Stop Protesting

Friends, lefties, countrymen, lend me your protests.

Thanks! Haha! They're mine now.

No, I won't give them back.

Why should I?

Yes, but you're harming America.

That's right folks, if you're a protester, you're hurting the cause. No person in a position of power will ever listen to you for the simple reason that they don't have to. A protest doesn't affect them.

Sure, you bring publicity to the issue, but despite what you believe, there is such a thing as bad publicity. Publicity is bad when the people that end up in front of the camera look like this or this for the simple reason that you are a freak.

The other thing you may not realize is that sometimes it would just be better if you would stay at home. I recently went to a speech by a right wing nut (David Horowitz) . I'd never heard of the guy before, but a friend asked me to come along. And like moths to a flame, protesters showed up.

The sad thing was that the protesters made up half the audience, and if they hadn't been there the guy would have been preaching to an almost empty room. His ideas aren't succeeding in the market place of ideas, but the protesters gave them more power by bringing that sweet, sweet publicity.

For a longer view of the utility of protests, check out Kevin Mattson's Goodbye to All That