{"id":3983,"date":"2011-11-20T17:22:27","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T22:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=3983"},"modified":"2018-08-04T19:14:13","modified_gmt":"2018-08-04T23:14:13","slug":"saturday-nov-20-2011-%e2%80%94-we-need-more-intelligent-protest-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=3983","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, Nov 20, 2011 \u2014 We Need More Intelligent Protest, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shake\u00adspeare didn\u2019t have Romeo and Juli\u00adet com\u00admit sui\u00adcide in the first act, and then let the remain\u00ading char\u00adac\u00adters pitch tents on the stage and chat aim\u00adless\u00adly for the remain\u00ading four acts. That was because Shake\u00adspeare was a drama\u00adtist. His aim was to move peo\u00adple to emo\u00adtion, to make them think, to shock, hor\u00adri\u00adfy, or delight them. Let us, for the sake of argu\u00adment, assume that he was pret\u00adty good at it. Today\u2019s pro\u00adtest\u00aders could learn a thing or two from him.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I men\u00adtioned in Part 1, the Occu\u00adpy protest move\u00adment began<\/em> by tak\u00ading advan\u00adtage of new meth\u00adods (the social media), and then quick\u00adly revert\u00aded to an old for\u00admu\u00adla. The advan\u00adtage that social media offered was the abil\u00adi\u00adty to bring peo\u00adple togeth\u00ader quick\u00adly to do some strate\u00adgic and dra\u00admat\u00adic<\/em> thing \u2014- to sur\u00adprise<\/em>. The \u201cflash mob\u201d is the appro\u00adpri\u00adate tem\u00adplate for a protest using social media. The flash mob orig\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded as an amuse\u00adment \u2014- one in Toron\u00adto called peo\u00adple to a pil\u00adlow fight in front of the Eaton Cen\u00adtre. There have been some polit\u00adi\u00adcal protests using this tech\u00adnique, and these have been dubbed \u201csmart mobs,\u201d but their use has been very lim\u00adit\u00aded, so far. The key to the flash mob\u2019s effec\u00adtive\u00adness is its abil\u00adi\u00adty to end as abrupt\u00adly as it begins. This leaves those in author\u00adi\u00adty dis\u00adcon\u00adcert\u00aded, and makes them look incom\u00adpe\u00adtent. It has the same advan\u00adtage in protest that gueril\u00adla tac\u00adtics can have in mil\u00adi\u00adtary conflicts.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Occu\u00adpy move\u00adment has squan\u00addered the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to move into the mod\u00adern age of protest. Social media were used to bring peo\u00adple togeth\u00ader, but once there, pow\u00ader revert\u00aded to the tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adists, and the only thing they could think of doing was squat\u00adting down and stay\u00ading put. The smart mob turned into a \u201csit in,\u201d a protest rel\u00adic from a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion ago that is noto\u00adri\u00adous for its inef\u00adfec\u00adtive\u00adness and ten\u00adden\u00adcy to alien\u00adate the very peo\u00adple that the protest is sup\u00adposed to con\u00advince. There are a num\u00adber of rea\u00adsons for this inef\u00adfec\u00adtive\u00adness. It cre\u00adates a wretched\u00adly pathet\u00adic \u201csto\u00adry arc,\u201d which con\u00adtra\u00addicts the most basic prin\u00adci\u00adples of dra\u00adma. The \u201csit in\u201d protest is guar\u00adan\u00adteed to end poor\u00adly. Either the protest peters out in an embar\u00adrass\u00ading way, as pro\u00adtest\u00aders are exhaust\u00aded and dis\u00adil\u00adlu\u00adsioned, or it is oust\u00aded, mak\u00ading the author\u00adi\u00adties look com\u00adpe\u00adtent and tri\u00adumphant. In a demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic poli\u00adty, where the pub\u00adlic knows that the pro\u00adtest\u00aders are not in any real phys\u00adi\u00adcal dan\u00adger, this does not make them look like mar\u00adtyrs, it makes them look like nitwits. Set\u00adting your\u00adself up to look pathet\u00adic and inef\u00adfec\u00adtive is not the way to bring pub\u00adlic opin\u00adion to your side. It also puts the pro\u00adtest\u00aders in a pas\u00adsive<\/em> posi\u00adtion, where they can be eas\u00adi\u00adly observed, con\u00adtained and con\u00adtrolled by the author\u00adi\u00adties, and have very few options or oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adties to act. To be con\u00adtained, vis\u00adi\u00adble, pre\u00addictable, and pas\u00adsive is, in almost any con\u00adflict, a for\u00admu\u00adla for failure.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Sec\u00adond\u00adly, noth\u00ading could be more effec\u00adtive at divert\u00ading pub\u00adlic atten\u00adtion from the things that the protest is sup\u00adposed to be about. At the very begin\u00adning of the protests, their sud\u00adden\u00adness and scale trig\u00adgered dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of the rel\u00ade\u00advant issues. Main\u00adstream jour\u00adnal\u00adists began to write thought\u00adful pieces about income dis\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adty. This was the avowed pur\u00adpose of the demon\u00adstra\u00adtors: to make peo\u00adple think about this issue. But after this ini\u00adtial spate, dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of this issue dis\u00adap\u00adpeared. The only thing that has been dis\u00adcussed in the last few weeks is the demon\u00adstra\u00adtion itself \u2014 when and how it should be elim\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded. <\/em>After all, it must end some\u00adtime, unless the pro\u00adtest\u00aders man\u00adage to spend the rest of their lives in tents and raise gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of chil\u00addren in them. The sub\u00adjects the protests were intend\u00aded to bring to pub\u00adlic atten\u00adtion are now effec\u00adtive\u00adly buried. <\/span><\/p>\n

Third\u00adly, the Occu\u00adpy protests vio\u00adlate the most fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal pur\u00adpose of a demon\u00adstra\u00adtion, which is to con\u00advince the pub\u00adlic that your cause is just, that you are the good guys, while those you are oppos\u00ading are the bad guys. To do this, you have to appear to be mak\u00ading some sort of effort and sac\u00adri\u00adfice on behalf of your cause, you must appear to be seri\u00adous in both thought and pur\u00adpose, and you must appear to embody a moral<\/em> supe\u00adri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adty over your oppo\u00adnents. Those who had those motives attend\u00aded the Occu\u00adpy protests in the begin\u00adning, but they have long since left, frus\u00adtrat\u00aded by the rever\u00adsion of author\u00adi\u00adty to tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal protest groups, which have no inter\u00adest in pur\u00adsu\u00ading these goals. A pub\u00adlicly per\u00adceived seri\u00adous\u00adness is of supreme impor\u00adtance in effec\u00adtive protest. If you are to suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly put a cause across to the pub\u00adlic, you must con\u00advince them that you are not there mere\u00adly to amuse your\u00adself. Now, I hap\u00adpen to enjoy a good drum cir\u00adcle \u2014- it\u2019s a pleas\u00adant enter\u00adtain\u00adment. I like to dance. There\u2019s a bong sit\u00adting on my desk, because I enjoy that pas\u00adtime too. But the pro\u00adtest\u00aders aren\u2019t sup\u00adposed to be there to have a good time, they\u2019re sup\u00adposed to be there to con\u00advince the pub\u00adlic to to reform our soci\u00adety. All the pub\u00adlic sees is a bunch of peo\u00adple with too much leisure time at their dis\u00adpos\u00adal being self-indul\u00adgent at the expense of the rest of us. Pub\u00adlic places, sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly for everybody\u2019s use, have been tak\u00aden over by peo\u00adple who want to par\u00adty. So how is this any dif\u00adfer\u00adent from foot\u00adball row\u00addies or frat par\u00adty\u00aders tak\u00ading over a park? This is prob\u00ada\u00adbly the most destruc\u00adtive influ\u00adence of the old-school pro\u00adtest\u00aders. To them, protest is a \u201cway of life,\u201d utter\u00adly divorced from any con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of how to accom\u00adplish a con\u00adcrete goal, or to influ\u00adence pub\u00adlic opin\u00adion. Things are done because they are tra\u00addi\u00adtions of the tribe, not because they effect change.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you speak to these old-school\u00aders, it won\u2019t be long before you hear them prat\u00adtle non\u00adsense about how they are con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00ading the tra\u00addi\u00adtions of the Civ\u00adil Rights Move\u00adment in the 1950\u2019s and 1960\u2019s. They are delud\u00ading them\u00adselves. The Civ\u00adil Rights activists were not amus\u00ading them\u00adselves. They did not go out on pic\u00adnics. They were deal\u00ading with the Ku Klux Klan, and with cor\u00adrupt and vio\u00adlent state gov\u00adern\u00adments in the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan south. They were in con\u00adstant dan\u00adger. Civ\u00adil Rights activists faced the seri\u00adous pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of being tor\u00adtured or killed. Every\u00adthing done was aimed at pro\u00adject\u00ading an atmos\u00adphere of seri\u00adous\u00adness of pur\u00adpose, and of clear\u00adly delin\u00adeat\u00ading the moral issues involved. Any\u00adone who wants to see real <\/em>protest in action could do no bet\u00adter than to study the events of the Mont\u00adgomery Bus Boy\u00adcott of 1956*. Protests like this led to a gigan\u00adtic trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan soci\u00adety, one of the most dra\u00admat\u00adic in world his\u00adto\u00adry. Take note of the fact that Mar\u00adtin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Aber\u00adnathy did not orga\u00adnize cat\u00adfish fry-ups, spon\u00adsor water\u00admel\u00adon eat\u00ading fes\u00adti\u00advals, or instruct their fol\u00adlow\u00aders to dance the madi\u00adson. They did not paint them\u00adselves blue. They ratio\u00adnal\u00adly, intel\u00adli\u00adgent\u00adly, and brave\u00adly<\/em>, cal\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00aded which actions would pro\u00adduce the desired results, and under\u00adtook them, mak\u00ading huge per\u00adson\u00adal sac\u00adri\u00adfices to do so. The Amer\u00adi\u00adcan pub\u00adlic came to real\u00adize that it was the State Gov\u00adern\u00adments and the Klan who were the sav\u00adages, the forces of chaos. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have become pro\u00adgres\u00adsive\u00adly more annoyed with the Occu\u00adpy move\u00adment because of its utter fail\u00adure to heed these sim\u00adple and obvi\u00adous facts. We des\u00adper\u00adate\u00adly need to get the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan and Cana\u00addi\u00adan pub\u00adlic to under\u00adstand the trou\u00adble we are in, and the dan\u00adgers we face over the com\u00ading years. Intel\u00adli\u00adgent protest is one of the things that has to be done. I\u2019ve out\u00adlined some of the rea\u00adsons why the protest we are see\u00ading is not intel\u00adli\u00adgent or effec\u00adtive. Next, in Part 3, I will dis\u00adcuss the types, dynam\u00adics, and struc\u00adture of protest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014
\n*It actu\u00adal\u00adly began in Decem\u00adber of 1955, but the bulk of it was in 1956.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shake\u00adspeare didn\u2019t have Romeo and Juli\u00adet com\u00admit sui\u00adcide in the first act, and then let the remain\u00ading char\u00adac\u00adters pitch tents on the stage and chat aim\u00adless\u00adly for the remain\u00ading four acts. That was because Shake\u00adspeare was a drama\u00adtist. His aim was to \u2026<\/p>\n

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