[extropy-chat] (POLITICS) Utility of Protest was :Exhibitionism (no, not THAT kind)

[The Avantguardian]

--- Al Brooks <kerry_prez at yahoo.com> wrote:

'The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test' Ken
> Kesey leads a few of his friends to an antiwar
> protest preceding a march and then goes on a
> platform to the microphone in front of a large
> crowd: "You're playing their game by marching,
> people have been marching for thousands of years and
> still there is war", says kesey to audience, "And
> what are you saying when you yell out loud for
> peace? You are saying, Me! ME! look at ME!".


I have a question to put to those extropes that were
alive during the Civil Rights movements of the 60's.
What happened to the power of protest? Why were the
civil rights rallies and protests so successful in
this country while much bigger record setting protests
on both coasts against the War in Iraq completely
ineffectual. How could the concerns of tens of
millions of angry protestors make no impact at all on
the PTB? Was it a matter of technique? Were the
protestors supposed to be more disruptive and incite
the riot police to action by setting fores and what
not? Was the lack of sufficent martyrs to the cause
like Martin Luther King Jr.?

Or is it that the system has changed sufficiently that
it no longer has any reason to respect the collective
will of millions against the collective non-will of
the indifferent uncaring majority. Are we entering an
era when a handful of lobbyists or terrorists have
more power to persuade than the combined and
collective will of millions of peaceful protestors or
tens of millions of voters?


The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson

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