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In reply to the discussion: Protests temporarily close malls, shut down trains [View all]PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... from the perspective of the general public that most definitely is not actively working to understand what the protests are about. That is 99.999% of your audience out their in the real world. People who don't understand and who are not actively working to understand the issues. In other words, shoppers.
Your job, as an activist, is to reach these people, get their attention for a brief moment, and to give them that understanding whether they are working towards it or not. And, believe me, they are not. They are shopping.
If people have to "work to understand" they will not understand. That takes work! If people feel antagonized and threatened, they will not understand. That takes much more than work. If you want people to understand then YOU have to do the work for them, and YOU have to make them feel good about it.
My impression from the OP is that the protests and the protesters reported on did not make that effort and probably did little for the cause, if not harm.