Great call by 50501 leadership
Great call by 50501 leadership
I wasn't sure it was the right choice at first, but I now realize it was brilliant.
Originally Posted By u/hook3m13 At 2025-06-15 07:50:05 PM | Source
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Has (co-located) counter protesting ever been generally useful?
Yes. In the rather famous case of the American Nazi party (like, the OGs before the GOP took over that status) in the 1970s when they wanted to hold a really in Skokie, a Jewish neighborhood of Chicago, were denied a permit on the basis of obvious harm, sued about it, and they ended up being represented by the ACLU on principle of free demonstration up to the Supreme Court where they won (and in turn the ACLU nearly collapsed from the popular fury at their willingness to do that). The case gained significant national attention and the people of Chicago organized a massive counterprotest to what ended up being a minimal Nazi turnout where they were unequivocally shamed and entirely unable to intimidate the Jewish locals they hated so much.
In short, counterprotests can be an act of solidarity against hatred. They have their time and place.
A more recent, however small, example were the countless Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) counter-protests. For the uninitiated, the WBC was a notoriously anti-LGBT hate group that staged many protests at funerals and other events. Once the internet caught wind of this, people began to counter-protest in greater numbers, leading to more and more public shaming of their hateful message.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church#Counter-protests
Hell, even biker gangs got in on this and would show up at veteran's funerals to shield them from the WBC.
Right! There was a point in the middle of it where if you squinted your eyes and turned your head a little, you could almost believe that the WBC was trying to push people into organizing like this. Their whole thing was so over-the-top, it beggared belief sometimes.
I think this is true, in general, for protests that are based in promoting prejudice. Counter-protesting bigots shows them that their hateful, closed-minded views are unpopular and unacceptable.
Locally, there was a big pushback against teaching inclusivity in schools (2SLGBTQ+ families being represented at all, basically), and a protest was organized. And across the street from them were literally 10× as many people counter protesting to support 2SLGBTQ+ rights. There hasn't been a single anti-tans bigots protest locally since.
"No tolerance for intolerance" is a powerful counter-protest message.
Wait is that what the Blues Brothers were referencing? When they were blocked by a bunch of demonstrating Nazis and ran them off the bridge saying "I hate Illinois Nazis". Didn't realize it was a reference
Imagine protesters and counter-protesters reading each others signs and then going "Wait, these claims and slogans reveal a fundamental disagreement! We should sit down and find common ground for this discussion and figure out how to resolve this apparent difference in values and opinions so that we can find what is true and good."
I think with social media and how quickly images can get around switching to a less centralized way of protesting, especially something that is so widespread across your culture. It’s not just one specific thing or person can actually be a really beneficial strategy. It’s not just about disrupting the work of law makers and getting on the big three news at night it’s about going viral and the more citiesthat protest the more opportunities you have to make that happen. It’s about making protesting, go viral literally.