‘Hands Off’ protests take off across US to oppose Trump agenda – live
‘Hands Off’ protests take off across US and Europe to oppose Trump agenda – as it happened
A very sad thing about this is how underreported it is in the big news outlets. Yes, there are articles, but holy shit, it seems very downplayed. I didn't participate in the protest, but I live in a medium sized suburb and the turnout in our downtown was HUGE.
Earlier someone posted that the protests aren't going to be noticed by or cause any inconvenience to the oligarchs.
It isn't about them noticing the protests, and it isn't about the media talking about it.
At this point it's a movement that has to grow until everyone knows even if they keep trying to bury their heads in the sand. It needs to show the billionaire owned media that they are powerless to suppress the truth.
The movement needs to keep growing until it can't be denied. It needs to keep growing until they know they can not win.
We have a choice. Either we sit back and go into the gas chambers one at a time, or we show them that they are too outnumbered to succeed.
At this point it's a movement that has to grow until everyone knows even if they keep trying to bury their heads in the sand. It needs to show the billionaire owned media that they are powerless to suppress the truth.
True, but more than growth action is necessary here. Protests are ultimately advertisements for your movement and a show of force; without an implied threat behind them (such as "abdicate or we'll literally lynch you") they're very ignorable no matter how many people you get on board. What I'm trying to say is: More than grow the movement needs to evolve from marches and into full-blown civic resistance.
Absolutely. It's easy for another Occupy Wall Street outcome to happen where this movement just fizzles out if there's no structure to solidify into. Considering that most Democrats won't acknowledge or support the movement, someone must rally these people into making an organization out of this momentum to challenge establishment Dems and Republicans. Long lasting and meaningful plans for governmental change have to come from this otherwise we'll just stall out and get nothing done. Again.
We’ve seen this before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street
A very sad thing is that it's a protest. Even if it was reported on what would happen? What is the result of any of this?
Now imagine all those people went online and just created and shared content. Imagine all those people creating 5 things a week. They countered every bullshit on YouTube. If they countered every ounce of bullshit on Reddit. If they fucked with the algorithm by calling out the Rogan sphere and other podcasters making them look like the dumb asses they are. If they just culture jammed the fuck out of this broken fucking culture. But they don't.
They drive 2 hrs to stand in the cold hoping a media that doesn't listen will spread a message. I bet the protestors are not very clear on what the expected result is here either. Most probably seen that someone asked them to show up and they did. They're willing to do the work but in my opinion, it's directed into an energy sink with minimal reward. I think we can do better with understanding how content is king. How this is about culture and message and ideas rather than old school methods like protest in the streetds. People can laugh all they want thinking online content is just stupid jokes. It is. But also it's culture and this is about culture.
When Republicans and Russia wanted to change our culture to favor the right wing they didn't invest millions into protests. They hired influencers and created networks. They paid college kids to make memes. They ran bot farms to flood spaces with comments that dismissed opinions that didn't favor their view. Money and power were directed to dumb assholes that could get more people on brand. Joe Rogan went from being a dumb comedian to a platform to introducing people to those networks. And it branched out from there. It was strategic. All I'm saying is we all should think more systematically and strategically. Protests have a use case. I'm not sure how effective it is in a digital world. Protests should evolve I think.
Protest, solidarity and defiance is definitely the way. The French don't sit around and create memes or content hoping to change stuff, they bring their economy and their streets to their knees, making it clear who really holds the power.
Do they? I've seen the headlines but do they really?
Every few years it seems like they are circling the same drain as everyone else.
Protests where we all just gather and walk around aren't effective. You need to be proactive and anticipatory. We saw it with George Floyd protests. There's no win. Either people will show up and go home. Or, the protests will grow to a point that it becomes out of control. When it's out of control then the police salivate and pull out their black book training manual for how to beat hippies and they get to work. Just as a farmer leads his cows to slaughter. The police have solved the protestor problem. You will not win. Tactics need to adapt
Your either a moron or a troll Melvin, good luck with your shit
I'm the troll?
What are you contributing here?
Same shit that radicalized the right. Either you agree with the culture or you're a troll was the same engagement that pushed the right to the far right.
Let's come back in a month to see what these protests have accomplished. I would bet it accomplished nothing no matter how big it gets.
Engage with my point or don't waste time writing "you're dumb" as a comment.
In modern times protests are outdated and ineffective methods to spread your ideas.
The Internet is a force multiplier.
Efforts are better used online than in protests.
The right have capitalized on effective strategies especially using the Internet to spread their message.
The left are being left behind because they fail to understand this
We need the people who don't go online, or orly watch corporate news networks and only use corporate social media to notice, get interested and join in. We don't need to tell people in the echo chamber about the shit that is happening, we need to tell our neighbors, coworkers, and local politicians- to let them know that there are people who notice and want change. We won't beat corporate funded media in their game.
You think those people aren't online?
This is exactly my point. You're proving it. The left have no idea what they're doing. This is why the right are winning. They aren't wasting their effort and time. They're targeting key areas using modern techniques and even inventing their own. The left are so hell bent on this romanticized ideals of the hippie putting flowers into barrels that they haven't progressed at all. It has cost so much and will continue to lead us into obscurity or worse.
I'll tell you what, let's come back in a couple weeks and see what these protests accomplished
Troll.
