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I Don’t Have the Time to Protest
Does that title sound bad? I’ve always thought about that. How did people make it work, even back in the 1960s? How did they keep food on the table and clothes on their backs and protest?
I see the protesters clashing with police on TV or social media (Twitter typically) and I still feel that protesting peacefully now is lost on this generation. Many times protesters (not all) will be overly aggressive and violent towards the police and they often damage property. (Of course, this kind of protest is not new either.)
I always wonder: Why is it that people don’t realize the power in words? Instead of yelling at the police or throwing things at them or fighting with people who don’t agree with you, how about taking a microphone and a speaker and speak out against the things that you want others to take notice of?
Even still, I remember that I have a family to take care of. Yes, I’m saddened and disappointed with certain failings of different people, from those in authority to those who are regular citizens. But I have to keep a roof over my head and help my wife with the bills.
How do you manage protesting while taking care of personal responsibilities? Any “professional” protesters out there in Ricochet-land?
Published in Policing
So at what point does one person subsidizing the protests of the other make the other a professional protester?
Good points!
Okay….that “Deray character who appears to be an Al Sharpton starter kit” line was funny.
Well, more generally, political activism is a luxury for a wealthy and not a moral requirement for anyone, especially people unlucky enough to be born in an impoverished and illiberal society.
Our people are dying in the streets on a never ending basis for no reason at all and you’re worried about supporting your family and self betterment??
Traitor!
Massa-er- I mean the government will take care of all those minuscule and inconsequential matters, focus on the big issues; put down that book, go to your local precinct and complain about stuff.
It’s the only way our people will get equality……or is it funding?
maybe it’s justice or something?
I forget but it’ll be figured out by the time you arrive.
Yes ma’am!!
Please tell me that you’re joking! My God and my family will always come before anything and everything else.
What am I a traitor of?
“Massa-er”??
Put down books? Go complain about stuff?
I feel like I’ve heard the title phrase since I was an infant. It seems to be the standard conservative reaction to any protests.
Planned rally events are a little different. Responsible adults can set aside vacation days, plan a trip to DC, etc.
I blame myself….
sarcasm and the Internet? Like oil and water.
Spoken like a true Conservative.
I like your thinking. I think I will create a group now, so I can remember later. It is a joy to have a lot of you all on here who are very supportive even if we haven’t met each other.
Oh no! I just had to be sure! I was going to have us continue in civil discourse. But thank you! Because, unfortunately, a lot of people would have said that very thing to me.
Not here they’re not.
I once stumbled upon the corpse of a thread belonging to some sorry soul who ranted about the good in socialism and free lunches.
to shreds I tell you, to shreds.
Amen!
My second son is turning out to be a bit of a radical. (#wheredidIgowrong? #thistooshallpass) Seriously, he’s joined the IWW, aka the “Wobblies — which I thought was a relic of my history books, but is apparently still around. It seems you don’t have to be an industrial worker to be in the “Industial Workers of the World” anymore; in fact, you don’t have to be a worker at all. My impression is that most of them work as little as they need to to support their activism. My darling son told us that he doesn’t believe he should have to work more than thirty hours a week, because “I have a life” and “I have more important work to do!” — this while asking us to bail him out on his rent and utility bills. Yeah . . . no. He is now discovering the joys of poverty. I just hope real life knocks some sense back into his head, and convinces him that the principles his parents tried to teach him have more value than he now thinks. And, being a mom, I hope the lesson comes soon, and not too painfully.
God bless him! It’s not like I know better than him. But I hope he sees the weak foundation on which is building his ideology on at some point before it crashes with him still on it.
Did you pay his bills?
That’s right, visa boy, don’t get any ideas.
I shouldn’t worry, with all your dangerous ideas the current administration will probably have you fitted with an ankle monitor, if not leg-irons, on arrival.
That’s interesting! I can’t remember hearing the phrase, but it was just a thought to myself to provoke a conversation.
Obviously, some protest is needed b/c it can bring attention to a worthy cause. There are those in the pro-life movement (typically more conservative) who protest and try to get the truth out there.
No!
It’s funny how independent minds can reach the same conclusions apart from each other. I don’t remember if I heard the phrase in particular, but I grew up being taught that protests were for people without jobs.
Thanks for sharing that little anecdote!
I read a very good book years ago by former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young called A Way Out of No Way
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1707328.A_Way_Out_of_No_Way
Jerome, back in the days even before the Civil Rights movement, African American families had two parents, both usually worked and had hard manual labor jobs. They stressed homework and school and church – you helped around the house – there was no time or reason to be self-focused. They wanted a better life for their children – fast forward to today – the problems you describe are rampant throughout culture. My neighbor owns a restaurant and pays dishwashers 11-13 per hr and can’t keep people – they quit and say its too little for hard work – cooks at $20 quit for four hours cooking per evening – people are hooked on hard drugs – there’s no faith and households are usually single parent. This is the problem. The elderly had it hard but they lived to talk about it – today everyone wants it easy or free – no working your way up and providing for your kids.
Did you manage to not laugh until after the conversation was over? If so, you’re a better mother than I, because I’m not sure I could have.
I’ve said before I don’t mind helping my kids out once they’re adults if they need help and we have the ability to help them. Ideally, that’s what families are for – to help each other out when needed.
But all bets are off if the reason the kid needs help is simply because he doesn’t want to work enough hours in order to be able to pay the bills himself – especially if the time required would only be around 40 hours a week. You can’t pay your bills because you don’t want to work? That’s an entirely different kettle of fish.
That is so interesting!
And I try not to be on the extreme, you know? So, I know it can be good, but it’s the way that it is done by some that bother me -> http://ricochet.com/the-wrong-kind-of-protest/.
My first protest was to convince the University of Illinois to divest from South Africa some time in 1978.
There was a girl involved. Nothing happened; the University didn’t drop everything and divest, and the girl dumped me for a Marxist whose daddy had bought him a nice car.
My second protest was a Tea Party rally 41 years later.
Amen!
Thank you for the story!
Thanks for sharing the book and thanks for leaving a comment. By the way, I totally agree. A lot of issues that we face as a country start from the lack of strong fathers with a strong faith in and building up strong wives in strong families.
I joined the Vietnam protests – I was very young and had no clue about what I was doing – it was an excuse to cut school and when my dad found out, there were consequences!
I attended my first protest in about 1974, when I was still a toddler, with my mother, when the State of New York closed the maternity wing of St. Francis Hospital (which has since been closed completely by NYS) because
the Catholic hospital would not perform abortionsof duplication of services in the area.Since then, I have attended many protests and prayer vigils. My tadpoles (I have six children) grew up praying outside the local Planned Parenthood and decorating the sidewalk with chalk and messages of love.
I’m not a professional protester. I don’t have the time to protest, but I believe I have a duty to do so.