Ask HN: What can we do to show we don't support the response to Aaron Swartz?

Post by crdoconnor » Fri, Jan 09, 2015, 10:59 AM UTC

fmdud wrote: post #56

crdoconnor wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you attend a protest you probably have 100x as much impact on the political system as somebody who votes. If you strike you probably have 200x as much impact on the political system as somebody who votes. If you are ready and willing be tear gassed, arrested or beaten up for your beliefs you can help shape politics in a way no voter ever has or will. Non voting isn't some radical new way of showing your disapprova…

I agree but the idea of "voting" here can be extrapolated into striking, attending protests, etc. as it's really a stand-in for the idea of "making your voice heard", as opposed to "completely opting out of the political process and telling yourself that doing so is making your voice heard".

Post by skidoo » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 2:47 PM UTC

fmdud wrote: post #9

skidoo wrote: post #3

Stop paying taxes, stop voting. Stop enabling the government altogether. If they refuse to accept that the people own the government, and not the other way around, then there is no reason to recognize its supposed authority. Live a moral and ethical life, but live as though the government does not exist. It will never willingly relinquish its power. You cannot change the system from the inside out. Every politician i…

>Stop voting. Being "apolitical" actually turns out to be a pretty naïve stance on politics. There's a great David Foster Wallace quote about "protest by non-participation" like this: “If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don't bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in thei…