Extinction Rebellion Protests

[The Brain]

I have to agree with mongers that this issue isn't very comparable to the issues MLK confronted.

The idea that protests have to use illegal means is I think A) retarded and B) dangerous to democracy. There are plenty of legal ways to protest in a modern Western country. It strikes me as unhealthy to undermine the rule of law (which in a democracy includes democracy) over any and all political issues that you happen to care about.

Sauvages. Expliquons-nous sur ce mot. Ces hommes hérissés qui, dans les jours génésiaques du chaos révolutionnaire, déguenillés, hurlants, farouches, le casse-tête levé, la pique haute, se ruaient sur le vieux Paris bouleversé, que voulaient-ils ? Ils voulaient la fin des oppressions, la fin des tyrannies, la fin du glaive, le travail pour l'homme, l'instruction pour l'enfant, la douceur sociale pour la femme, la liberté, l'égalité, la fraternité, le pain pour tous, l'idée pour tous, l'édénisation du monde, le Progrès ; et cette chose sainte, bonne et douce, le progrès, poussés à bout, hors d'eux-mêmes, ils la réclamaient terribles, demi-nus, la massue au poing, le rugissement à la bouche. C'étaient les sauvages, oui ; mais les sauvages de la civilisation.

Ils proclamaient avec furie le droit ; ils voulaient, fût-ce par le tremblement et l'épouvante, forcer le genre humain au paradis. Ils semblaient des barbares et ils étaient des sauveurs. Ils réclamaient la lumière avec le masque de la nuit.

En regard de ces hommes, farouches, nous en convenons, et effrayants, mais farouches et effrayants pour le bien, il y a d'autres hommes, souriants, brodés, dorés, enrubannés, constellés, en bas de soie, en plumes blanches, en gants jaunes, en souliers vernis, qui, accoudés à une table de velours au coin d'une cheminée de marbre, insistent doucement pour le maintien et la conservation du passé, du moyen-âge, du droit divin, du fanatisme, de l'ignorance, de l'esclavage, de la peine de mort, de la guerre, glorifiant à demi-voix et avec politesse le sabre, le bûcher et l'échafaud. Quant à nous, si nous étions forcés à l'option entre les barbares de la civilisation et les civilisés de la barbarie, nous choisirions les barbares.

I don't read French.

[garbon]

Google auto-translated for me.

[Tamas]

Google auto-translated for me.

Nagyszerű, akkor ezek után mind írhatunk az anyanyelvünkön, vagy ez fent van tartva felsőbbrendűsegi-komplexusos franciáknak?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Why does Magyar sound quite nice but when written down looks like the black speech of Mordor?

[garbon]

Google auto-translated for me.

Nagyszerű, akkor ezek után mind írhatunk az anyanyelvünkön, vagy ez fent van tartva felsőbbrendűsegi-komplexusos franciáknak?

I had to move it to Google translate as it appears it wants to only translate from one language on a page.

[Monoriu]

There is a phrase somewhere about not stopping the enemy from making a mistake?  I think that probably applies here. 

[crazy canuck]

The problem with most protest movements (in a democratic state) is that they preach to the converted. I think climate extinction are a classic case of this. Have they forgotten (do they even know) that hourly-paid employees will lose money if they are delayed in getting to work and that their already inadequate pay packets will be even lighter? They are middle class folk already steeped in the need for change, their target should be to communicate this need to the masses.

Which is something that David Attenborough does so well in his documentaries. He calmly presents what is going on without hectoring. He isn't someone who can be dismissed as a scruffy lefty, being BBC aristocracy. Daily mail readers in the shires watch his shows and start to agonise over plastic waste. He has done so much more than all these protestors in raising consciousness and winning hearts and minds.

Which leads to change, even the current shabby excuse for a UK government are initiating change https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-plan-to-ban-plastic-straws-cotton-buds-and-stirrers

Even Mark Carney (governor of the Bank of England) is making speeches warning companies that if they don't adapt to the new green9er) economy then they will face destruction https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-34393864/bank-of-england-boss-carney-warns-of-global-warming-risk

The door to change is already opening at least in the UK; as individuals we need to think carefully about how we can help push that door open.

Too late for being nice about it

[Razgovory]

Why does Magyar sound quite nice but when written down looks like the black speech of Mordor?

I saw something in Romanian the other day and I was thinking "This is Romance language?  It's looks like what you would get if you crossed Hungarian and Orcish".

[mongers]

Too late for being nice about it

CC, it's not about niceness, but about effectiveness and not being counter-productive, which was Tricky, mine and other's point.

[crazy canuck]

Attenborough documentaries have not worked.

[garbon]

Attenborough documentaries have not worked.

Do anything to gain attention?

[crazy canuck]

Attenborough documentaries have not worked.

Do anything to gain attention?

Protesting is not exactly an unknown strategy to create change.

[garbon]

How do you see this protest being effective?

[Tamas]

How do you see this protest being effective?

1. Protest
2. ???
3. Solve climate change by 2025

[Eddie Teach]

How do you see this protest being effective?

It will make some of the protesters feel better about themselves. But what could they do to be effective?