by I-mon on Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:26 pm
thanks for the responses guys.
i know there's a strong feeling these days that protesting won't do any good - where did that feeling come from i wonder? i think i misworded my question since what i was thinking about was what i guess is more correctly called "demonstrating". i know like mike says there are loads of folks "protesting" especially on the internet, but it seems like most people don't bother demonstrating, marching on the streets or gathering outside parliament or in whatever public places, because they feel that it's not effective.
seriously, how do we get convinced that huge public demonstrations don't do any good? i would say that nothing scares a government more than large numbers of people gathering together to express their dissatisfaction. the government may not immediately change their policies, but they can't ignore it in the way that they can ignore "the blogosphere" or untrustworthy poll and survey results.
but the greatest benefit of public demonstrations, in my experience, is for the people out there on the streets to actually be out there together, instead of just talking about things at work or with their friends and families or at home by the TV or computer, to actually see and feel all these other real people. just showing each other that we exist and we're not happy with the way things are going, no need to shout and scream and fight with the police (although there will always be those who do), just BE THERE in the flesh, as a group, showing that the government does not represent our wishes. it's good for the public spirit, which is exactly what seems to be getting crushed these days.
when your government starts randomly bombing and invading other countries, kidnapping and torturing suspects, holding people - including children - without trial in violation of international law...all using your tax dollars, it's good to get out there on the streets and show each other and the people around the world, that they are not representing you.
anyway let's see how things go today, for starters.