All of it is pointless. Winning the last election was entirely within the grasp of the Democratic Party. The big problem was/is the failure to offer a real democratic alternative. There were no serious primaries. Anti-democratic insiders substituted a weak candidate at the last minute. There wasn’t and isn’t a serious platform beyond “vibes.”
No wonder there are “vibes” festivals pretending to be protests. Obviously, protests cannot substitute for a compelling alternative.
Yeah. The festivals have become symbiotic with the conditions and powers they are ostensibly opposing. Just expressions of a vibe that are working off of expressions of a complimentary vibe.
Thank you for bursting our bubble. Minneapolis shows it can happen. But so far it’s the exception that proves the rule. My question for you is, are protests like “No Kings” harmless even if ineffective? Or do they siphon off energy and commitment that needs to go elsewhere? Do they make participants and sympathizers think they’re doing something meaningful when they aren’t?
Protests are another way we surround ourselves with people who believe the same things that we do. Before we can have nonviolent and rational confrontations with people who disagree, we have to be for something and not just against someone. Not to belabor the obvious, but shouldn't we want to stop the rot in our constitutional democratic republic? We can start by explaining to people who seemingly agree with us what a constitutional democratic republic is.
Sure, I'm pissed off reading this but also awakened - or "woke" as my in-laws used to say. The point is well-made and backed up. What I would search for in all of this is whether Amos, Adam and Guy all make valid points that just need to be woven together: we do need emotional support and to show the world that millions of us care about our liberal democracy and we need boots on the ground of hard-core organizers (see Blanchard's volumes on the Civil Rights Movement - non-violent except when a bloody assault required a convoy to a distant hospital who would accept Blacks and the convoy rolled out bristling with gun barrels poking out of every car window.) And we need leadership to go for the jugular and delete unready candidates and party cadre. Full disclosure: I participated in all the major protests.
All of it is pointless. Winning the last election was entirely within the grasp of the Democratic Party. The big problem was/is the failure to offer a real democratic alternative. There were no serious primaries. Anti-democratic insiders substituted a weak candidate at the last minute. There wasn’t and isn’t a serious platform beyond “vibes.”
No wonder there are “vibes” festivals pretending to be protests. Obviously, protests cannot substitute for a compelling alternative.
Yeah. The festivals have become symbiotic with the conditions and powers they are ostensibly opposing. Just expressions of a vibe that are working off of expressions of a complimentary vibe.
What if the real purpose of the gatherings is emotional support? Maybe pretending such protests are effective is just our way of coping.
Thank you for bursting our bubble. Minneapolis shows it can happen. But so far it’s the exception that proves the rule. My question for you is, are protests like “No Kings” harmless even if ineffective? Or do they siphon off energy and commitment that needs to go elsewhere? Do they make participants and sympathizers think they’re doing something meaningful when they aren’t?
Protests are another way we surround ourselves with people who believe the same things that we do. Before we can have nonviolent and rational confrontations with people who disagree, we have to be for something and not just against someone. Not to belabor the obvious, but shouldn't we want to stop the rot in our constitutional democratic republic? We can start by explaining to people who seemingly agree with us what a constitutional democratic republic is.
Sure, I'm pissed off reading this but also awakened - or "woke" as my in-laws used to say. The point is well-made and backed up. What I would search for in all of this is whether Amos, Adam and Guy all make valid points that just need to be woven together: we do need emotional support and to show the world that millions of us care about our liberal democracy and we need boots on the ground of hard-core organizers (see Blanchard's volumes on the Civil Rights Movement - non-violent except when a bloody assault required a convoy to a distant hospital who would accept Blacks and the convoy rolled out bristling with gun barrels poking out of every car window.) And we need leadership to go for the jugular and delete unready candidates and party cadre. Full disclosure: I participated in all the major protests.