Today we had a wonderful discussion about Thoreau and protest. We discussed the question of why people seem to dislike protestors. Ashley mentioned how it's viewed as being ungrateful to the country since we live so prosperiously, and we are lucky to have all that we do. Ian said that it seems to cause unwanted stress and commotion for people and no one wants unecessary drama.
Grace brought up an debate from earlier in the blog started by Ben. She reaffirmed her point that we as people have a right to protest because although there are a lot of great things in America we can still and should still improve. We can't just "let things slide."
Donna said that you have to know that if you protest you have to know it's going to provoke a reaction.
Laz mentioned that protesting works like advertising since it can get the neutral to shift towards what you want, but people are still going to remain dead set against what you are saying if they started out that way.
Erin said that protestors simply see a problem and try to fix it.
Jasmine discussed how it reminded her of the opposite of Billy Bud. In that circumstance the Captain's Oath to his country came first.
Laz then talked about how most protest is "ill-considered" and you have to look at what your motivation is. In Seattle environmental protestors blocked traffic for hours by linking arms with piping. This didn't cause change but rather provoke anger for the people who were inconvienced.
Reason needs to be distinct from the act and shouldn't require explanation.
Ben discussed how lately protest has become a medium of rebellion for teens rather than for actual purposes.
Allison added that violent protest seems to undermine protesting in general and creates negative connotations.
Jasmine was beginning to say something else when the bell rang. Alas! Until tomorrow.
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