Microblog Memes

I grew up in a protest to save my neighborhood from being demolished for a highway.

What the news reported was the protests in front of city hall to finally convince them to move the highway.

What you didn't see was the incredible legwork getting dozens of local businesses to support us. Getting bake sales in schools to fund billboards. Doing social disobedience by blocking traffic and having people arrested. Disrupting city hall over and over and over. This was my life for months.

And it finally worked.

Rule number 1 of protesting is always that if the protest can be suffered or ignored, then it will be.

What is not usually mentioned is the psychological effect protests have on the people attending. The feeling of being one of many who care about an issue gives people hope and energy to keep tring to change it.

What do you mean by "ground level infrastructure?" Like educating people? A forum for communication? Everyone is on social media and social media is censoring that stuff. Civil rights era people eere in churches because those were the social venues of the day.

hah ! that's almost a cargo cult

Yep. The best way to affect change is to make yourself a threat to power if your demands aren't appeased. Protests by themselves aren't effective in doing so.

Great thought that made me shuffle in my seat a bit.