Comment by nullocator
3 days ago
The unfortunate truth I think is that no matter how many people might be with this idea of just "rising up" and taking back the country, america is is fucking massive and many cities and towns there is no noticeable ice or border patrol presence. So even if you can get people out and protesting at some common meaningless locations its going to be symbolic at best.
If you want out-of-band change in the U.S. it will at minimum take some combination of three things:
- sustained weeks or months long protests in D.C.
- extreme social pressure on congress representatives no matter where they may be.
- state governments in rebellion or threatening it against the federal government.
I don't think we're particular close on any of these.
Otherwise tough luck, wait for the probably manipulated elections.
Street protests are useless because they don't actually hurt. They only work if they can shame the other side, but the other side isn't actually ashamed of what they are doing.
The kind of protest that is needed is the kind that is actually disruptive. Nationwide strikes, for instance.
Economic protests, by contrast, are extremely effective, e.g., Jimmy Kimmel.
Money is the most important thing the corrupt establishment and its masters care about. (Rich people hedged their bets, so both D and R have their shares of corruption.)
A labor strike is an economic protest, and it is by far the most effective economic protest if it can be fully pulled off. It targets the root of economic activity, which is the production of goods and services. A boycott, while helpful, targets the economic endpoint, which is consumption. The longterm effects of a labor strike, which disrupts the production of goods and services, are more profound than those of a boycott.
A protest that is actually disruptive is called terrorism, and is off-topic on Hacker News.
In Minnesota they've striked recently and it sounds like they're being successful. If lots of people across the country striked maybe it would matter (fat chance in the USA I know but it's something)
All the towns where there's nothing happening don't need to be rising up though, surely, it only needs to happen in the major population centres.
More excuses.
I'm not sure you what you expect a single commenter on HN to do. They're not making excuses, they're stating a reality. The commenter could protest, but it won't make someone protest in a city that is insulated from all of this .
I have voted in every election and have not voted for any in this administration. The wife and I have been to the protests in Omaha. Every one. When there was a walk-out day, the wife and I stayed home, did not shop.
Yeah, it feels to me that our actions have had zero effect but I am at a loss as to what else to do that is legal.
Look at history when other fascist regimes moved in and ask yourself what a single, ordinary person at the time could have done to have prevented it.
I suspect (like history has shown), it's going to take as long as it takes until enough of us can collectively shut the shit down. In the mean time my gestures will, sadly, have nearly zero impact.