Weird protests

[DavidGYoung]

My ambition since childhood had been to have a career as a merchant of death. After university I was all set to become an international arms dealer and assist in the furthering of war, death and destruction worldwide for as long as I could make a profit from it. Then I saw a photograph on the internet of two topless women in their late twenties or early thirties who had written 'Breasts not bombs!' on their chests with marker pen so I decided instead to become a language teacher.

Said nobody ever.

What examples have you seen of protests where you cannot fathom who is supposed to change their mind as a result?

[RabbiKnife]

All of them.

Protests are meaningless
Most are narcissistic should dislocating self pack pounding.


Persuasive speech through loving servant relationships are the only thing that changes hearts and minds

[DavidGYoung]

STOP PRESS!!!!!!!!

Someone has just glued themselves to the floor during a debate in Oxford!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have now completely changed my mind about HS2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is amazing, as the debate was about gender identity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know how to fix my keyboard? Half the time I hit 'Enter', it jams the auto-repeat on the exclamation mark.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oscar_Kipling]

All of them.

Protests are meaningless
Most are narcissistic should dislocating self pack pounding.


Persuasive speech through loving servant relationships are the only thing that changes hearts and minds

I do not know what persuasive speech through loving servant relationships means, do you mind expounding on that idea a bit?

[RabbiKnife]

Love people who disagree with you
Serve them
Then when you speak they will be persuaded

No one was ever persuaded by yelling or protesting or arguing

Protests are for the ego of the protesters, not to persuade opponents

[Oscar_Kipling]

My ambition since childhood had been to have a career as a merchant of death. After university I was all set to become an international arms dealer and assist in the furthering of war, death and destruction worldwide for as long as I could make a profit from it. Then I saw a photograph on the internet of two topless women in their late twenties or early thirties who had written 'Breasts not bombs!' on their chests with marker pen so I decided instead to become a language teacher.

Said nobody ever.

What examples have you seen of protests where you cannot fathom who is supposed to change their mind as a result?

i'm not sure that all protest and forms of protest are about changing minds, at least not as a direct result of the protest. breasts are pretty popular, writing things on them can attract attention, that is probably why they did that. Its sort of like when a church has a free crab boil or whatever, no one has ever cracked open a delicious maryland blue crab and suddenly though "Oh yes now this makes sense, Jesus DID die for my sins". Crabs get people in the door so that some super cool youth pastor can sit backwards on his chair and have a jam sesh with you about the good news. That is to say that advertisement is a huge component of protests. While "breasts not bombs" is baffling it is only because there are much better slogans adjacent to that idea like "Boobs not Bombs" or even ""Boobs not Booms" which i think works better or what about "don't destroy cities ,just enjoy titties". Anyway  i'm not a huge fan of slogans because their greatest strength is also their  greatest weakness. They are supposed to be short clever things that stick in your mind and hopefully compel you to explore the ides or organization further, but they are very easy to dismiss as the entire content of a "movement" or be intentionally misconstrued by opponents like "believe women" or "black lives matter" in order to show how ridiculous they would be if they were taken literally or worse that they are being taken literally. I think we are just too darned many media savvy folks that have a vested interest in using this hack for slogans to become anything but another mirror for the wilderness. I mean heck your entire post could just as well be a bit from a talking head that wants to lampoon the ridiculousness of their opponents and their ridiculous protests, or even more insidiously a mega-corporation or government poopooing the entire idea of protests . Gluing your hands to a tree or whatever is a form of protest, but so is writing a scathing exposé of the reckless spending on some quasi-dark military intelligence project meant to spy on children in the paper of record...or whatever. I think hunger strikes are sort of funny, like conceptually very amusing, but at the right moment , with the right people in the right culture, well it can be argued that it has been an effective vector. I think setting yourself on fire or letting yourself be crucified is truly the eight of absurdity, but what an advertisement , right? That brings me to my other point, many protests aren't for you, they are not speaking to your culture or demographic or sensibilities...if you splash paint on a manet or van-gogh I'm gonna be thinking about the painting, or thinking about how they use really cool modern reversible varnishes on those paintings, but i'm probably not going to be impressed by the audacity of it. Someone will be though, and those are the people that they are trying to draw in...I mean that and they probably just want a big news story and maybe didn't think it through ...I don't know , I don't even know if that actually happened or if it was an episode of SVU, ripped from the headlines though they may be.

Don't get me wrong, its a good bit. there is some truth to it, but some folks get so attached to the bit these days that they dismiss truths that don't provide the sensation of clarity where others are blind...there is probably a word for that in another language. Anyway those real or fictional kids that may or may not have splashed paint on priceless works of abstract art because we should really stop using so much oil  is my example of really weird choices in protest history...also probably that guy that set himself on fire to protest women gaining the ability to shoot arcs of electricity from their bodies, its like come on bro you're not getting that toothpaste back in its tube right?

[Oscar_Kipling]

Love people who disagree with you
Serve them
Then when you speak they will be persuaded

No one was ever persuaded by yelling or protesting or arguing

Protests are for the ego of the protesters, not to persuade opponents

Okay, so try telling me that again , but this time put it on a sign and yell it, then i'll tell you which one I found more persuasive.

Seriously though, I've been persuaded by both yelling and arguing, and depending on what counts as a protest in your figuration i've been persuaded by that too. I mean you aren't completely wrong , but i think you've taken a true thing and then overapplied it. I love you, would you like a foot massage? do you believe me?

[RabbiKnife]

Foot massage first

[Oscar_Kipling]

Foot massage first

 

[DavidGYoung]

Earlier today I saw a poster in the window of a minibus/large car parked in a church car park. This is what it said:

NO WAR
IN UKRAINE

What am I supposed to think or do after reading that?

[RabbiKnife]

Don’t go to the Ukraine to fight in a war.

[DavidGYoung]

How do you know it does not mean any of these?

Do something to stop the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine should not be fighting.
There is no war in Ukraine.

[RabbiKnife]

Maybe the action self-identifies as unwar.

[Rebecca]

STOP PRESS!!!!!!!!

Someone has just glued themselves to the floor during a debate in Oxford!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have now completely changed my mind about HS2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is amazing, as the debate was about gender identity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know how to fix my keyboard? Half the time I hit 'Enter', it jams the auto-repeat on the exclamation mark.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

remove the exclamation mark key.

[RabbiKnife]

!!!!!!!!

😀