this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026

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powerstruggle@sh.itjust.works

It’s always wild to me how Americans can’t fathom effective protests (redlib.catsarch.com)

submitted 3 days ago by powerstruggle@sh.itjust.works to c/stupidpol@sh.itjust.works

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https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/stupidpol/comments/1s16dd2/its_always_wild_to_me_how_americans_cant_fathom/

This is specifically in regards to the most recent No Kings, because I’ve been seeing, for the first time, normie libs being jaded toward the No Kings protests, I’ve seen surprising amount of “what are these actually accomplishing?” But what’s wild/sadder to me is all the responses being “well, I know they’re useless, but we can’t do anything until November”

Like Americans venerate non-violent protests, to the point all protesting is just completely symbolic, but can’t even take a page out of the civil rights movement and do a nonviolent protest that are actually a protest, like blocking a highway or a sit in, physically blocking people/things from getting places, you know, actually being disruptive, they just accept this tepid shouting parade for a couple hours every 6 months. I’ve been a doomer on American protesting for years now, sorry about the rant post

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[–] PuddleOfKittens@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Disruptive protests work by drawing attention to the specific system that's being disrupted by being reasonable, and the injustice that's inflicted by cops in response.

Like, a sit-in on a segregated bus: black guy gets on a bus, is beaten by cops for it.

Disruptive protests don't work for more abstract problems, because opponents can focus on the protest and it's disruptiveness without acknowledging the problem it's in response to. Like, if protestors throw soup on (the glass barrier in front of) a painting, people can discuss the ethics of soup-throwing without mentioning climate even once.

In other words: disruptive protests are a tool, and only useful if used right.

PS: the civil rights protesters were all specifically trained for what to do, and to expect police brutality and to not retaliate. None of it was spontaneous, and it wasn't random jackoffs thrown in with a "figure it out".

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Americans do indeed suck at protesting. What's worse, choosing non violence is great, as long as violence doesn't happen because if your inaction. 750,000 + dead in the last year alone, how many abducted, abused, and so much more all because Americans won't do anything.

[–] neatchee@piefed.social 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

There are multiple contributing factors which all boil down to "Americans have lost the ability to cause prolonged discomfort for the people with authority".

Some of those factors include: the large number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck; leadership calling the bluff on the implicit threat of future violence that protests represent; the isolation of federal representatives from their constituents; etc

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yes and I'd add that in general people are lazy AF. People couldn't be bothered to vote for not fascism in 2024 and in general if they can't even do that what makes you think they'll protest or even vote next time?

We're locked in here with the most apathetic people who are comfortable enough and just. Don't. Care.

To me it seems it needs to get A LOT worse (as if it isn't bad enough) to jolt the bulk of people into doing anything, even the mundane.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

As much as people blame nonvoters, the problem is the actual trump voters. 70M voters hate their neighbors enough to vote for a child rapist.

[–] toad@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Pro-eminent dems were also all over the eipstein files.

[–] neatchee@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It's both. Trump voters are horrible people, but it's a statistical fact that if every American voted, Democrats would never lose an election.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I mean but they dont idk how else to explain it lmao.

also a lot of trump supporters too lazy to vote too.

I guess i honestly respect the people who are like "I know im dumb, you guys both confuse me, i wont vote, let the smart people figure it out"

The problem is all the people who went to ivy league schools and work in washington and literally work for trump and do not give a fuck he is ruining the country because they got one promotion from trump.

Even the ice losers, like imagine being some deadbeat dad with a drinking problem, can't hold a job longer than you can hold your piss. And ice comes along offers you $60k to start with benefits and bonuses? No questions ask just are you loyal to the country and the president? Can you really blame them for taking that opportunity?

But yeah idk this is all fucked it's such an unbelievable failure of humanity from top to bottom imho wcyd

[–] neatchee@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Low voter turnout is not a universal problem. There are a lot of places where voter turnout is very high. America just does a really bad job of it for multiple different reasons.

We can't hand-wave it away as "oh those people would never vote, no matter what". There are reasons they don't. They're not always good reasons, but some of them are.

We can talk about multiple problems at the same time. We can talk about bigger problems and smaller problems at the same time, acknowledging that one is more important to solve than the other. We don't have to say "I won't talk about this problem until we've solved that problem".

And for the record, of the people who don't vote, it is a tiny fraction of them that genuinely do it because they don't think they're smart enough. And those people are usually wrong, because while they may not be geniuses, there are people a lot dumber who ARE voting and why the fuck would you leave it up to people dumber than you?

Remember: decisions are made by people who show up. And people a lot dumber than you and me and the non-voters are showing up

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Okay but it's like blaming a neighbor who refuses to call 911 when someone is getting murdered next door. Yes, people should be better citizens 100%. But the murderer is the real problem, he's the one who needs to be arrested. Let's talk about teaching better civics, but the real problem is people actively voting for a traitorous child rapist.

[–] neatchee@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

That is the wrong analogy. It's more like blaming the 70% of police officers who aren't responding to the school shooting happening 30ft away

They are both a problem. Neither is more real than the other. The shooter is evil, and the cops who watched the shooter walk into the school strapped with an AR-15, and have an obligation to do something about it but aren't, are negligent.

Now, I'll be clear: there are a LOT of things that disenfranchise voters, so it's not as simple as "everyone should always vote and if they don't they're bad". But we can still point at both problems at the same time.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah but the police are getting paid to respond, they signed up for that role. It's not their fault if they dont respond to crimes off the clock. Your talking about people on their own choosing to exercise their right not to vote. It's nonsense to blame them and no we can't point at both problems at once, humans have limited focus and crying about some lazy person choosing to stay home detracts from the focus and attention on people actively propping up a child rapist traitor.

[–] neatchee@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You aren't going to stop evil people from trying to be evil. You aren't going to stop shitty assholes from being shitty assholes and voting for evil people. You have to get more people on your side than they have on theirs. That's the only way this works. Then, over time, their voices are drowned out, their opportunities to spread their hate are diminished, and they fizzle out. But that takes decades. Trump voters didn't appear overnight. And they won't disappear overnight either.

And you're wrong about people not being paid. The roads we drive on, the public schools we send our children to, and every other public service that's afforded to us... these are all the things we receive in exchange for our participation in governance. That's the social contract we have to uphold: that in exchange for our participation, we receive the benefits of living in a governed society. You can't sit back, enjoy the benefits of governance, and then say you have no obligation to participate.

It may rub you the wrong way that people don't have a choice in the matter, that they're born into it and expected to participate, but that's how it is, at least for now. Maybe someday we'll have a system where people can opt out of public services to avoid taxes and the expectation of participation but I personally think that's a horrible idea that would lead to fairly rapid collapse.

And while individuals struggle to focus on more than one thing, it's wasteful not to approach both problems at once. Not everyone thinks the same way. There are people who won't respond to one problem or the other. Why would you leave those people to do nothing while you hyper-focus on just one problem? Maximize your impact by sending the right people to focus on the right problem.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

You aren’t going to stop evil people from trying to be evil.

And you aren't gonna get lazy people to stop being lazy. So i guess the country is fucked.

[–] toad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

And gaza would still have been flattened

You spent time on jeffrey island didn't you

[–] toad@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Genocidal pos

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for the easy block.

[–] toad@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Meh you're an inhumane person. My friends in beyruth died before your so-called elections and you're there defending genocide. Death to america. I hope your mum gets bombed

[–] Dultas@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

Even if you're not living paycheck employee protection is such a joke here that there is a high likelihood you could end up losing your job, they just have to make up some other excuse.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It is kinda hard to imagine an effective protest in America given some that have happened and the results. The LA riots back in 92 did not solve the problems that lead to the George Floyd protests that didn't solve the problems that lead to the anti-ICE protests. In 92 there were over a thousand buildings burned down.

[–] the_mighty_kracken@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I understand how you feel, but there were tangible positive results from the George Floyd protests. Maybe not the societal shift we were all hoping for, but a quick Google search could lay it all out for you, if you want to look into it.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

They convicted one cop who doing exactly what he was trained to do. Nothing changed.

[–] toad@sh.itjust.works -4 points 2 days ago

Nooo but you see we just HAD to vote for a genocider because the other genocider was also a pedophile

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Majority of Americans do not give a shit. They just want to make money and if anerica goes to shit they'll take their money and go live somewhere else. It's all a scam.

[–] echo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Without universal healthcare there will never be real protests in the US.

[–] digitalFatteh@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Heh, maybe they should, I don’t know, go out and protest the changes they need like Healthcare and livable wages.

Guess it’s a catch 22 for the them.

[–] echo@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Guess it’s a catch 22 for the them.

It absolutely is. I absolutely cannot lose my job. If I lose my health insurance then my wife and I are as good as dead. I would also be financially ruined.

[–] hornywarthogfart@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

System is working as designed...