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No Kings Unveils a Big New Trump Protest, and the Stakes Couldn't Be Higher
(www.rollingstone.com)
this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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I tend to agree, protesting in blue cities and states is preaching to the choir and achieves nothing. Take that to DC or your closest red state.
Safe protesting is not protesting.
This made me lol. You're literally THE most terminally online power mod on Lemmy. You, of all people, advocating for dangerous or violent protests is highly ironic considering how the chances of you leaving the comfort of your house in general, let alone going to any protest, are slim to none.
Not advocating for dangerous and violent protests, as always I advocate AGAINST ineffective protests, and protests in blue states only serve one purpose... virtue signaling.
You want a protest to be effective? Take it to where it counts. Red states. D.C. Those are the minds you need to change, not your garden variety blue voters who already agree with you.
See, I actually understand your frustration, but you I think you actually misunderstand why these protests are ineffective. Virtue signaling is indeed a big issue with protests in America. This could easily be seen with the signs. Everybody has signs and all these signs have puns, jokes, provocative drawings, or websites on them. The point isn't to send a message, it's to farm social media engagement. So you're right on that, but the issue with American protest is much deeper than that.
For example, the bigger protests here aren't exactly organic, they're more like festivals. For example, I went to the "hands off" protest in Boston a few months ago, and they literally had a "program" for it like it was some kind of show. There were bands that played music, advocacy group leaders who gave speeches shilling for their causes at the expense of the cause that was being protested, local and state politicians getting PR and advertising their upcoming campaigns, and so on.
When it's not a festival, then it's a public nuisance. There's this myth that's widely believed among the American left (the right doesn't really protest) where they actually believe that disruption is THE most vital part of protesting, and thus it's presence is mandatory for every protest otherwise they're simply ineffective. This leads to things like blocking intersections, vandalizing property, getting in the way of other causes, or being extremely annoying on purpose. For example, look at how "queers for Palestine" sabotaged Ottawa's pride parade by dangerously stranding thousands of people in sun, made threats, and then had the event canceled for everybody... as you can imagine there's a lot of people who resent this group and their cause because of their actions.
Another massive issue is the ever increasing presence of the omnicause. This is a product of a mentality that combines the worst elements of intersectionality and purity testing. This mentality insists that if you support one cause, you must support them all, and if you oppose or remain neutral on any "approved" cause, you're branded as morally corrupt. This binary thinking forces people to label every movement as either wholly good or bad, leaving no room for nuance. What this leads to is protests that don't stand for anything because they try to include everything. For example, the women's march in Boston last year had people with Palestinian flags, black lives matter signs, Ukrainian flags, communist symbols, and there were even animal advocates in there... what do any of these have to do with women rights in America? The answer is they don't, they just dilute and distract from the cause that's being protested.
If we really want protests to lead to change in this country we have to look back at the country's successful movements and see what made them work. Well if we look at the civil rights movement, the suffragette movement, the Vietnam war protests, and the LGBT movement, what do they have in common? They were all...
We need all these elements to make our modern protests meaningful. Going to red states isn't going to do anything. It's not going to change anybody's mind or do anything because it'll have the same problems. If the protests in blue cities and states aren't leading to anything, why would the ones in red states yield any results? We need to learn from our past and look at the rest of the world as to what good protests should look like. Protests in Europe, for example, are minimalist, there's no "program", there's huge turnouts, people respect their fellow citizens, and people show up solely because they believe in the cause. Want examples? Look at the protests happening right now in Georgia and Serbia. Want none European examples? Look at Hong Kong or Turkey.
I’ve been very happy with my blue politicians responses and if this encourages them I’m all for it.
Not sure what you’re expecting - violence can easily be counter-productive, especially in areas where police are sympathetic
Oh, no violence, but the people who need to change their opinions aren't in blue cities or blue states.
Unhappy with the Feds? Take it to DC and shut DC down for a month. Protesting in LA, SF, Portland, Seattle does nothing as everyone there is already on your side.
The people who need to see the protests don't give two shits about what blue cities and states think.
I live in a red state, and I plan to be at my local protest. But I take offense to the idea that protests in blue states are somehow too "safe" or not worth the time. The shit that has gone down at protests in Los Angeles should counter that notion pretty handily.
Honestly, the protests I've been to in my red state were way safer than the ones in LA, with way less push back from law enforcement. Probably helps that ICE isn't operating in my city either.
Protesting in blue areas can achieve something, but only if it's actually disruptive. For example you can force your elected officials to take a hardline approach to Trump rather than capitulate.
Local officials have no power over Trump, and Democratic Congressmen and Senators have no power over Trump due to being in the minority.
So you're protesting people who a) agree with you and b) can literally do nothing.
So, again, protesting in blue cities and states is entirely performative. "At least I did something!"
They can obstruct and/or oppose Trump in their own jurisdictions. There are options, everything from withholding federal taxes to enforcing state law on ICE (like Pritzker is threatening to do) to having local National Guard units defend immigrant neighborhoods. In the worst case scenario, forbid ICE from entering the state and shoot them if they do. At the very fucking least this shouldn't be happening.
Says the mod who has no problem shutting down all talk of anything beyond peaceful protesting.
Just doing your job, lol.
You are not going to use our platform to organize violence. That isn't my rule, it's instance rules.
Just a cog in the machine, eh? Just the middle man.
Oh, no, I personally agree with it and I'd make it a rule if it weren't already. We aren't going to be liable for some jack off who wants to burn everything down.
Lemmy (.world) wouldn’t be liable. Lemmy wouldn’t be shut down. Nothing would happen. Also, the idea that a person who wants to fight back against fascism must want to burn everything down is very ignorant. People like you are the problem, people like you are the reason nothing ever gets beyond a “protest.” “Oh no, if we let them have an inch, they’re gonna burn the world down!!!!!”
Screw you, Jordan Lund.
The comments/posts removed were inciting violence and that is 100% not allowed. Don't like it? Go make your own platform.
Why? The users are here. And moderation on Lemmy is more annoyance than anything. It’s not like you can actually stop someone for more than a few minutes.
So put up and roll your own instance instead of leeching off others.
You have no power over—anything.
Go take your pills
Says the person who needed to get their dopamine
Huh? What does that have to do with anything I said..
Lol, bold words from someone apparently unwilling to host that content themselves.
Let's see: @Illecors@lemmy.cafe -- are you fine with users using your instance to organize violence?
No, I'm not
@whiwake@lemmy.cafe look at that, the person you're leeching off of has the same rules.
Are you gonna roll your own server yet, or keep being all talk, no action?
I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, as it seems to be as effective as anything else I have the power to control. Clearly we disagree on a lot of things, but that’s okay because neither of us respect each other’s opinions.
Which, to be clear, is talking a big game while accepting none of the risk.
Real pussy shit.
The more You try to insult me the more I realize I’m doing it the right way.
Yes, you are absolutely excelling at being a leech. It's a terrible goal to have, but you're knocking it out of the park.
I just don’t agree with you, and so nothing you say has any effect on me.
It's an objective fact that you're using other peoples infrastructure and not your own.
The fact that you disagree with reality is telling, though.
If you provide an example of an lemmy admin being prosecuted for failing to moderate comments calling for aggressive action against fascism... I will stop.
By the way, no one asked you to stop. I asked you to assume the risk yourself instead of being a leech.
But you won't, because you're a coward.
If I create my own instance will you participate in that way?
I might -- that's not really relevant though.
Well, it kind of is. Because it sounds to me like you support fascism.
Do you think that Trump, and the GOP, are fascists?
In what way are my political leanings relevant to the claim that you are leeching off your admin and other mods because you're a coward?
Of course they are.
And do you think, without being specific, that stopping fascism requires more action than standing on a street corner protesting with a sign?
Answer my question first, then I'll answer yours.
Your political leanings are relevant to a conversation about politics. You are making very personal remarks and so I can too.
That particular bit of discussion is unrelated to politics. It has to do exclusively with your unwillingness assume risk and strategy of harassing others instead of stepping up and taking charge yourself. Aka cowardice.
Again, just facts. You can disagree with them if you want, but that won't change reality.
Yes, of course.
But it doesn't require 100% of everyone to take more action than that.
I don’t need 100% of everyone to take action. I just need to reach the small amount of people who need the extra push.
Regarding risk, the least risky approach is the best. We have also established that failing to aggressively moderate comments about pushing beyond peaceful protesting poses no credible threat to any of the admins or moderators.
And again, each time you try to insult me, it just makes me more committed.
I think we have reached the end of this conversation. I wish you the best in your crusade to do nothing to stop fascism. 💋
Which you can do by hosting your own instance instead of leeching.
Your admin and other community mods agree.
~~And you can solve that by starting your own instance and employing your own rules. Until then, you're a coward and a leech.~~
Misread. No we haven't. See the seatbelt analogy.
To being a leech, yes, you're repeating yourself.
If I'm doing nothing, you're doing less than nothing.
Come talk to me when you grow a spine and start your own instance. Then you'd have a leg to stand on in this discussion.
Until then, you're just the person goading others into taking action while you hide on the sidelines. But it sounds like you're okay with that.
So you need someone to be prosecuted before you'll respect their right to protected themselves against being prosecuted? And until they are, you feel good about harassing them for enforcing that policy.
Imagine being that spineless. Your own admin said they are not comfortable with it, but you don't give a single shit about them. Wow, what a great set of values to live by.
Spineless leech.
So what you are saying is that there is no actual danger to an admin.
Can you even give me an example of an admin being contacted directly by law-enforcement in any country?
You can't actually be that stupid...
If I always wear a seatbelt but have never gotten in an accident, is there no reason to wear one?
lol, I see what you’re doing. Clever.
What am I doing?
Yeah, no one should stick their necks out. Fall in line and everything will be okay.
Oh look another mouthy user who's happy to put the risk on their admin instead of taking it themselves.
Big words.