Is the possibility of winning you over worth removing someone who is already actively involved? Are you more likely to join a protest if the risks and consequences you face are higher? What about all the people who have already been arrested for protesting recently - has that motivated you to get out and join them?
The fact is that tons of people, especially in the US, love to sit on the sidelines critiquing every protest for whatever arbitrary reason and will insist that they’d be won over if only they did something differently. But then, if they do things differently, they’ll just find another reason to complain, because that’s all they actually care to do.
I’ve never understood this prevailing viewpoint you expressed that protests are meant to get more people to join a cause. The point of a protest is to assert disruptive force and to threaten to assert further force. If you see a group of people gathered together doing stuff and happen to think it’s cool for whatever reason, cool, sure, whatever. But it’s not about you. Protests are not candidates that you decide whether to vote for or not. The point is to communicate to those in power, “We have to capability to get this many people out and organized, and we are going to be a pain in your ass until you give into our demands.”
What’s the point of putting yourself at risk for no tangible benefit?
The tangible benefit is getting more normies like me to join your cause.
That’s the point of the protest isn’t it?
Is the possibility of winning you over worth removing someone who is already actively involved? Are you more likely to join a protest if the risks and consequences you face are higher? What about all the people who have already been arrested for protesting recently - has that motivated you to get out and join them?
The fact is that tons of people, especially in the US, love to sit on the sidelines critiquing every protest for whatever arbitrary reason and will insist that they’d be won over if only they did something differently. But then, if they do things differently, they’ll just find another reason to complain, because that’s all they actually care to do.
I’ve never understood this prevailing viewpoint you expressed that protests are meant to get more people to join a cause. The point of a protest is to assert disruptive force and to threaten to assert further force. If you see a group of people gathered together doing stuff and happen to think it’s cool for whatever reason, cool, sure, whatever. But it’s not about you. Protests are not candidates that you decide whether to vote for or not. The point is to communicate to those in power, “We have to capability to get this many people out and organized, and we are going to be a pain in your ass until you give into our demands.”