I am protesting the protest

[nibot]

Basically I agree with Kenny (easwaran). Why does every cause have to be addressed by holding a Sproul Hall sit-in? Seriously, what does this accomplish? I'm similarly skeptical about the utility of paralysing San Francisco. My theory is that student protesters mean well but their reaction is just to attack the institutions they know. It's kind of endearing, but more than that it's pathetic and disheartening. How many of these protesters do you think have written to their elected representatives? I'd guess fewer than one percent.

Comments

[bom.livejournal.com]

I was driving into "downtown" Arcata today but I had to slow way down and maneuver around on the shoulder because there was a big group of people marching the wrong way up the street with "no blood for oil" and other standard-fare signs, chanting same. I get really annoyed by these people because they're preaching to the choir: virtually everyone in Arcata agrees with their side. And what did that protest help accomplish? Well, it got a bunch of like-minded people together to agree on their like-mindedness. I think that's about it. If you really want to protest the war, write your congressman/person/people, write letters to the editor, go to Iraq and help the people there, or do any number of other things.

[odd-dog.livejournal.com]

I have written letters. Not recently, but I've still done it repeatedly. I sent letters to Bush, Feinstein, and Boxer last fall. I also sent a 3-page letter to Bush from Germany while the U.S. was bombing Afghanistan. I agree with you that mail needs to be used along with protest... but each time I got a letter, they sent back a form response that didn't even cater to my dissent. I mean, anyone who's done tech support can do better than that with FAQ form answers geared to different opinions/questions! It was like they never logged the opinion at all... well.