Guest Column: Debating the power of protests

We need to avoid one-sided protests.

By Forrest Dougan
Oct. 13, 2008

I'm not so sure we are making a difference. I'm not so sure that the college crowd today is still the picketing, informed, make-a-difference type. We latch onto some sense of entitlement and we take for granted our rights that have never been touched in our lifetimes. In response we take our lives to the edge by pushing our morals in crazy, fanatical protests and majors like peace studies. I would like to bring up an issue: the slow undermining of the power of a protest. Our attempts to be like the generation before ours fail in our rooted idealism and laziness.

The issue: protests. There have been a number of protests on campus lately. Most all of them have been for issues that are one-sided. Take, for instance, the "anti-rape" protest in mid-September or the student radio brigade. But let us focus on the more extreme case. The rape-march participants tore through the streets of campus and downtown holding signs and shouting against a moral that is embedded in every culture. They are taking away the power of the protest, of men and women banding together against an idea or institution for the greater good. Like so many others these men and women didn't realize the implications of a protest of this sort.

Protest implies conflict. Period. I did not see, nor will I ever, somebody standing on the other side of the street shouting, "Rape '08!" The problem is that we imply conflict by a protest; we paint the image that the person is there. We are misrepresenting ourselves as a people. That was just one rape protest, but it is not alone in principle.

An even bigger issue falls into sight at the numerous other protests around campus and not in the news or in small news. Do you remember the news coverage of any protest? It probably took a second for you to recall. This is for a specific reason: Protests have become so mundane that no one pays attention anymore. People are not horrified by the protest. There is no issue being protested over which there may or may not be a riot. We need that kind of issue if there is going to be a rally.

For all of these petty and personal parades against issues, for all of the morals that everyone else shares, for all of the abuses of the power of the congregation, I make my protest. I am writing this against the laziness of our generation: protesting rape and general murder and "war" and petty small-town problems. Save those for letters to the local paper's editor. Keep the power of the protest valid. We do this by saving our congressing for the large issues and keeping the meetings far apart and on a huge scale.

Twelve men protesting global warming does nothing, neither does 1,200; however, 1,200 men and women rallying for their legislature to document a specific change in policy will. Let the graveness of the world's situation keep our heads about us. Let us not get caught up in laziness by doing something for a problem that affects one hundred people. Keep our real issues for the masses and stop saving your efforts for issues that are easy. Do not rape, kill, steal - these are issues that all will support. Keep your demands specific or they will drown in the mire of unfounded hope for change.

Share on Facebook

Guest Column: Debating the power of protests

More Oct. 13, 2008 Forum Stories

Most recent Forum Stories