Something I wish was addressed is what the right to peaceable assembly even looks like in the age of technology. I guess the same could be said about free speech, but I feel the greatest threat to these rights isn't from the government, but from tech monopolies whose platforms have become defacto "town halls" or "town squares". If Reddit, Twitter, Discord etc, are how people assemble and communicate in the 21st centu…
America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
41–50 of 69 posts
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd absolutely consider that to be peaceful. Dr. King didn't get a permit for road closures when he led the march from Selma to Montgomery. Or when the Teamsters joined with the NFLPA to block access to stadiums during the players' strike, or when unions form picket lines. In a similar vein, possibly the most successful and iconic protests in American history (the Million-Man march, the Freedom Riders, the Memphis si…
If I'm trying to get from point A to point B, but can't because a man is standing in my right-of-way and won't move, and there's no easy way to go around, I would consider that man to be disrupting the peace regardless of whether he was Martin Luther King or the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The righteousness of his message doesn't enter into it. If you disagree with this, do you also think that having the road b…
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about Occupy Wall Street? In order to be successful they needed to put continuous pressure on the financial district. Authorities forced them to disband by closing the park at night. Since protests (and social movements in general) rely on momentum, this effectively neutered the protest.
There were a lot of reports of health issues in Zuccotti Park, e.g. "like an open sewer—with people urinating and defecating in public." At some point that becomes a hazard to people beyond the protesters. Mitigating that hazard by banning overnight camping, so that it can be cleaned, does not seem oppressive if enforced in a content neutral way. It's hard to see how the city can do that job well while tents are pitc…
As I understand it, protests work by putting stress on a system in order to force change. In cases where the protest overt actions such as police brutality or discrimination, it may only be necessary to provoke a response and then rely on the injustice of the response to apply pressure. E.g. when black people in the Civil Rights movement insisted on their rights and were met with violence it made it impossible for society to ignore the injustice of the system.
However, when trying to change policy or overall behavior it is often necessary to apply pressure by outlasting the other side. An example would be striking workers trying to outlast management.
Since protests, and social movements in general, rely on momentum, and constant pressure, kicking protesters out even temporarily undermines the ability to successfully protest.
is over a specific unjust action it may only be necessary to provoke a
It seems to me that for issues such as police brutality, discrimination, or unjust laws it's possible to have successful protests that are relatively short term. That is because the strategy is to purposefully to provoke a response that society won't tolerate (e.g. during the Civil Rights movement where black people would insist on their rights knowing that they would result in violence and thereby demonstrate the injustice of the system).
However, it seems to me that movements that o
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Use your right to bear arms to defend your right to assemble.
This seems less optimal than simply not denying people their rights in the first place. Are you opposed to that idea for some reason?
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I'm trying to get from point A to point B, but can't because a man is standing in my right-of-way and won't move, and there's no easy way to go around, I would consider that man to be disrupting the peace regardless of whether he was Martin Luther King or the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The righteousness of his message doesn't enter into it. If you disagree with this, do you also think that having the road b…
then how are protests ever to be effective if they don't force average people to pay attention? This is why the civil rights movement was effective without violence - people like you got agitated, and the police responded by siccing dogs and water hoses on the peaceful protests who were just "in your way." It forced people to wake up to the violence they faced every day.
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#46Something I wish was addressed is what the right to peaceable assembly even looks like in the age of technology. I guess the same could be said about free speech, but I feel the greatest threat to these rights isn't from the government, but from tech monopolies whose platforms have become defacto "town halls" or "town squares". If Reddit, Twitter, Discord etc, are how people assemble and communicate in the 21st centu…
People can communicate by typing in yourprotestwebsite.com and interacting there. Having the right to assemble doesn't mean the government has to make it easy for you: and not to mention, having the internet at your disposal makes organizing a protest infinitely easier than at the time of the nation's founding.
There's a good active/passive distinction to be made here. For facebook groups, say, I would consider shutting down a group to be an "active" measure - since if facebook were to do nothing, the group would continue existing. But I do see how one could view facebook's allowing the group to remain to be an active "support" of the group.
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#47What on earth has that to do with public assembly?
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
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You forgot the part where it's not only not their money, but in fact our money. How public officials get "punished" is one of my biggest issues. We are right now holding them to a lower standard whereas we should hold them to a much higher standard. If a public official, especially in law enforcement, commits a crime it's a much bigger problem because it undermined the entire system beyond just the crime itself. This…
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#49> Republicans have threatened to strip Planned Parenthood of its tax-exempt status What on earth has that to do with public assembly?
Re: America's Most Underappreciated Right: Public Assembly
#50Something I wish was addressed is what the right to peaceable assembly even looks like in the age of technology. I guess the same could be said about free speech, but I feel the greatest threat to these rights isn't from the government, but from tech monopolies whose platforms have become defacto "town halls" or "town squares". If Reddit, Twitter, Discord etc, are how people assemble and communicate in the 21st centu…
The "Town square" has never given you a global audience. Reddit, twitter, and discord are not the equivalent of a Town square, they're a global square giving normal people access to an audience they never would have previously had access to. I get that you have opinions about this, but pretending that the right to have your tweets promoted to an audience of millions and the right to free assembly are in any way the s…