I feel like suspending the specific rules is the only viable long term protest. As much fun as John Oliver pics are, eventually people will tire of the meme.
By forcing them to moderate their own subs, they would have to (ideally) pay their own employees to do so. Not only would this be expensive, but it would hurt them in the eyes of investors right before they go public.
Should users happen to decide on the third option, /r/Pics will officially become /r/PICS; "Posts Illustrating Community Sentiment." Literally anything that doesn't break the site-wide rules will be allowed... so while you'll still be able to share your three-act musical about John Oliver, you'll also be able to share AI-generated videos of anime girls yodeling (for example).