Trump and Those Who Resist
A commenter from Australia raises an interesting issue, noting: Go ahead, protest vigorously, make as much raucous dissent as possible, but don’t be surprised when you find support for your opponents strengthening.
You bring up a good point about people with divergent opinions emboldening each other’s positions, and I don’t think there is any doubt that this phenomenon exists to some degree. In fact, it’s quite visible; there are very few politically indifferent Americans at this point. Trump’s edicts motivate resistance, and resistance, to some degree, motivates Trump supporters.
That said, there is no evidence that suggests resistance (and it’s enormous here, btw) has a net negative effective on its own ideals. You have to see it to believe it; people are coming out of the woodwork to stand up for human rights, environmental justice, etc. Millions of people, and more each day, are showing that they will not sit still, remain silent, and countenance the daily onslaught on the values that the majority of Americans hold dear.
It’s worth noting as well, that, as suggested by the photo I chose for the purpose above, the vast majority of protest isn’t really “raucous,” and virtually none of it is violent. Now, if you wanted to say that violent protest has a net negative effect on its own cause, I would have to agree.
As I mentioned when it happened, the 6000-person strong Women’s March in Santa Barbara (population 89K) in which I participated was so peaceful it was almost completely silent, and there wasn’t so much as a gum wrapper on the ground when we packed up and went home. When we thanked the police (who were there to make sure the swelling crowd didn’t spill into streets that weren’t closed to automobile traffic), they responded, “Oh, you’re welcome; we’re here to serve. It’s a pleasure and an honor, not to mention a duty, to be part of a campaign to raise consciousness about hatred and ignorance.”
Recently I was in a protest march to the Albuquerque airport. It was entirely orderly and there was no violence. However, I found the amplified sound exceedingly excessive and, to save what was left of my hearing, I left shortly after we reached the airport.
The black civil rights situation surely showed that being passive is not productive.
@ Frank
Right On and good On You – we will see more and more as the Orwellian Nightmare that the Trumpet ERA represents begins to Unfold its negative consequences upon the people – including the misinformed and others who fell for the CON Job and voted for him which is going to hurt them as well.
Lots of corrective work to do.
Only Just the Beginning
Craig,
I agree, such peaceful, well behaved demonstrations make a valuable contribution to civic life and debate.
By focusing on a particular issue and offing a practical alternative, those demonstrating showed they were serious responsible people whose opinions matter and should be heard.
Very commendable.
We have had and there are planned peaceful protests. They are a demonstration of power and may make some pause in their exercise of it. Or they may be ignored.
We also have several talking heads who feeling the ground swell can’t seem to avoid rising with the ground swell of popular opinion. Their rhetoric is increasingly animated and although Marco disagrees this can have an effect not unlike the effect Trump’s rhetoric has had to capture voters.
History tells us of many popular peaceful movements of the past. In the Vietnam era it was the SDS. But out of the Students for a Democratic Society came a group who were not happy with the slow pace and the Weatherman was created. Concurrently, Martin Luther King represented a peaceful protest while Malcolm X had a more aggressive stance.
In the environmental movement Greenpeace is a recognized name. But environmentalism also has the Earth Liberation Front and Earth First!
Anonymous seems like a peaceful if somewhat invasive organization that seemed limited to exposure and sometimes economically painful pranks. But there have been multiple offshoots to more aggressive action.
There are also individuals who have not kept entirely with the peaceful path. Nelson Mandela resisted apartheid peacefully with demonstrations and occasionally physically. Even the Prince of Peace reacted to some money changers. But if he had lived and taken up the sword would Rome have been converted 400 years later?
Aggressive action in and of itself perhaps should not be considered “evil,” just often counterproductive. More aggressive action arising from a generally peaceful protest has a history. If the government turns from being considered legitimate to unjust or an occupying force the situation may change. We consider resistance fighters during WWII heroic. It may be the threat of violence without its actual use that gives peaceful protests much of their power. The use of violence would then be like a coin spent and lost depleting the general reserve.