this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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Anarchism
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Discuss anarchist praxis and philosophy. Don't take yourselves too seriously.
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I thought the commentor meant the OP pic person was doing it for personal attention. Not attention for a cause.
Not at all
Wait, I think I misunderstood you.
Maybe attention isn’t the right word, basically I feel like you don’t actually support the cause, you just want to pretend you do.
The people who actually care are willing to take those punishments and the sheer fact that they are willing to do so is what shows they care.
Not showing yourself, shows a lack of dedication to your cause, you aren’t willing to sacrifice, other than some time, you won’t have any permanent consequences.
It’s a “put your money where your mouth is thing.”
They want to pretend they care to make themselves feel like they are doing something, but not sign their name for the cause.
I mean, if they arrest you that impedes your ability to continue protesting. There are reasons other than a lack of dedication to keep your identity protected.
The fact that you aren’t willing to take that hit shows a lack of belief in the importance of the cause.
Obviously it matters to you, a little at least and for various different reasons, because you are out there, but the people that really care about their causes are full in their support of them.
It’s like how so many people say they support something, but aren’t willing to sign their name to the petition.
I mean, if you're out there at all you're risking taking a hit (quite literally). Like, when you go to one of these protests you could be slammed to the ground, tear gassed, shot, or arrested. If you're willing to risk that I'd say you're pretty dedicated.
I think it's reasonable, even tactically advantageous to keep your identity protected. You're never going to accomplish much with one protest, and if everyone gets arrested on bullshit charges after the first one it's much harder to organize a second one.
They accomplished an awful lot, marching without masks in the 60’s and 70’s.
They bear the scars now too, but damn if you can’t say they didn’t get results.
Hell they were beaten, shot, water cannoned, even straight up gunned down a couple times
I mean, yeah. You can accomplish a lot with your face exposed too. You can always risk more. But these things don't have to be all or nothing like that.
Agreed, I said I would believe they care less in their cause, not not at all
No, anarchists don't force others to take arrest risks they're not willing to. Everyone has their own tolerances and they can support the cause in their own way. Stop trying to pressure people.
Fair enough, I’m not trying to pressure anyone though.
there's a difference between being willing to take an arrest and getting arrested for something stupid. that's like saying that the point of an army is being willing to die for your country, so the best and bravest are the ones who enlist and then immediately commit suicide. be willing to take a hit, but be strategic about the hits you take and avoid taking a hit for no good reason. it's about getting the thing done, not proving that you're super legit.
I’ve said what I have to say about this.
People can agree or not, I do hope you have a great day though!
What's the point of putting yourself at risk for no tangible benefit?
The tangible benefit is getting more normies like me to join your cause.
That’s the point of the protest isn’t it?
Is the possibility of winning you over worth removing someone who is already actively involved? Are you more likely to join a protest if the risks and consequences you face are higher? What about all the people who have already been arrested for protesting recently - has that motivated you to get out and join them?
The fact is that tons of people, especially in the US, love to sit on the sidelines critiquing every protest for whatever arbitrary reason and will insist that they'd be won over if only they did something differently. But then, if they do things differently, they'll just find another reason to complain, because that's all they actually care to do.
I've never understood this prevailing viewpoint you expressed that protests are meant to get more people to join a cause. The point of a protest is to assert disruptive force and to threaten to assert further force. If you see a group of people gathered together doing stuff and happen to think it's cool for whatever reason, cool, sure, whatever. But it's not about you. Protests are not candidates that you decide whether to vote for or not. The point is to communicate to those in power, "We have to capability to get this many people out and organized, and we are going to be a pain in your ass until you give into our demands."