Am I the only one that is sick of these marches? Of course, they have been around for a long time and sometimes they affect change and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes when they do cause, or impact change the change they desired isn’t desirable in the end. Women marched 100 years ago to get the vote and that was good even though it was scandalous at the time. Then people marched to get prohibition and that turned out to be a disaster.
There have been marches regarding civil rights, both for them and against them and some of those precipitated violent results.
More recently we have seen marches screaming “He isn’t my president”, though he still is. We have seen marches demanding same-sex marriages and the jury is still out on that. Then there have been marches for alternate sex preferences and cross-dressing and demanding that men can say they feel like a female today and use the ladies restrooms and locker rooms. We’ve had marches demanding that sexual harassment is stopped in the workplace.
While that dominated the media for a while, I doubt that it has resulted in much change. Mostly it has created headlines for newscasts and newspapers. We’ve even had marches to protect the status of safe cities and colleges where illegals (some criminals) can find safe haven from prosecution and/or deportation.
Then most recently we have been subject to a few thousand kids demanding that adults shouldn’t have guns. When did kids, most of whom are too young to get a driver’s license, get the right to dictate what adults can own? Now don’t get me wrong here. Everyone thinks that kids shouldn’t be shot in or out of school. But, I suspect that the money spent to make signs and banners and to bus and fly these kids to the march sites could have been better spent putting metal detectors in schools.
Two days after the latest school shooting I know someone who walked into the side door of a school, 3 miles away from the shooting site, with a concealed weapon (permitted) and took a kid, not his own out of the building. No one asked who he was, why he was there, or who’s kid he was removing. Does anyone else think that maybe there are higher priorities here than organizing another march?
Ken – I have to agree with you – I am so over these marches. Like Carol Anderson, I completely agree that the right to assemble in peace to protest or support a view is to be protected. But, have we seen anything come from the marches of today other than sound bites that support the agenda of whatever news source is covering the event. When the next big “protest” comes along, all is forgotten and we move on. Fast internet, fast food, fast protests – little do we realize that the things that really matter in life are disappearing fast. Thanks for sharing your views on this important topic.
There is no doubt that street demonstrations, marches, are a form of activism that brings many people who share a certain opinion to show themselves and through their showing themselves to make their opinion visible. Being in the square has a symbolic meaning and the number of people present and the success of the participation has a value that can be amplified by media representations, interpreted by political forces, told by opinion leaders, and so on.
Personally I believe more in the effectiveness of direct dialogue between a few representatives of the opposing parties, also because these events, among other things, create enormous inconveniences for other citizens. Unfortunately, however, these people have no other means to make their voices heard, to ask for the recognition of rights, to create the right sounding board for or against some injustice, etc. Bitterness and frustration arise when these opportunities are exploited for purposes different from those to which they were intended and also degenerate into violence, although there are everywhere (I think) rules to be respected for these events.
We must also say, however, that the Net today has taught us that it is possible to create a new relationship between collective aggregation and delocalization. There is no need to be all in the same place to express the same opinion at the same time.
I understand your points, Aldo, and I agree with you. I just have to wonder who is organizing and paying for these marches. These events don’t just happen with big-name stars headlining to increase the attendance. If we knew who was bankrolling the marches in money, time, and clout then perhaps we could gage the real agenda and intent. I suspect it is seldom what it appears to be. The organizers are simply herding cattle for media coverage.
Excellent considerations on which I totally agree.
It is a pleasure to meet you again thanks to this discussion.
Thanks, Aldo. Trust 2018 is treating you well.
For you too. And if you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter to you and your loved ones
It is interesting that most estimates show that as few as 10% of these marchers were kids. Most were adults, and most of them had no real agenda of legislation to propose. As Danny points out, this march was a professionally orchestrated media event with stars like Clooney and Cher giving performances. Kids don’t have access to that kind of star power or money. I agree with you, Carol. Let us know who is funding and organizing these events and raise the curtain on the wizard (s) behind.
I’m a little conflicted on this. The right to protest is fundamental, yet in today’s world, marches and assemblies must be well funded in order to make the international news. I don’t have a problem with these kids making their noise, but I do have a problem with whoever is funding this because, to your point, couldn’t this money be better used elsewhere?
I always look to the folks and organizations that sponsor these marches from behind the scenes Ken. It is a sad fact that folks in these marches are inwittingly being used as “frontmen” to further a political adgenda. Film and sound bites at eleven from a partisan media!