"Peace" rallies

One of the things I have found striking over the last couple of days is now increasingly violent the "peace" rallies worlwide are becoming. For now, I will ignore the obvious question (don't you people have jobs?) and focus on how out of hand these large crowds get when they get together and start whacking their bongos.

(AP)"...protesters in San Francisco scuffled with police, broke windows and heaved newspaper racks and debris into streets. Some protesters hurled rocks at trains, briefly halting service at a station in nearby Oakland."

(AP)"In Portland, Ore., protesters smashed in three windows at a McDonald's restaurant, set a flag on fire and sprayed graffiti on a sign at a Shell gas station. More than 100 people were arrested."

(AP)"Police clashed with anti-war demonstrators trying to storm the U.S. Embassy in Yemen on Friday, leaving a policeman and protester dead amid a barrage of bullets, rocks, water cannons and tear gas canisters"

How about this photo of a gasoline bomb being peacefully thrown on a police officer in Athens? http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...kyd4.html&e=20

San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Washington D.C., Asheville, Los Angeles, and Santa Rosa all had their traffic systems impaired by protestors forming human chains across major roads. Now, I am no marketing genius by any stretch of the imagination, but pissing off the general populace by forcing them sit in traffic for hours on end while you park your patchouli-covered ass in the middle of the road does not seem like the brightest way to get people to come to your way of thinking. Which, I suppose, is why in the last couple of days, support for the war has catapulted to 72% according to a just-released ABC News/TNS Itersearch poll, and 76% in an also just-released Gallup poll.

This same sort of violence is almost ALWAYS manifested by the anti-gloablization people whenever they get together.

So why is it that people who claim to love peace so much commit such inane acts of vandalism and violence?

[Infrared]

I agree it is pretty counterproductive, conceptually speaking, for anti-war peace rallies to erupt in vandalism and violence.

But reagrdless of stances, when a group of people, especially one so large, protest their opinions and views and stand up for what they believe in, it's bound to get out of hand.

People en masse turn rowdy.

Originally posted by Infrared
I agree it is pretty counterproductive, conceptually speaking, for anti-war peace rallies to erupt in vandalism and violence.

But reagrdless of stances, when a group of people, especially one so large, protest their opinions and views and stand up for what they believe in, it's bound to get out of hand.

People en masse turn rowdy.

Well, yeah. It's the old saying that a person is smart but people are stupid.

But there have been alot of pro-war demonstrations lately, too, and none of them have degenerated into the kind of chicanery the anti-war rallies have.

[Infrared]

Well, before the war started, I didn't hear of any violent anti-war rallies, nor violent pro war rallies either. (maybe there were some, I just haven't heard of any)

But now the anti war protestors, seeing as how the war is already underway, feel the need to voice their opinions stronger. Violence isn't the right outlet though.

And of course there will be no violent PRO_WAR rallies, for we're already at war.....!!

some people are not sheep and when angry they can do damage...think this is bad...wait till they pass the patriot act 2.....and the government starts knocking on americans doors asking for a dna sample and credit card statements........this WILL come to a head.

Originally posted by superkool
some people are not sheep and when angry they can do damage...think this is bad...wait till they pass the patriot act 2.....and the government starts knocking on americans doors asking for a dna sample and credit card statements........this WILL come to a head.

Better to be a "sheep" and peacefully get your point across in a fashion your opponents will actually listen to than to be a childish and violent thug lashing out because he can't get his way.

The political microcosm represented by Draves is an excellent example of this. Everyone here (for the most part) lays down their opinions, defends them to the hilt, and nobody walks away with any disrespect for opinions that differ from their own. The whole mentality that says that if nobody wants to listen, then your just going to fuck some stuff up is anathema to mature, productive political discourse.

These so called "peace" rallies remind me of the assholes who claim abortion is wrong because you are killing a life and then go out and shoot the abortion doctors. It makes no fucking sense and it doesn't help a God damned thing...

[hepkatmama]

leo tolstoy wrote a great book about the power of:

NONVIOLENT PROTEST

it is possible. it requires an amazingly strong will to resist the urge to succumb to our emotions.

but we can say no without shaking our fists.

its like teaching a child not to b violent.

u can't punish a kid for fighting by giving them a spanking.

u must teach them through examples of non-violence.

My favorite thing so far... while interviewing a so-called, self procalimed pacifist at a peace rally, a TV crew then captured the same "pacifist" smashing car windows and business windows - and how is that pacifism?

Come now... while the radical left may justify willful destruction of property (a violent act), a true pacifist would surely NOT make the same justification. I was merely pointing out that this person claiming to be a pacifist, is, in fact, not. I'm not equating material property a value at all...

Originally posted by WarLord
No, I am not going anywhere with you.

Plus.......are you serious?

Never a good idea to attempt to define people, especially those outside your normal social circle.

How do you know what my "normal" social circle is? You wouldn't... I would bet I have at least the same breadth and experience in my background...

I'm not defining anything but the term "pacifism" - the opposition to violence as a means of resolving disputes. Willful destruction of property is a violent act - pure and simple. If one were to call oneself a pacifist, would that person not oppose violence as a means for resolving a dispute?

If one believed otherwise, like the person in the video interview obviously did, one would be, in fact, NOT a pacifist...

That is the simple definition - you're either a pacifist or you're not. There is no grey area.

Pacifists are really scary for that very reason...

[Merlin]

man if I ran into a human chain on my way to work or something, you can be sure as fuck I'd stand up for what I believe in. that you need to GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY BEFORE I MOVE YOUR ASS MYSELF.

[Adam D]

What's most interesting is that in all of the peace protesting that has happened...only here do we find problems with the police.

What first and foremost needs to be understood is that not all people on the left are pacifist, not all of us share the same views. I'm not radical, I'm not pro-violence, but I understand why they believe the way they do. Some protesters are very radical, others are not. What should be looked at most of all, however, is what caused the physical confrontation. Perhaps a radical protester riled some people up into a frenzy. Maybe a police officer crossed the line and initiated the confrontation. It's hard to say without being at each one.

Originally posted by WarLord
Your analogy is not only incredibly weak, but it fails to follow through on either parallel you're trying to construct. What makes no fucking sense is for someone who says we are liberating the Iraqis to get upset about fellow citizens enjoying the free exercise of their rights.

No, it's not a weak analogy and no, it is not people's free right to beat the shit out of each other because they don't like the fact that we're at war. How can you agree that starting shit at a PEACE RALLY (notice the name) is helping their cause? It makes no sense and I see nowhere in the constitution that says you have a right to start a fight…it is actually illegal, and you can be arrested and charged with assault, even if you only threw one punch.

I know this much from experience and I would suggest that you probably feel the same way but are only disagreeing because I am the one who wrote it. There is no way that you can justify what happened at the peace rallies over the past couple of weeks and I would hope that you feel that people should practice what they preach. It makes no sense to me that someone rallying for peace would end up on TV trying to break into some poor guy’s car and then taking his keys so he can’t drive away. It’s hypocrisy.