Freethought: Scientific pursuit of the truth.

"I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:32:43 -0700

submitted by Pilebsa
[link] [27 comments]

Dolphinwolf on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-28T18:48:11.595316-07:00-0700

Actually the whole idea of it is in a society, sometimes it is the less fortunate, harder working and usually (unfortunately dumber) people in society that are the only ones who realize the problems. We have to identify them first, usually through activism and awareness and then propose solutions. To even get society to want to change anything involves convincing them first that they are doing the wrong thing to begin with, which most egotistically intellectual assholes (most of society) don't ever want to admit Activism is rarely understood, often misrepresented and always credited with bringing awareness to something that otherwise had no awareness to it. In our pop culture, activism is the way we try to communicate to the masses of dumb fucks. (everyone) What makes our society so beautiful is by allowing this process, little bitch assholes like you can criticize them and then come forward with the solutions they aren't smart enough to figure out and you didn't have the balls or brains to begin thinking about before the activism began anyway. Its a symbiotic relationship but you are the one who is actually begin difficult about the situation, not the activists. Of course, your ego is always in the way whenever people confront you with anything you don't want to see, that is just human nature.

jskeetjr on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-28T21:14:43.796405-07:00-0700

>I think that protesting during class hours weakens their cause. Is this guy fucking serious? Next he'll be telling striking workers not to picket during work hours.

noregister on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T11:30:53.059718-07:00-0700

That's different since workers in many situations go without pay while on strike. Most student protests are full of people who are either severely ignorant to the cause they are pretending to protest or just want a reason to rage against the man or get out of class.

jskeetjr on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T11:33:14.382693-07:00-0700

>Most student protests are full of people who are either severely ignorant to the cause they are pretending to protest or just want a reason to rage against the man or get out of class. [*Really?*](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/apts9/dear_reddit_your_social_organizingactivism/c0ismqd) Because the activists I worked with would beg to differ.

kaiise on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T13:40:58.957395-07:00-0700

think 4chan raids. internet trolling writ flesh by the anonymity of the mob and the sheer force of chaos. you either are very optimistic about your cause being so grand it only ever attracts noble beings, bringing the martyrdom of the just or very ignorant about human psychology. the sad fact is protest and demonstrate is powerful an despite these shortcomings it is vital but will always be flawed. me? i am nuremburg-revolution guy. impossible for it to happen. the most likely successful outcome is gradual Utopian "Waking-up" over hundreds of years thanks to activism like above and cosnitent demonstration so non forgets in this mass media manipulated saturated world that there is many more like us and we want justice.

briesa37 on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-28T20:41:15.889203-07:00-0700

He says he will "happily co-operate with the police." Fuck this guy, we don't want him. As for solutions, sometimes it's necessary for activism to say "no," like at an antiwar protest. But more often, it's saying "yes" through the things you're working on outside of protesting. Anarchist-created projects are often little glimpses of the society we want to built. They are small models of our solutions in action. Witness the success of projects like Food Not Bombs (share food) and Really Really Free Markets (share stuff). These are examples of the non-hierarchical gift economy that many anarchists seek to create.

roboticpressure on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T09:47:10.422245-07:00-0700

Yep, those antiwar protests sure stopped the war.

jskeetjr on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T10:10:13.594966-07:00-0700

There is a divergence of tactics amongst activists that is worth pointing out here. To protest or to resist? The goal of protest is to influence the decisions of those in power. The goal of resistance is to stop those in power from implementing their decisions. Clearly what happened in the run-up to the Iraq war was protest, but given the mindsets of those in power, the more appropriate tactic would have been resistance. Just because one tactic didn't work doesn't mean you have to get all cynical about all forms of activism.

mexicodoug on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T16:07:40.000638-07:00-0700

Yep, those folks who didn't bother to protest sure stopped the war, too.

roboticpressure on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T17:25:08.220590-07:00-0700

THAT THING YOU DIDN'T DO DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.

superiority on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T05:40:45.335644-07:00-0700

Last I checked, anarchists have been offereing an alternative (I suppose some might disagree over whether it's "credible") for [over](http://marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/proudhon/index.htm) [a](http://marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/index.htm) [century](http://marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/index.htm). An alternative that was put into practice in Barcelona before the republicans ruined everything.

toiletsrus on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T08:36:32.527381-07:00-0700

Exactly. How do people get off saying anarchists don't provide an alternative? IT'S CALLED ANARCHISM. You'd think the very similar words would be enough of a giveaway, but I digress.

skeptic2525 on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T08:28:29.996471-07:00-0700

Fuck this guy.

karacho on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T12:10:34.960209-07:00-0700

[Why I broke up with activism](http://guerrillaunderground.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drawing-a-proverbial-line-in)

kaiise on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T14:24:05.787524-07:00-0700

dinng! ding! ding!

dbzer0 on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-30T10:28:36.140693-07:00-0700

Hey look, the mod of freethought has picked up an anti-anarchist perspective and now scrounging the nets to find articles which support it.

UnboughtStuffedDogs on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-28T17:32:51.362248-07:00-0700

I agree with all of that but the end, pointing out something that is flawed and wrong can be important even if one does not have a solution.

khafra on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-28T18:31:42.663680-07:00-0700

Pointing out that something is flawed and wrong works when nobody else has done so for quite a while. If you keep pointing without a call to productive action, people merely become jaded and cynical. Right now, America is jaded and cynical.

joeldavis on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T10:51:15.644278-07:00-0700

>Right now, America is jaded and cynical. Right now, America is watching wheel of fortune wishing everyone would keep the volume down.

political-animal on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-28T18:36:19.598599-07:00-0700

The squeaky wheel gets the oil. My biggest beef is with people who dont even understand what they are protesting. People who use false and misleading information or continue to spout it off after they have been shown very clearly that their information is wrong.

enkeps on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-31T16:04:56.765542-07:00-0700

This guy should really ask anarchists what anarchism is, not the dictionary. Also, I think he misinterprets the dictionary definition: "rejection of all forms of coercive control and authority" = rejection of all forms of coercive control and *coercive* authority. At least, that's what most anarchists reject.

pernicat on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T12:29:05.793802-07:00-0700

At a campus atheist/secular discussion group: **Douche-bag neo-hippie:** We need to protest man. **me:** We need to protest what? **hippie:** The Church. **me:** Why? Is their a particular church that is doing something? **hippie:** I just want to get out and protest man. **me:** If we just go stand outside the church with signs or protest Sunday services without any good reason it seems like that might do more harm then good. **hippie:** We just need to get out and start protesting man. I am not opposed to protesting when there is a good reason to, but it seemed like this guy just wanted to do it for the fun of it.

mexicodoug on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T16:12:22.725733-07:00-0700

Do you actually meet many people like him though? I met a guy outside a Grateful dead concert trying to get the crowd to riot just for the hell of it once too, but nobody was taking him seriously. I have taken part in many protests and the few participants who couldn't coherently explain why they were protesting were by far the exception.

sheerheartattack on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T23:17:57.528380-07:00-0700

No, but the *vast majority* of the members of *any* movement (or anti-movement) will have not applied critical thinking to their views, despite the immense passion that most will have for (or against) the movement. They are often well-prepared as well. I guarantee that nearly every person at a protest will have an elevator speech that concisely summarizes the issue and their viewpoint. However, very few are able to stand up to even the lightest Socratic challenging. I think this is why many people who are involved with a movement get a bad name, even if undeservedly.

pernicat on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T16:34:45.745043-07:00-0700

I agree people like that are the minority. I think people like this are specifically what the OP was talking about. I don't think anyone is saying that nobody ever has a legitimate reason to protest. We are just talking about the ones that do it more for fun then for a cause.

mexicodoug on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T17:02:14.253408-07:00-0700

Yes. supporting anecdote: One time I was with a group of people blockading an entrance to Rocky Flats in Colorado. The Feds had just changed the law, upping the maximum sentence for blocking the access road from two years to five years, so some of us felt we were sending a message that if they escalated the penalties we would escalate the resistance. Anyway, after we were arrested, en route to jail in the paddy wagon, one protester boasted to a cop, "We're going to shut down that nuclear power plant and there's nothing you can do about it." We all got kind of quiet and just looked at him. Then I said, "We didn't protest a power plant. We trespassed on federal land and blockaded the road into a nuclear bomb factory. We could get five years for this." He looked a little flustered and sputtered, "Oh. Well... all the better!"

anothertran on "I'm tired of people who protest for the sake of it, who seek to cause mayhem without any real commitment to a cause - basically the rent-a-crowds and the bandwagoners. I don't identify with those "anarchists". If you want to criticize something, you should offer a credible alternative."

2010-01-29T11:04:30.042669-07:00-0700

So you hate the French?