Monday, September 28, 2009

I Want To Protest Protesters

I don't understand protesters. In fact, I hate them - all of them, protesters of any kind and for any cause. I feel an overwhelming urge to smack them over the head with their own protest signs, hoping that it will knock some sense into them. I want to strip the megaphones out of their hands, turn it around and shout in their face "NO ONE CARES AND YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME!" As you probably know, the annual G-20 Summit was held in Pittsburgh last week (Sept 24-25). But if you don't know what the G-20 Summit is, in layman's terms it's when global leaders from around the world gather in one location to discuss issues that concern every country. This year it was President Obama's turn to host the event here in the States. And despite thousands of protesters (both foreign and domestic) that join together to rebel, the G-20 Summit has been going on for a solid decade now. So one doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to see that all the vandalism and violence that rioting protesters bring has done absolutely nothing to stop G-20 from continuing year after year. Getting arrested is the only thing the protesters succeed in. They fail miserably at getting their "message" heard because quite frankly, no one is listening and no one cares. And the G-20 Summit rolls on.

I respect everyone's First Amendment right, the Freedom of Speech. So as much as I would love to tell them to shut the hell up and find something better/more productive to do with their life, I can't. They have a right to be there protesting. In fact, in an attempt to keep things somewhat peaceful, the city even granted protest permits to those wanting to protest the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh. However, not every protest group followed the rules in obtaining this permit. There was a Anarchist group that made it well known they did not have a permit and made it clear that their goal was to disrupt the G-20 Summit as much as possible. Of course these wiz kids didn't realize they did absolutely nothing to disrupt the G-20 Summit itself, because none of the global leaders cared about them marching or what they had to say. All they did was disrupt the neighborhood hosting the Summit by causing chaos in the streets, overturning dumpsters and other childish antics. And yes, they were arrested.

Although what do you expect from an Anarchist group? In terms of intelligence, I rank them right alongside the KKK. Seriously, if you believe in anarchy, you have to be borderline retarded. How could anyone really think a world without rules would be a better place to live? Their ignorance is truly astonishing! I would love to take all these dumbasses and put them on an island where anything goes - Anarchy Island! Then when I come up and stab you in the face since there is no law stating I can't do that, are you still going to be a fan of total anarchy? How about if I pour acid down your throat while I castrate you with a plastic knife, still think a life of total freedom for all is the way to go? If you ask me, Anarchists need to grow the f up! They are adults, but yet they rebel against everything in this world as if they were teenagers still rebelling against the Friday night curfew set by their parents. We live in a world where laws and leadership are needed to maintain order in everyday life. It's for your own safety and well being. If you fail to see that or understand that, you need to put down a banner and pick up a book because you have sooo much to learn about life and the world we live in.

To be fair, not all protesters cause violence and destruction. There are "peaceful protests," but even peaceful protests cause a disturbance and can cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars! A peaceful protest doesn't solve anything either and it usually results in the protesters getting arrested. So again, why do protesters waste their time? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Take for example Greenpeace (photographed above). They were the first protest group at the G-20 Summit last week...and by the first I mean a day early! Ok, so let's stop and think here for a minute. If you want the global leaders of the G-20 Summit to hear/see your message about reducing CO2 emissions, don't you think it's best to do that when they are actually in town? The global leaders hadn't even landed yet because the Summit wasn't starting until the next day! I have to believe that the Greenpeace stunt was more about publicity than fighting for a cause. The whole thing was idiotic. And what was the point of them dangling from the sign for several hours? All this "protest" accomplished was having traffic blocked and motorists either sitting in their car with the engine running or taking longer, alternative routes to their destination. This of course resulted in MORE CO2 being put into the air! Way to go Greenpeace. Now that's how you help ADD to CO2 emissions. And just like the Anarchist group, the Greenpeace protesters were also arrested. No shocker there.

I believe in the old "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" motto. It's why I'm all for things such as voting in elections or marching FOR a cause - to raise money for things like fighting cancer or to gain awareness for gay marriage rights. But when you protest against something, the majority of the time nothing ever gets done. There is a big difference between marching FOR something and protesting AGAINST something. One propels us forward and the other holds us back...unless of course you're Rosa Parks. Then everything I just said gets throw out the bus window.

So if you must protest, do it right. Do it Rosa Parks style. She didn't need a big, flashy banner hanging from a bridge complete with dangling stunt men to get her message across. And she didn't need to flip dumpsters and kick in cop cars to be heard. All she needed was to take a stand by sitting down - calmly, peacefully, quietly. You can learn a lot from a little, old woman and very little from a 20-year-old new age hippie. Just a piece of advice, you're better off staying in your dorm room studying than following your brainless friends into a street riot where you rebel against things you know little to nothing about, just because it's the cool college kid thing to do. Less tree hugging. More studying. You'll be better off later in life for it. And best of all, someone might actually hire you for a real job after college because you won't have a long criminal record full of protest arrests you need to explain. How awkward would that be during the interview process? Think any employer wants to hire someone to work under them who has repeatedly rebelled against authority, time and time again? You might want to rethink participating in that next protest march.

***NOTE***
Related post of interest...
9/3/08 - The Right To Bare Boobies

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