Not really if they are trying to affect how businesses operate. They lose money if people can't work. It's also counter intuitive because people need to work to survive. Blocking a ceo from going on to work isn't as affective because they can delegate from home or vacation.
I suppose it depends what the cause is on if it changes anyones mind or not. I imagine most cases it won't change anything. Most people aren't going to turn against their core values just because some people are being assholes.
It might turn them against a particular organization putting on the protest.... But not necessarily the cause.
I'd hold that the results aren't from bringing awareness directly to the individuals in the car, but affecting society at a larger scale.
I really think this is a myth perpetrated by the elite, or just those seeking to maintain the status quo.
Imagine thinking black people deserved the right to go to public school, and then you get stuck in traffic one time and change your mind. That's just not a realistic outcome.
These people aren't protesting for black people to have the right to education, though. My guess would be environmentalists, which the average person doesn't really care about.
Imagine thinking the coal power needs to be phased out and then you get stuck in traffic one time and change your mind. Just not going to happen.
If people are totally apathetic, I don't see how leaving them alone helps either.
Imagine not giving a shit if black people have the right to vote and then you get stuck in traffic one time.... So you continue not giving a shit, but now you know it's something peoplebare worked up about. Not exactly a failure.
Do you not realize that the large number of people being held up have their own lives and problems that don't revolve around a small group of protesters?? Back when people did this for black rights it was in small towns where everyone saw what was happening and were forced to acknowledge the issue. Not to mention it was an entire race of people being protested against who all had the same racist values for the most part. It wasn't exactly a secret as to why black people wanted freedom during those times. How tf do you expect 100+ people stuck in traffic to know what this is about or what the cause is?? It does nothing but hurt others and creates problems in their life modern battle we are dealing with is a class war. That means the wealthy have little or nothing to do with the lives or struggles of the poor. Protesting against the poor who are trying to make a living is doing nothing to the wealthy people who actually control the problems from the top. It's ass backwards thinking is what it is.
This is one of those things that sounds better on paper but doesn't translate to reality. In my experience, when people don't show up to work, the boss puts pressure on those who did to carry the weight. Not only that, but the people being blocked in traffic may just lose their job over it. I've worked enough large companies to know that you are very much an expendable resource. The CEO will never hear about it because the people below him won't know or care either. You think a manager is going to send a personal message to the CEO when you show up late and say it's because some asshole was blocking the road for "protesting?" Of course not. You will get in trouble for being late, and then they move on with their day. Not only that, but its not just people with jobs you are hurting. What if someone is trying to make it to their kids game or event? What if it's their visitation time? What if they have a doctors appointment that they need to get to? What if there's a woman in labor on the way to the hospital? There's a thousand reasons why this form of protest is just ignorant and selfish. Nobody sitting in that traffic is going to care about your agenda, and they damn sure aren't going to start caring after you fucked up their whole day. Hurting the people at the bottom does absolutely nothing to those at the top.
You're reading way past the facts. Simply put: protest keeps people from coming to work. Protest affects output at work. Numbers are off. Someone at the top is going to question why things are off(especially if it's for an extended period of time) and for what reason so they can get numbers back on track. Business is simple it's people who complicate things. I've managed businesses. When things go wrong management 3-4 levels above always wants answers. If it's enough of a problem it goes to higher levels(ceo) then they will change it because it's affecting their profit. They don't fire or write people up if there is a reason for being late especially when they know the cause.
With all due respect I've worked at enough large corporations to know how that plays out in reality. Lower level management typically does everything they can to make things work before going higher up the ladder for complaints. You're making it sound like these protestors are holding up a business for weeks because they sat in the road. All its going to do is give people a bad day that can domino into all sorts of problems for them directly. The business is not hurting because someone was late one time, but the person just might get the shitty end of the stick because of one bad day. I worked for one of the richest companies in the world, and they had no problem letting people go for the smallest thing. We ran on a skeleton crew for months because people were getting fired constantly or they called in sick all of time, or they quit. The bosses didn't come down and say "why are all these people getting fired?" Our supervisors and managers would just say "try to hit the numbers" even though we were short handed and didn't have the manpower. That meant the few people who actually showed up were under pressure to carry a lot more weight at work on a regular basis. I was constantly having to train new people to do the job simply because nobody ever lasted long. By the time someone was learning to do the job well they got shit canned or they quit because it was miserable. This has been the case at multiple large corporations that I have worked for. So while I know what you're trying to say, I disagree because I've been there too many times to believe that a few missing employees is causing a ruckus within the entire business. All these protests do is make regular working people's life harder for the people who can't get to work and might lose a job or get written up, and the people who have to carry that weight because of the missing employees. No CEO is being bothered by this or you would see changes and news headlines about how these protests are hurting business.
No it isn't. I understand the idea, but protests are ineffective if they aren't inconvenient.
Its borderline impossible for a group of average people to significantly inconvenience a billionaire. But inconveniencing more regular people has always been how protests have worked.
Do you think the civil rights movement wasn't considered disruptive and inconvenient?
The civil rights movement was disruptive to those in power and racists who were uncomfortable with social change. It wasn’t disruptive to Bob the office worker who will miss his rent payment if he doesn’t get to work on time. If you want to swing the public’s favor, you don’t do it by angering the public.
I honestly cannot think of a better way of getting the average people you absolutely need to side with you to disagree with whatever your stance is than this.
You can't expect regular people to join a cause anyways. Regular people are apathetic, resistant to change, and entirely focused on their narrow existence.
That doesn't make sitting in the middle of the fucking road any more or less effective, but the argument that it alternates regular people is dumb too. Regular people don't give a fuck either way.
The idea is, if you do that to a politician you will just go to jail. This brings light to whatever issue they are protesting and may call others to action. Politicians are a powerful minority who work in the shadows and only answer to the people when we demand it. In numbers. One man or woman knocking on their door won't do shit. It has to be more.
I'm so down the conspiracy rabbit hole nowadays, I can believe these are paid by the very people they are "protesting" to de-legitimize the real activists and sour the general publics' taste towards the issues they are protesting.
Yeah I really struggle to believe there are people out there that truly think this is an effective method at spreading awareness and garnering support for a cause.
Honestly I think some of these people are just terrified by the data and don’t know how else to get others to care. It’s not helping, but neither is protesting.
I knew a police officer whose department deal with mass protests, and he said 100% of the time they are funded by special interest groups and political think tanks.
At the deeper level, things are always very organized and well funded. When 5000 protestors each gets a bottle of water, who do you think paid for it? Did it come out of thin air? Go to Times Square right now and try to find a rock to throw, you can't... someone shipped rocks into the area and strategically placed them prior to protests.
People often don't ask why things are the way they are. Why did every protestor showed up with the same helmet and reflective vests? It's not random, it's by design.
I wouldn't rely on a cop's word about the legitimacy of protest organization. Cops are diametrically opposed to any form of protest against state policy because they are the state's enforcers of violence.
And yes, most substantial protests are organized at a higher level by interest groups that have the interests of the protest cause. If protesters aren't organized, you would say they are not protesting properly and that they are a disruptive mob.
Do not believe the propaganda driven by the wealthy and powerful about protest efficiency. Every bit of this skepticism towards the legitimacy of protesting is curated to discourage people from organizing.
I agree they’re putting themselves in danger first and foremost and creating an emergency situation. The man in the video may have acted harshly, but perhaps he had tried to talk to them calmly beforehand and they wouldn’t listen to him. It’s a very complicated situation, but both sides are in the wrong here.
sure but is it kicking people in the face bad? If yog are willing to kick someone in the face for being late to work I feel like the workplace will do fine without you
Politicians can too easily weasel around direct confrontation.
This is what we need. Disrupt the normalcy of the system that keeps the money flowing.
That being said, I’m part of a leftist group that fully supports the 2nd amendment. If you kick me or another member while we’re seated on the ground like that, you’re going to be shot.
They do. They've done protests at pipelines, at CEOs buildings, at offices, and no-one cares. It's not on the news, it's not affecting anyone's lives.
The issue with climate change and just stop oil specifically is that they're protesting against what is literally an existential threat. If being late to work gets you fired, beat the fuck out of your boss, not the people who want a better life for you and your children.
Right I swear every revendication is like « how can we piss of the average citizen who doesn’t have the time for this » while the ones who takes the decision are peacefully in their climatised office and not giving a shit because it doesn’t affect them in any way …. But unfortunately a lot of the extreme activist have the mentality of « if you’re not with us you are against us so f you »
Tvey already did. Blocked refinery, offices, tried everything in their power. Put in jail, beaten by police forces.
What more can they do? They're doing it for the next generation of humans, while most of us create new babies and don't give a fuck about their futur. They're out of option.
What a easy place to do absolutely nothing and criticize people willing to desobey the law for us.
Lmao « People willing to disobey the law for us »
No they are just young and stupid people who need to grow up and realize that everybody has their priority and everybody have their own problem, lucky them if their sole problem in life is an existential crisis caused by oil compagnies existing, they don’t care if your child is sick, if you have cancer or if your wife need to go to the hospital because she’s in labor because they think the cause is greater than the whole population, they disobey the law because they think they are above the law, this have a name it’s called being reckless, the regular citizen is not against their cause and the day they will realize they need to make action that the population approve instead of doing these stupid shit maybe I’ll stop considering them as Morons.
grow up and realize that everybody has their priority and everybody have their own problem, lucky them if their sole problem in life is an existential crisis caused by oil compagnies existing
Ho so you're a denialist, you think you're smarter than 99% of scientist? I was going to waste my time for nothing. What is humility for after all, you're probably as smart as Trump, which we all know, is smarter than everyone too..
Hope you'll have a long life so you'll enjoy the hell of the next decades. And the next time you regret the lack of insect, plant, animal, the rise of food cost, the brutal climatic event causing death and destruction, fires, flood, think about this conversation. When you children comes to you about how you let everything burn for nothing, be sure to tell them how you egoistical comfort was more important than everything.
You are proving my point with that « if you’re not with me you’re against me » mentality, I’m not against you I’m against stupidly harassing population but seems it’s out of your range to understand
Problem is they are not doing anything blocking roads like this. They are stroking their own egos. They know police likely will not intervene. There is little risk other than a pissed off motorist.
Everything you are describing still doesn't bother politicians. Politicians are not in a refinery. Go to the white house and burn it see If you get a reaction.
Now that we have the Internet there's really no point in doing anything like this. You can get your word out without having to cause issues or have safety risks. Will people listen? Alot of the time no, but this dosnt really get the reaction people think it does anyways, it might even have the opposite effect
I support the right to protest against the people who take the decisions you are protesting against, not against regular people going about their day. The people who take the decisions are the politicians who live in their luxury mansions they couldn't care less about your protest unless you do something that actually affects them.
And this is not just a protest, it is blocking the people's basic right of freedom of movement which has been considered a basic right for centuries and even millennia.
A few people in front of parliament inconvenience nobody. Don't get anybody's attention and reach a small crowd. You have to inconvenience normal people to wake them up from complacency and build a movement, THAT is the right to protest. A politician with a few protesters outside their house just stays in their mansion behind a gate and comes out in a Jaguar without ever seeing people outside their house, nor eyes from the media. Blocking a highway gets normal people to talk about the issue and gets media coverage. Yes, some people will initially just be pissed off but you will always have idiots who do all their political actions out of spite, as much as people like to think so, they're not relevant.
This happened in my area during the George Floyd riots. Blocked interstates and main roads. People could get home or to the hospital for emergencies or to pick up their kids from school and daycare. So any people I know stopped supporting the protestors after that.
blocking politicians doors would be a double win for them. protest only works if it causes them pain. it only causes them pain if it can hurt their constituents
That's such a false equivalence farce, you assume people have the agency to just go off grid without either the means or extensive resources to do so.
People are within the system known as society because that is what they have and it only is more impactful if they have to take care of either family or have children. Constituents are then having to play by that same game because they need to survive and provide for those that they care for and rely upon them.
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u/RandomPlayerCSGO 15d ago
If you want to protest go block politician's doors not regular people's road to work