What better way to accomplish something than to say, "hey, here is a plan that I have drafted that addresses issue X and that will cost Y amount of dollars to implement" to present to your representative in lieu of a protest?
Who's to say those very same people are not doing both? You can't deny that these protests is getting publicity. If it does nothing more than involve people in this year's election, it's proved its relevance.
Those people who spend hours preparing for a protest (or the purple hearts and bandages to mock Kerry's military service) have wasted time without achieving anything other than notoriety.
How do you know that?
How can you state no one's mind has been changed by the protests? You can't.
Let's face it, by now, a representative should already know what the feelings of his/her constituency, since we have been barraged by them through constant media coverage.
Yes, that's the point I made above--the representatives know now how some of their electors feel on some of these issues, in part because of the protests. Therefore, the protests fulfilled their purpose. If I were a representative, I wouldn't look to the media alone to inform me--that would be one factor among many. I don't see how exercising your freedom of expression is ever a bad thing, sorry.
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Date: 2004-09-01 01:24 pm (UTC)What better way to accomplish something than to say, "hey, here is a plan that I have drafted that addresses issue X and that will cost Y amount of dollars to implement" to present to your representative in lieu of a protest?
Who's to say those very same people are not doing both? You can't deny that these protests is getting publicity. If it does nothing more than involve people in this year's election, it's proved its relevance.
Those people who spend hours preparing for a protest (or the purple hearts and bandages to mock Kerry's military service) have wasted time without achieving anything other than notoriety.
How do you know that?
How can you state no one's mind has been changed by the protests? You can't.
Let's face it, by now, a representative should already know what the feelings of his/her constituency, since we have been barraged by them through constant media coverage.
Yes, that's the point I made above--the representatives know now how some of their electors feel on some of these issues, in part because of the protests. Therefore, the protests fulfilled their purpose. If I were a representative, I wouldn't look to the media alone to inform me--that would be one factor among many. I don't see how exercising your freedom of expression is ever a bad thing, sorry.