Do You Have To Be Stupid To Protest?
I ask the question “Do You Have To Be Stupid To Protest?” because of the hypocrisy in protest with current events. Though I totally agree with the roots of the cause, I fail to understand why protesters act contrary to success and refuse to give, and be, the very things they demand. It’s situational stupidity.
OK. You can color this article if that makes you feel justified in hating, or, you can see it as the colorless plea for sanity that it is. I want better policing, and I really want racism to go away (all racism). I’ve clashed with police — argued on the streets, in courts, through letters, and in their precinct offices. Racism and police abuse of authority are both issues that touch me, but these protests are just deepening divides. It may get attention, and it may get lip service from public officials, but inside . . . that’s different. People hear your hypocrisy far better than your message.
Most people (like me) already support the cause of justice, fairness and equality. The people we must reach are those who feel bias or who sit on the fence — like the officers involved with Mr. Floyd.
You can’t legislate emotion. It’s already illegal to act prejudicially, but that hasn’t stopped it. Police are now face to face with even more heated threats, belligerence and disrespect. They will NOT love you because of protests, and new laws can’t bridge racial bias. There are reasons for racism. There are reasons that police abuse authority. We must address those roots. Protests of hypocrisy don’t accomplish that, they just deepen racist feelings, even if public sentiment pushes it more underground. We need real change, not face paint.
Please, build a bridge to reconciliation for those you see as the enemy. Give a sincere apology for your stupidity and hypocrisy. An apology for your bad behavior does not condone theirs, but it starts a process proven far more successful than marching with mindless chants. (If you think you’ve already tried this, you’re fooling yourself.)
To My Friends Protesting: What Are YOU Doing?
I can’t hear you, your actions are too loud !! . . . . Please know, I totally support the underlying cause of equality and justice, and I welcome big changes in Policing. Yet, whether you like it or not, the stupidity and hypocrisy in protest is overwhelming the message.
- Yes, there is righteous indignation, and yes, these are social causes worth the discussion, but please, quit making it worse.
- You want respect from police, yet you are disrespecting them. It is disrespecting all of us, including yourselves.
- You want less prejudice? Why are you chanting slurs against blue? Prejudice is not DNA — it’s a mindset of “us” and “them” — and in these protests, YOU are the racists you condemn.
- If you want Equity and Justice, you need to show it. EVERYONE at your event. You set the stage, over and over to have the message hijacked. If you can’t control it, it’s just stupid to do it. (Especially to repeat it every day.)
- “Peaceful Protest” is an oxymoron. The spread of anger in mindless chants, signs and symbols is not peace. It takes much more than the absence of outward violence to be “Peaceful”.
- You want to be heard, but what you say is mindless chants . . . . and no one really listens to repeating complaining.
- You want change, but you can’t agree (in most cases don’t even contemplate) rational solutions to address the concerns.
- Yes, some have misused authority, yet how does that give license to grovel in the sewer with them? You have the righteous cause, so rise above — with your actions — and demonstrate why you’re worth listening to.
- If you want fairness, be fair. There is nothing fair about destroying other people’s property. Or about name calling, or stopping traffic, or . . . . Be an example of what is fair and right, STOP being hypocrites.
- If you want truth and transparency, be honest in all your words and actions. Stunts to sway opinion are another way of telling lies. If you can’t be honest, how can you demand that of others?
- You say black lives matter while protesting shoulder to shoulder in the middle of a pandemic. People are dying because of your actions – paradoxically, by suffocation. Your actions REALLY say No Lives Matter.
- If you don’t want police violence, quit provoking them. (Speaking specifically of the protests.) Yelling about how bad “they” are makes you as irrational and ignorant as the bad apples.
- If you don’t want violence, quit being violent. Act in ways that stop violence — everywhere!
- You want a stop to police actions that are judge and jury, yet you are stating demands that are judge and jury.
- Furthermore, you act as judge and jury in tearing down public monuments. Some statues should go, I agree, but you don’t have the right to be judge and jury. It’s totally hypocritical.
Get To The Point
Please, go beyond the hypocrisy in protest above. It’s time to find some meaning. Your message is confused and without solution – which is really just whining. One example: “Defund the Police” means too many different things even among protesters. How can you bring the change you want if you can’t even articulate what that is? Where’s the plan? Including the details? Where is the buy-in? Where is the sound thinking and rational, calm, professional presentation?
Another example: What does it mean “Black Lives Matter”? On the surface, it’s a statement of the obvious and therefor meaningless. Deeper, different protesters say different meanings — including the insinuation that other lives don’t. (Comments about “this is not about other minorities” is just as racist as those you are complaining about.) Again, if this is a call for change, it needs a rational, reasonable, actionable resolution. It must work for the whole of society, and the protest must be free of hypocrisy!
MOST IMPORTANT: When will you think through the reasons that racism propagates? Then, why are your words and actions validating so many of those biases? Hypocrisy in protest is making racism worse, because these protests are not unlike a child having a tantrum.
Think!
It makes me sick to see the desecration of righteous causes that I care about. The very people asking for change are shooting themselves in the foot. The hypocrisy is just scary. I don’t know how else to describe it — but stupid.
Generations have proven that loud voices, angry letters, attacking chants, emotional rhetoric, and unfair accusations don’t achieve the desired result with any speed, so why do it again? Answer: Because it feels good to vent and be rude. Just like the officer kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck. To him, the moment felt good — even if it was incredibly stupid. In these protests, you are not that different.
You will not find peace in contention. Mandela (in later life) is a much better role model than King or Malcolm. He accomplished a ton more with respect and kindness than King ever did with protests and venom. (I’m not saying Mandela was perfect, far from it, but the approach accomplished much more.)
Think about what you want — what is the result? Does your process (protest) reflect the quality of respect you want?
If we want Justice, fairness, and equality, we must be all of those — all the time. Protesting fails this paradigm. Hypocrisy in protest doesn’t deliver the right message.
It’s time to wise up, and quit acting so stupidly.
Be A Force For REAL Change
Go do something really crazy! Show some love, some respect, and give thanks to those you see as the enemy. Figure out something you can respect and be thankful to them for, and start with that. You don’t have to run in the sewer just because some of them have.
The fastest way to make real and permanent change is to walk undaunted on the high road.
(In terms of the police, we need the good cops to help eject the bad. Unfortunately, by categorizing all cops as bad, you’ve pushed the reasonable folks to a place where the changes they’ll make are not the most effective. You’re ostracizing the allies you have with your own brand of racism.)
What if these thousands of protesters spent the protest time doing things that build respect instead of tearing it down? One simple example: What if thousands of protesters cleaned their cities — scrubbing off graffiti, picking up trash, sweeping streets, helping neighbors, volunteering in schools, and so much more — especially around police stations and courts — with signs and shirts asking leaders to do the same on the inside. Presenting a succinct plan with delegations to honorably hound officials for needed change. That is walking the talk. Do that for a month and I guarantee the results will be far more positive and permanent. That’s just one idea, and I’m sure you can come up with some better.
If you think that’s too hard, ask yourself: Are these causes important? Then why won’t you build the communities you want?
Quit looking for others to change things, then get busy making a positive difference yourself. What comes around goes around — and we must break the anger cycle. Right now anger and violence are going around, and protests are propagating even more of it, yet propagating anger and bad behavior is no way to solve disputes. Justice will truly come only when YOU are also Just and Kind.
Please Note
This is not about Black or White or Green or Pink or Blue. It’s just nature. People who are kind and respectful, are treated with far more kindness and appreciation. People who act in hypocrisy are blatantly or subconsciously disregarded, like in protest. The police don’t want these problems, so help them find the solutions. With respect and kindness we can help them see how to make the changes to the situations. It’s hard work, but if you’re not up to it, then maybe you really don’t want things to change. It all hinges on your actions, attitudes, and persistence.
Be The Change You Want
It’s so much easier to chant and act badly. It’s easy to make signs and hold your fist in the air. It even feels like it might be for a good thing — But I’ll call your bluff. I don’t think you are willing to do the harder things like becoming the change you want. I don’t think you are willing to change the things that continue to propagate racism. (That’s just my observation.) Call me whatever you want if it makes you feel better about your bad behavior. It just means you don’t know me.
Just like it’s the easy way out for police to act badly — It’s the easy way out to protest in hypocrisy.
Please, Stop The Hypocrisy In Protest
My call is for all of us to become better than hypocrites. Stop the hypocrisy in protest. Real and permanent change comes through acting with love, showing respect, and working kindly with all. It has to start somewhere, and each of us changing ourselves is the only real option.
If you can’t do this, then you are no better than those you are protesting against.
Honestly, if you can’t show respect and kindness and justice, then you probably deserve the world to settle back to where it was — because that’s exactly what we’ll get.
I hope it can be otherwise. Though I am skeptical, I still hope that intelligence can filter through to find meaningful ways to bring out the good in our hearts. Please, let’s all BE the kindness, justice and peace we want. Let’s act in kind ways to pursue the goals that will make the meaningful changes our country so desperately needs.
* Top image from Berkeley News with credit as an AP photo by Mark Vancleave.
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August 10, 2020 @ 7:10 PM
I was looking for an Engineering firm for some “Tiny House project”. I guest, I am better to look somewhere else.
I did not even read all your stuff. I find it insulting for the VICTIM or white peoples like me.
If you were against racism, like you claim, you will be the first one talking to your political guys saying: We need to fix that, this has lastest long enough. Police that uses military tactic must be banned.
Why is Floyd death is so terrible? One reason: A Stupid “COP” was training other cops on how to abuse the police power. That cop was teaching that they can abuse their delegated power all day long without any consequence. Just for that action, without the regrettable death of Floyd, he should have been banned from being a cop. He should have been put in accusation for Excessive force. Likely serving 2 to 5 years of prison minimum.
The USA is a country of racist claiming not to be. You claim –> “You can’t legislate emotion. It’s already illegal to act prejudicially, but that hasn’t stopped it. Police “… <–
Read that: https://www.compuserve.com/news/us/story/0002/20200604/KBN23B2LL_2
I call you BULLSHIT on that. You can fire cop, you can put them in Jail, you can make their life miserable when they act contrary to their duty. DOING NOTHING IS WHAT HAPPEN right now.
A trucker on the ROAD has a lot more "Harassment" by the government than a policeman. he/she have a much higher risk to go to jail because he made a mistake when driving. Taxi Driver in NY has a more dangerous job than any police work, anywhere in the USA.
General contractors have inspection all the time. A Doctor might face a "Discipline" community that is not a joke.
Cop — Complaisant court ready.
Suing following COP almost warranty that no "compensation" is ever paid. (I am sure Engineer will like that one).
Anyway, I already lost too much time reading some of your sites.
August 11, 2020 @ 7:17 AM
You have done a good job enumerating the problem. I totally agree it’s a problem — and a big one! My issue is NOT with the problem, it’s with the hypocrisy — because it’s opposite to REAL solutions. You did not really read/understand the article. (And if you can’t give your name or reply info, then it’s like hypocritical protesters who just want to complain. That is sad.)
In business we set goals and plan for success. To be effective, the things we do support the goals. On the other hand, actions of protesters do not support solutions — they go backward. Screaming at police, blocking traffic, defacing and destroying property only makes more people angry. Now, our governments — who should have / could have been our allies — are acting like a bad parent with a child having a tantrum.
Why was King largely unsuccessful? He violated a basic human interaction. He pissed off the very people that were causing the problem. We obviously did not learn. We even have Mandela as a success, but we’re not learning there either.
Read the article again. Yes, it points out hypocrisy, but it also discusses solutions. If we want justice, we must act justly, with persistence in asking for meaningful change. WE must be involved in a professional and respectful manner — working TOGETHER with government officials. And, it begins with BEING the solution we want.
There are reasons for racism. There are reasons that police abuse authority. We must address those roots. Demands, bad behavior, and chanting irrationally won’t bring the change we need.
August 15, 2021 @ 6:09 PM
If mommy didn’t teach you how to wipe your bum, then police will.
August 14, 2020 @ 11:15 PM
My EMAIL address is valid. Just not telling you who I am. I was just looking for an engineer to verify the tree potential Tiny House Trailer. One was supposed to be 10400lbs but I discover the axles are 4000 lbs with very old tire (before modern sizes). But who cares. I will manage it.
I read your entire article in like 25 installments because I could not “Accept” your message. You are so self-righteous that you anger me at about every sentence.
If you are so found of Mandella, I volunteer you for the next 27 years of prison.
So, after reading your entire thing, this is my honest take:
* You are extremely condescending for all the protestors, all black peoples and many bystanders like me.
* You are naif
* Your relationship with the police is not “healthy”. You give them Hero status when they are absolute garbage. Some are good but doing nothing.??? That call being bad. EXTREMELY BAD. A cop that does nothing when another one is “Out of Line” must be sent to jail.
* I am sure you have a good explanation for the death of Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Alberta Spruill and many others…
* You also seem extremely racist in your message. Why: The “Black Live Matter” movement is not the way you will do it, so it is wrong. You should not expect people that are different from you too act as you will. That a form of racism.
* You are right: they might have a problem of leadership. However, they have a good enough message to wake-up the political class. The days they organize themselves, you will be the first to complain.
* This is the main message I get from this article/blog: Please all black persons and other protestators, crawl back under a rock where you come from so I might enjoy my life of privilege white. (Another racist angle)
* you are also wrong that the protestor gets nothing. Stop taking the “Pink Pill” or stop washing your news exclusively from FOX (No real News at that channel and the main news contributor, Trump is a pathological liar)
* A few cities have done something… Like Seattle. The Chief of police just quit because her budget have been slash. Some others cities have started some real change. Numerous chief of police have been fired or have resigned.
* The problem with the cops is known and accepted by many political figures. Even several Republicans. But the answer is, “We know but there is nothing we can do. This “collective bargaining power” of the cops is in the way”. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/police-unions-minneapolis-kroll.html Give me a more stupid argument!
* If the police unions do not “modify” its positions, the situation will get worst.
* Police should be at the service of all the population. This is not the case in the USA.
* Political structure should include a “Cop Monitoring Division”. Other countries have that. A lot of cops hate it. But kill by cops has been reduced by 60 to 90% in those countries. In at least one of these countries, lying to this special investigation unit might land you in jail for 1 to 5 years. Funny how to true surface now.
* I am hoping the situation change or that the protestors do not stop until it does.
* I am hoping for the like of you to get under a rock and wait for better weather when growth-up will have sorted the issue.
* I am hoping we don’t need a “mini” civil-war before the political figure does something. Obviously, that means that the trouble in Chief has to go. Actually, I am pretty sure that replacing trump will help a lot.
Just to keep you in the loop: I am white.
August 17, 2020 @ 10:07 AM
Thank you for continuing the conversation. I welcome the opinions, and you say a lot of good things, though your assessment of me is sorely off base by missing important background. I don’t hold that against you, since you don’t know me.
You have misread significantly if you think I am against this cause, or against people because of color, or even against protest. I want the issues discussed, and I absolutely support rethinking how policing is done. I absolutely support holding those with authority responsible. Yet, the protests do NOT reflect what we want — they’re full of hypocrisy — which is why officials are in CYA mode instead of carefully thinking about improvements. Voters see the increase in crime, and a confrontational environment will just attract more “bad” cop personalities. It’s all so contrary to success! I want protesters to see the damage they are doing, then rise above the hypocrisy, so that police and elected officials are willing to work on the difficult issues. Positivity is far more effective. (That said, I know it’s idealistic. Most protesters are not emotionally mature enough to set down the baggage, even if it will give better results in the end.)
Some background: I have clashed with police on several occasions. I have written formal complaints, sat down with police superiors to discuss situations, sent letters, written editorials, been part of having a judge thrown off the bench for bias. Some of those ended in action, and some were brushed away. My disdain for police abuse is immense, so please don’t accuse me of blindly loving them. I understand the police problem, personally, firsthand, and I know absolutely that respect and kindness, though assertive, make far better progress than screaming, demands, and destruction.
Secondly, If wanting people to act kindly and respectfully is “racist”, then I don’t understand the word. Some of my family is black, as well as friends, but that doesn’t matter, because I did not choose my color and neither did they. We are all just people. Do I have biases? Of course. I have bias against people who flaunt power (some cops, some judges, some rich people, spoiled brats). Against people who abuse those who are weaker (bully’s, criminals). I also have bias against those who are so self absorbed they can’t think of others (looting, graffiti, blocking traffic). I don’t care about color.
I will speak for kindness and honesty and thoughtfulness even though I am not always at that level, because it’s right, and because if we all try, we’ll be a better society. I’ve done stupid, so I know what that looks like. (Hopefully I’ve learned some.) If a plea for kindness is troublesome, that’s sad. If I’ve written in an abrasive manner, I’m sorry, I wish I could express it better. And yet, I’m thankful you are reading and considering even if you disagree. I welcome differing opinions. Thinking is the first step, and more people need to discuss things rationally. As stated in the article: “That’s just one idea, and I’m sure you can come up with some better.”
One of my favorite quotes: “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” This is true of many cops. Unfortunately, it is also in BLM and other protesters thinking they have power. How does destroying property (an injustice) show that we want justice? How can we expect police to act properly if we can’t? Respect is earned, not demanded, and not legislated.
We must BE the change we want. If we can’t act kindly, then how are “we” better than “they”? Use anger to fuel persistence, then use your head to channel it into kindness and EFFECTIVE actions.
April 12, 2021 @ 6:31 AM
Protesters are idiots they have been doing this since the 80s and nothing changes except they burn down their own neighborhoods. Go burn down Washington DC or Hollywood that will make a real change.
November 7, 2023 @ 7:46 AM
WOW. Hypocrisy runs rampant. Unfortunately, humans are all broken and there is no single viewpoint that everyone can accept and support, especially when it comes to how people choose to work/fight for change, or how they live their lives.
Whatever the objection has been to this posting, I don’t really see any solid criticisms that take anything away from the salient point that; hypocrisy exists in large amounts within the protesting groups and in humans as a rule. Most people do not want to look at the reality of their lack of action and lack of respect for their own personal responsibility.
Violence, repetitive chants, lawlessness and ignorance will never accomplish anything other than turning people away from any solution and landing many protesters in jail. Be the change you want to see in the world. This is a moment by moment, clean your own backyard and then help others with theirs kind of ideal. We need to focus on the love and respect that we all need and want in life and do our best to live our lives in and from that place.
Everyone you see is part of you. Some of them may smell bad, look bad and act like assholes, but they are part of you and part of me. Do better.