"That's how it starts. The rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men cruel." Jeremy Irons could have been speaking of Batman's descent into darkness, or he could have been speaking of the state of America's public forums today. Our news outlets bombard us with story after story of marches and protests and riots, all crying for justice.
But, to quote Crosby, Stills, and Nash, "When everyone's talking, and no one's listening, how can we decide?"
Whether it be the LGBT community, women's rights, Black Lives Matter, or the Westboro Baptist Church, it seems that the First Amendment's guarantee of peaceful assembly is getting more mileage than ever. While this has been doing wonders for the state of the American cardio program, it's becoming its own worst enemy. We're reaching a market saturation; pretty soon, even the protests that could stand for real change will be ignored entirely.
On the surface, national support for a cause seems like a good thing. It means that a widespread group of people support the same cause. However, there are so many causes protesting so many injustices, perceived and real, that most of the people outside the marches really just don't care. And even within those marches, there's an awful lot of talking, but not a whole lot of discourse. Pundit Greg Gutfeld put it best: "...you're likely surrounded by people just like you. Which means everyone is in it for the same reason: not to listen, but to be heard. So they aren't listening to you either." No matter what side of what issue you fall, protesting in its modern form has become pointless. Its original purpose was to raise awareness for an issue and encourage a conversation. But now, the protest has replaced the conversation.
Most of my family is Republican. However, we have one uncle (let's call him Uncle Ted for anonymity) who has, especially in the past few years, drifted hard to the left compared to the rest of the family. It's made for some interesting Christmas dinners, let me tell you. Anyway, Uncle Ted took his wife and kids to this past weekend's women's march in downtown Omaha. Throughout the event, he posted several pictures to Instagram, a website which I only visit infrequently, but my dad has made into a hobby (weird how that turned out). So naturally, my conservative, snarky father took it upon himself to leave a few jokes, mostly about Hillary Clinton's record with the women her husband was *ahem* involved with, and the silliness of taking five-year-olds to an event they would never remember, much less understand.
And Uncle Ted deleted the comments.
Now, my father is nothing if not persistent. So he made a point of leaving a few more comments, to which Uncle Ted claimed that "[his] political action with [his] daughter that was intentionally posted without commentary" was in no way a political statement itself, and attempted to shut down further comments. When he posted the pictures of his family engaging in politics on a public forum, he expected to receive likes and support. Instead, his Insta became a non-Safe Space, as he found his views challenged. However, rather than engage in discourse, he attempted to excuse himself by claiming that it was just a family activity.
This highlights a few different issues. For one, a protest, something that was once considered taking your life into your own hands and making it very easy for whoever you were protesting to shoot a lot of you at once, has become a chance to take the kids for a walk. For another, what was once intended to draw attention to an issue and encourage discussion has instead become something that only those involved can offer an opinion on. The protest has lost its punch.
No one cares anymore if you walked twenty miles to protest a president who was elected and has already taken office. This isn't Jericho. No amount of walking is going to make him leave. You're just going to have to wait another four years and hopefully (please, please, please, America) choose better candidates on both sides of the line. Even violent riots that burn down neighborhoods and destroy thousands, even millions of dollars worth of public and private property are becoming old hat. America has lost interest. Protests aren't big ticket news anymore. They're just obstructions in traffic.
Find a new way to express your displeasure, America. Have you considered sitting down and talking about it? I hear that works wonders in a democracy.
