property can be achieved without putting human lives at risk given that the actors are halfway intelligent. Large scale cyberattacks can be carried out without physical violence. Organized efforts to catfish and publicly expose pedophiles (because let’s be real, the vast majority of them are alt-right trash) and hey, while you’re at it, even if they aren’t into kids, get receipts on unfaithful MAGA spouses and expose them to their families and religious groups. Industrial or corporate sabotage is an option. Business owners could choose to deny service to known alt-right sympathizers, MAGA supporters could see their employment terminated (political affiliation is not a protected class in most places, as far as I know).
When your entire law enforcement apparatus prioritizes property above people, all of those things become absolutely legitimate forms of protest. If these tactics are currently unacceptable to you, please tell us where the “line” is, beyond which they become morally justified. If your position is they these things are NEVER acceptable, then I don’t really have anything to say to you apart from “good luck.”
We’ve been told our entire lives that all the educated, intelligent people are on the left and the right is full of knuckle-draggers- well, great. Prove it. Stop being outsmarted by idiots.
Destruction of property
Already happening with tesla, already being targeted as terrorists, personal safety at risk and still not good enough for you. Why not just start an insurgency to satisfy you?
Cyber attacks
Not anything that matters as an individual, especially against a state actor. One of the goals of the admin is destroying federal government systems so they don't give a shit anyway
Catfish
Are you fucking kidding me? Every one of them has been exposed as a rapist, racist, pedophile and everything else. Nobody gives a shit and they're not going to jail for it.
Corporate Sabotage
This isn't even directed at the government? What could this possibly accomplish?...
Deny MAGA service, fire them
Unless the customer/employee is in the White House, who fucking cares? And if anything, MAGA is the most protected class in America right now.
It's not that your suggestions are morally reprehensible, they're fucking pointless. Mass protest is massively more impactful if only because it builds solidarity deep down in our primate brains. The 1M people showing up at a protest are much more likely to tell ICE to fuck off in the future.
If you're not giving useful advice, your family and friends aren't at risk, and you're not willing to get on a plane and do something: keep your mouth shut. Nobody wants to listen to your armchair-revolutionary takes.
Good to see American media actually reporting on this.
About time.
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