The GHZ Forum

LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2004 - At 7:50 PM two armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood. The tanks circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered. Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police quickly cleared the street. The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but about ten minutes the tanks drove off. It is unclear as to why the tanks were deployed to this location.

That's right. If you protest Bush's great regime, they send tanks at you. If you disagree. Peacefully.

This version of America is starting to rival CHINA.

http://www.polizeros.com/2004/11/10.html#a4686

The message is simple, though, we know where you are and what your protesting, and although we haven’t figured out how to call you terrorist yet so we can use more force, we just wanted to show you what you we look like so you can all go home and think about it

It won't be much longer before we have the American version of the Gestapo knocking on the door of everyone who thinks Bush is bad. Only they won't be called the Gestapo. They'll be called "The Freedom Patriot Police".

They'll sing the Star-Spangled Banner as they put a bullet in your fucking head.

At a time like this, only one phrase can adequately sum up my feelings:

"Now we see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"

Big Brother is just watching out for you! He knows best, you know.

...Dead Kennedys rolling in their graves? Check...

Civil Disobedience is still Disobedience.

Those aren't tanks.

That's besides the point, man.

You gotta love the APC. It carries infinite supplies of fuel and ammo. And can refuel bombers while they're flying!

... wait, what d'you mean only in Advance Wars?

---

Reading that article, it appears to have been a genuine cock-up on the part of the Army Reserve Corps.

The topic title is misleading in more ways then one.

Okay, now that I've actually read the article, I've come to the conclusion that Zeta is paranoid.

It'd be funny if that's how it had actually happened, though. I fucking hate protesters.

Green Gibbon! wrote:It'd be funny if that's how it had actually happened, though. I fucking hate protesters.

Buh? Why?

Okay, now that I've actually read the article, I've come to the conclusion that Zeta is paranoid

I've noticed that, too. I didn't always act like this. It's only in the past 2 years or so that I've gotten this neurotic.

Green Gibbon! wrote:It'd be funny if that's how it had actually happened, though. I fucking hate protesters.

Amen.

...Looking at the picture again, that vaguely resembles Master Chief from Halo.

plasticwingsband wrote:

Green Gibbon! wrote:It'd be funny if that's how it had actually happened, though. I fucking hate protesters.

Amen.

I concur as well.

Baba O'Reily wrote:...Looking at the picture again, that vaguely resembles Master Chief from Halo.

That's what I thought, so I thought this was a joke at first or something.

Buh? Why?

All it is is public whining. No bunch of neo hippies parading around the street with signs is going to make me change my mind about anything. There are more constructive, higher class outlets to voice discontentment.

Name three.

The internet doesn't count. For obvious reasons.

The internet is definitely a more respectable outlet than picketing in public, because it awards you the ability to explain your stance, as opposed to marching around with a sign featuring an idiotic slogan.

There are groups you can associate with, and if not, you can make a group, you can write to senators, you can go through the proper channels and have your voice heard. If you're outnumbered then you can just deal with it, because that's how a democratic nation works. But regardless of what you do, nobody is going to take you seriously if all you're doing is waltzing around the street with a goddamn sign.

Meh. At least you get NOTICED. People can ignore you really easy on the internet. "They're nuts *window closes".

Sometimes I believe that issues are important enough that you NEED attention. And the average person isn't going to go looking online for political news. But a group of people peacfully gathering to discuss politics with some signs up around them would problably get them to notice you - at the very least.

WHen you do this sort of thing - it's the moderates you're trying to convince. You're not trying to sway the opinion of people who already disagree with you. You're trying to convince those people who already care and WOULD do something about it - if only they weren't so damn lazy or self-centered to think about anything but what's in their immediate lives.

There's something to be said for making a sign, walking the streets with a bunch of people who think along the same lines you do, crying out "LISTEN TO ME!" Yeah, most people are going to think you're crazy -- but some people won't. Some people will stop and go, Oh, they're not just some nameless nutjob I don't have to pay attention to, they're an actual person. Huh.

You can write all the fucking letters you want, but in the end it's just writing on a piece of paper. When you're outside making noise, people HAVE to notice you, whether they agree with you or want to see you or not.

I'm probably just being unneccesarily idealistic. Again.

I say protesting/picketing is even more useless than internet petitions.

And we all know how useless internet petitions are.

Exactly. If I see a group of people picketing in the street, I won't even pay attention to what they're protesting. The difference between writing letters that get ignored and roaming around the street with a sign and getting ignored is that at least with the former, you don't look like a bleeding idiot.

In a way, protestors are like pop-up ads. If I'm interested, chances are I'd have been paying attention in the first place. And if I'm not, no mob of lunatics with signs is going to sway my opinion.

You can't rely on it alone. As Delphine said, it's mostly used in civil rights situations where people are being opressed - so that the citizens who are doing the repressing can see "Wow, they aren't horrible aliens with acid-dripping mandibles or faceless names on a piece of paper. They're human beings".

It shouldn't be used in most cases, really. Like for instance - trying to keep people from eating chicken.

It's all about how you use it - not the tool itself. For instance, a very very large protest - say about 100,000 people. Can be very convincing. If it doesn't convince people that they're right, at least it convinces people that they should be LISTENED to.

People are listening. All the time, everywhere. The people who aren't will not listen regardless of the circumstances. 100,000 people who come together on a cause have more power on paper than they do in physical force.

The very concept of picketing is the equivalent of throwing sticks and rocks, or screaming "waah, waah, the bully hit me" in the middle of the schoolyard. Even if I completely agree with the cause, I wouldn't look twice at a group of protestors.