I now have a better understanding of why Americans aren't protesting everyday

[ecstatic]

I caught a few minutes of CNN's coverage of the Hong Kong airport protests. They were very negative towards the protesters--it was all about who was being inconvenienced. There was very little focus on what the protesters were protesting about. And now that I think about it, every recent attempt of Americans to hold regular protests--whether Black Lives Matter or Occupy Wall Street--has been demonized by mainstream news outlets.

Collectively, we've been trained to just watch in horror as our quality of life goes down the drain.

[Cary]

1. That is kind of the point of civil disobedence

Isn't it?

[DENVERPOPS]

27. I know why

Hell, the masses of people in the U.S. are way too busy just trying to subsist with all the crap that has been dumped on them to contend with in this Republican world..... ..............

[zackymilly]

66. This.

[DownriverDem]

85. Other Protesters

The press was against the Vietnam War protesters too. We must not give up.

[Cary]

88. Never give up. Never.

Fascists won"t give up and we must never give up either.

[BeyondGeography]

2. They don't care about or understand young people who feel they have nothing to lose

And they don't realize how widespread that sentiment is either.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. tv bobble-heads and networks get rich off status quo

Anything that threatens the wealth of the owners must be quashed.

There are fewer and fewer journalists on tv, and more paid personalities.

[rownesheck]

4. A now former friend

told me that protesters are terrorists. How the fuck he arrived at that idea is unknown to me. He used to be a fairly progressive person, or so I thought. Maybe too many years living in east Texas rotted his soul.

[redstatebluegirl]

10. They watch Fox all day and it indoctrinates them. It is poison for sure.

[Duppers]

18. Omg. I'm sorry.

I've ex-friends like that. They seem to have come down with a bad case of the dumbass.

Probably, they're just extremely uninformed. But why? Anyone with any intellectual curiosity and a computer connection can be informed!

[pangaia]

29. The Chinese government has begun referring to the protesters as terrorists..

They are moving mechanized units of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force, a paramilitary police force responsible for riot control and counter-terrorism to Shenzhen, the nearest mainland city to HK.
The actual Peoples' Liberation Army located in HK is staying quiet for the time being..

[pazzyanne]

39. The trump administration is doing this already.

He is planning investigations of protesters and Antifa, and calling them terrorists. Strange, he doesn't call white supremacists killing people terrorists however!

[pangaia]

41. I just today,, he's after Chris Cuomo...

None of these incedents(which I cannot spell) is isolated.
It is how fascists take over.,,

[pazzyanne]

43. We have much to worry about, and to work on with every fiber in our bodies!

[Aristus]

31. It's the humidity. It rots everything.

So glad I don't live in East Texas anymore...

[UpInArms]

78. In 2002, joe Scarborough said all the anti war protesters were in-American

and should be shot for taking to the streets

Cannot find a link to that 17 year old knowledge, but I won’t forget what he said

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2008/2/28/465895/-

[certainot]

83. politicians and medi a don't have to pay attention to protestors anymore and the reason is

simple as shit.

rw radio is a lot louder than any protests and can be targeted locally to attack any local or national protest movement. protests aimed at RW radio, though, will get attention.

iraq war protests, global warming protests, and OWS were great egs of a a few hundred chickenhawk blowhards yelling over protestors - for as long as it takes and long after the protestors go home . there's no reason for politicians to worry about protests anymore. the iraq protests should have gone right to those radio stations that were used to sell the war and the propaganda that was used to enable it.

OWS protestors going through union station were passing right by one of the loudest rw stations in NY, while limbaugh attacked and mischaracterized them. and there were probably students from syracuse university there, but they could have protested right at school because SU endorses about 5 limbaugh stations while they attacked OWS protestors and sell everything OWS protestors were protesting.

if americans want republicans to notice their protests, protest and boycott RW radio until the ad industry has to ask advertisers if they really support the hate and lies - republicans and media will notice - advertisers will head for the hills - and the only real media advantage the right has - an unchallenged monopoly - will fall apart.

[dustyscamp]

5. I like this quote

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”

― Sophie Scholl

[Midnightwalk]

11. +1. Nt

[Auggie]

13. +2

[Duppers]

23. Brilliant! Simply brilliant.

Thanks for posting this, I'm going to share it. I have ex-friends much like this, who, in the end, just ended up frustrating me to no end.

This one is quite good too... "Privilege in action."

[PunkinPi]

49. +1, great sign, Duppers. nt

[lunasun]

56. +++1zillion

[dustyscamp]

82. More wise words

+1

[Hekate]

26. +3

[geardaddy]

53. Excellent

[Uncle Joe]

57. +3

[malaise]

61. Those are the folks who fit into this simple local proverb

"we come yah fi drink milk nah fi count cow".

[llmart]

71. +1000

[uponit7771]

80. +1

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. Americans are brainwashed from childhood.

Last edited Tue Aug 13, 2019, 01:46 PM - Edit history (1)

(This is paraphrasing a FB or Twitter post I saw a while back, but.... )

If you don't think that is the case, the next time you are in a group of mostly strangers, just say something to the effect that the police are out of control, or say something like 'the US Military is too large and we spend too much money on it' or suggest standing for the Star Spangled Banner is not necessary or putting your hand over your heart while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (or refuse to say it at all) is not a big deal ....and see what kind of responses you get.

Americans are told how to think and feel about their country from the minute they are able to understand speech. We are convinced that most protests are just rabble rousing. We are REPEATEDLY told this is the greatest country on earth, but is isn't by any reasonable, verifiable metric, from education to health to life expectancy to income to happiness and so on.

Not to mention, Americans don't protest every day because they can't afford to take the fucking time off work, because a days pay lost means the electric bill (or whatever) is harder to handle.

[not fooled]

20. Yep

This is the most heavily and effectively propagandized nation, ever. The genius of it is that Americans are convinced the opposite is true.

We are told from birth that capitalism is the greatest way to organize society, that America is the land of the free, that we are the greatest country in the world, and all the other points mentioned above.

Oh, and re Russia interfering in our elections: the latest in a series of actors with interests counter to those of most Americans to do so--just think of all of the billionaire-generated propaganda we are subjected to that forms our thinking and influences how we vote, to our detriment.

[not_the_one]

37. another version

America has become a most highly entertained, and least educated, nation.

Our societal ADD does not allow us to focus. We CAN, however, focus briefly on shiny objects of diversion, because that is what we get, daily.

We are no longer taught to think critically, and many who have, have fallen victim to the shiny object syndrome.

And who benefits from this strategy?

[CrispyQ]

55. +1

I was at a party right before the 2018 election & a young woman said, "If voting made a difference they wouldn't let you vote." I said, "Funny you should say that because if this election were being held 100 years ago, you wouldn't be able to vote because you're a woman." Later her father came up to me & said, "I've been trying to squash that 'no voting' nonsense & maybe you just did." I have friends with adult children who don't vote. Drives my friends crazy. I don't get it. Turning 18 & registering to vote was a rite of passage for me.

[Cosmocat]

84. This

We are too affluent (in our lifestyle), and self indulgent.

[gratuitous]

7. On the button

So much of the coverage of street protests in the U.S. focuses on "Traffic is being disrupted!" or "Here's footage of some guy in a rainbow fright wig, isn't he ridiculous?" Only rarely does the on-air footage have boring stuff like what these citizens are upset about (exception: the tea baggers, who got lots and lots of air time to complain about taxes), or feature the everyday people making up 95% of the demonstration. Instead, we get looped footage of cars surrounded by sign-wielding protesters, altercations involving two or three people, and heroic armed-to-the-teeth law enforcement officers "protecting" property and kettling groups of protesters until something inevitably breaks down. Then we're treated to sad stories of the cop who hurt his shoulder when a protester was too slow getting out of the way of his baton.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. We've been trained to distrust each other specifically and collective action in general.

Also, it's really hard to organize collective action! When it happens spontaneously it's beautiful, but it's also pretty rare. It takes a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

[jalan48]

9. Maintain the status quo at all costs. Radical changes or ideas are to be suppressed.

[lunatica]

12. People are very shortsighted

Example: Unions deliberately disrupt for two reasons. One is to get the attention that if they don’t work then their bosses don’t get rich, so it benefits the boss if he pays them more so he can continue to be rich. And disrupting things like traffic bring awareness to the general public that the company is not being fair.

Many people only see how their little lives and routines are inconvenienced. They don’t have a clue that their lives, their salaries, their benefits, are due to people protesting in the past against unfair treatment.

People can be very stupid, which has been quite obvious lately.

[Auggie]

14. Americans prefer to protest only on voting day, and they do so blindly and emotionally.

Don't like Hillary Clinton? 1) Vote third party. 2) Vote write-in. 3) Don't vote period.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

15. I've seen some whiny, self-centered posts here on DU when a street protest has inconvenienced them.

[ms liberty]

16. There is also the problem of money

Most people cannot afford to take a day off from work. We are all tied to our bills, and since citizens have less rights than employers and corporations, people are afraid of losing their jobs.

[spinbaby]

17. One thing we can learn from Hong Kong

The airport is a terrific place to protest. The same number of people in the streets would have gotten minimal coverage, but shutting down the airport inconveniences those that matter.

[progressoid]

21. You wouldn't get very far in the US with that.

TSA and Homeland security etc would shut you down before the camera crews showed up.

[virgogal]

32. Shutting down the airport also

inconveniences a lot of regular folks........it is never a good idea.

[BeyondGeography]

47. Like most major int'l airports, there's a subway system that feeds directly into that airport

Makes such things a lot easier to pull off.

[spinbaby]

59. Yeah, it's more convenient for them.

We’d have to Uber.

[BeyondGeography]

60. Lol...problematic

We could photobomb the hell out of things though.

[homegirl]

19. The smallest part of what is happening

is our quality of life. I am 1000 times more concerned about the attack on our free and fir elections. Gerrymandering and voter suppression on an organized and threatening scale is absolutely terrifying!

Time for federal laws for federal elections. Law to cover:
Fair and balanced voting precincts.
Minimum number of polling places per district, based on population ad accessibility.
Extended voting hours
Encourage and early count of mail in ballots
Paper ballots

Last resort-Call in the UN to supervise voting and counting.

[questionseverything]

65. how about we the people get to supervise the counting of our ballots?

instead of having private corporations machines do the counting

[homegirl]

72. Sounds

good to me. I have participated in recounts, in California, and it was citizens doing the recount. In CA the districts are determined by citizens not politicians!

[PunkinPi]

22. Meanwhile HK protestors are singing the Star Spangled Banner

because the US used to be a beacon of hope and democracy, even if the ideal wasn't entirely fulfilled.

Link to tweet

Hong Kong protesters are using the U.S. flag as a sign of freedom.

Let’s not let them down.

[Duppers]

25. "Let's not let them down." Amen!

Pi, that gave me a lump in my throat.

Thanks for posting this. I gave the tweet a like.

[PunkinPi]

35. I teared up when I saw it, thinking just how far we've fallen.

You're welcome and hugs.

[Duppers]

42. Dearest Pi, please consider posting this...

As an OP for more exposure.

[PunkinPi]

44. For you, absolutely.

link --> https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212376095

[Karadeniz]

33. That was amazing...should be on every news program...we should be helping them..

Made me tear up...tears often signify frustration...it is frustrating that we just go belly up and let our unfair oligarchy thrive...the true Americans can be found in Hong Kong.

[FakeNoose]

38. These guys with the flags might be American

The guy who's leading the singing seems to have an American accent, anyway. Plus he knows all the words, which makes him smarter than Chump.

[Duppers]

24. F CNN. nt

[Hekate]

28. When I turned the tv on, CNN was doing a better job than Andrea Mitchell, who gobsmacked me ...

...by plaintively asking the correspondent who was at the airport: "Who could have foreseen this?!"

Fortunately, he told her, in detail.

But I found myself wondering how a woman of 70+ could come off sounding like a 23 year old cub reporter on an event of this magnitude.

[markbark]

50. Close proximity to Alan Greenspan

causes a marked decrease in critical thinking skills after prolonged exposure....

[Takket]

70. "Who could have foreseen this?!"

anyone who has watched the news in the last several months?

I mean, I know Americans are self absorbed but this story about China moving to strip HK of its rights has been out there.

What a stupid question.

[lordsummerisle]

30. k&r

some great quotes in this thread.

[Karadeniz]

34. Absolutely!

[yonder]

36. This is a great OP with some excellent sub-posts. Thanks and bookmarked

[dhol82]

40. While listening to the coverage, I heard one of the commentators state that

the protest was not for just now. The protesters were fighting for twenty years into the future.
They wanted to be certain that China would hold to their end of the bargain for one nation, two systems.

[cwydro]

45. The news media wasn't exactly friendly to the protestors of the 60s either.

But they persisted.

No. Today we’re lazy, busy with social media, and just plain apathetic.

[Pantagruel]

46. HK protests are instructive

They point out that airports are "Arteries", absolutely key to keep an economy functioning.That's what our eventual protests should target bigly. A few thousand dedicated protesters, co-ordinated properly could halt functions at 2-3 major airports and essentially create chaos all over the country. Plan now, Trump and the GOP won't go quietly.

[bdamomma]

48. when it starts to affecting

us personally is when people will be in the streets. Threatening us or our way of life, we will be in the streets.

[tenderfoot]

51. Yep. There isn't a social justice movement they didn't bend over backward to undermine.

The media are the gatekeepers of the powerful.

[stillcool]

52. I've been to my share of protests...

and none have made the news...well, one made the local news. However, the same day that a few hundred of us marched, a handful of tea-party people visited a Congressman's office. That's where the ink went.

[yuiyoshida]

54. My friend Linda lives in Hong Kong

She told me she was out protesting in the streets a few weeks back but it got too dangerous...people being beaten, tear gassed...They are afraid Mainland China will roll in on their brand new bridge and bring troops... not good.

[TeamPooka]

58. I've said for many years that most Americans won't protest in the streets until their cable TV

(and now internet) is cut off.

[raccoon]

62. There are a lot of stupid, dumbass people in my state

Who think of protestors as naughty children.
Makes me want to

[YOHABLO]

63. Anything that disrupts the purchasing power of the consumer is demonized.

[xmas74]

64. Americans aren't protesting everyday because we can't.

We don't have job protection. We can't afford to take the day off. We can't afford the repercussions if our boss is against our message.

[JCMach1]

67. We have all been taught we have had our Revolution already...

[The Liberal Lion]

68. Excellent observation

We've been trained to be sheep, to place hope in those who constantly fall short of expectations, and to give up on solving the problems ourselves. It's time for change.

[PatrickforO]

69. Course it has. That's a given. Six major corporations own all

our media outlets. Corporations are about shareholder profits. In order to keep shareholder profits high, they don't want to allow Medicare for All Americans, or debt-free college or a green new deal. That would upset the shareholders!

So they demonize protesters because peaceful civil disobedience works. The disruption caused forces POB to the table to negotiate, even though it is 'inconvenient.'

Wait until enough people get angry enough to sustain such protests and make them really massive.

[zentrum]

73. Kick for exactitude.

[Joe941]

74. Because most have jobs and a life to live.

Protests are fine, but voting is where the action is.

[sharedvalues]

75. Corporate news doesn't like protests

[BigmanPigman]

76. The Women's March received great media attention.

So did March For Our Lives protest.

RESIST! Persist! Peace.

[GulfCoast66]

77. Lots of reasons, some mentioned above.

But one thing not mentioned. For the first 2 years of his administration there were lots of protest with the Woman’s March being the largest. Because we had no power and that is what brings out protest.

But in 18 we gained some real power by taking the house. We can’t make things happen but can stop republican legislation. We got a win and that focused our mind.

So now the focus is on following up that great win with bigger ones in 2020.

We do not have to go to the street. We saw we can actually win, not just protest.

[UniteFightBack]

79. There were protests about caging children and gun violence held across the country over the weekend.

[MadDAsHell]

81. Convenience plays a factor whether we like it or not. Inconveniencing others because "I have..."

...something to say" is rarely a good look. To many, if you shut down the highway they use to get home to their families at the end of the day because you have something to say, you've accomplished 2 things:

1) they hate you and everything you stand for
2) even if they don't hate you, they're questioning why your "very important" message is so unimportant to the average person that it takes shutting down their route home to pay attention to it.

i.e. if your message is that critical and that correct, it can be communicated without ruining someone else's day.

The civil rights bus boycotts were some of the most effective of all time and didn't inconvenience anyone but the participants themselves.

[corbettkroehler]

86. I Wish You Were Wrong - Suppression Of Non-Violent Free Speech Comes In Many Flavors

I won't soon forget how the NYPD was sent in to disperse an Occupy demonstration almost 10 years ago. It made me sick!

[Blue_Tires]

87. In Fall 2003, I marched in Washington

to protest the Iraq invasion (Even met a bunch of DUers at the time)... We got about 45 seconds of mention on the local news that night (And the 'official' number of protestors announced on the news was like half of our real number), a few inches in the WaPo the next morning, and then nobody ever spoke of it again...

[UCmeNdc]

89. Correct!