Whether the protesters are trying to solve a problem that actually exists is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether protests work, and you’re making your irrelevant point in an extremely confrontational red-tribe-blue-tribe way. This is exactly what the whole “politics is the mind-killer” thing is about, and doesn’t belong here.
Whether the protesters are trying to solve a problem that actually exists is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether protests work
How so? If the problem doesn’t actually exist, the protests are guaranteed to NOT work. They might have a variety of different consequences but they cannot work in the sense of solving that problem.
I meant that whether these specific protesters are attacking a non-existent problem isn’t relevant to the effectiveness of protesters in general. One could make an argument that there’s a more general tendency for protesters to attack problems that don’t really exist and therefore can’t be solved, as a reason why protest is generally ineffective, but I’m pretty sure alienist wasn’t doing that.
I disagree. alienist’s answer was a bit flippant, but he’s pointing out a real issue. If we’re not even sure that there is a problem to be solved, how can we assess what protests are supposed to achieve? His links discuss newly-released grand-jury testimony (among other things) that is significant evidence, and should rationally lead us to alter our views of the Ferguson incident.
Well, in the parent I listed one potential “problem” that the protests were trying to “solve”. You might not think of it as a problem (and I would agree), but at least some of the protesters seem to. In any case the protests probably have in fact helped to “solve” that problem. Given what happened to Officer Wilson, many cops are going to decide that they don’t want to risk being the target of the next “anti-racist” media circus/protests and simply avoid policing black neighborhoods.
Whether the protesters are trying to solve a problem that actually exists is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether protests work, and you’re making your irrelevant point in an extremely confrontational red-tribe-blue-tribe way. This is exactly what the whole “politics is the mind-killer” thing is about, and doesn’t belong here.
How so? If the problem doesn’t actually exist, the protests are guaranteed to NOT work. They might have a variety of different consequences but they cannot work in the sense of solving that problem.
I meant that whether these specific protesters are attacking a non-existent problem isn’t relevant to the effectiveness of protesters in general. One could make an argument that there’s a more general tendency for protesters to attack problems that don’t really exist and therefore can’t be solved, as a reason why protest is generally ineffective, but I’m pretty sure alienist wasn’t doing that.
There is no good answer to the question of the effectiveness of protesters in general. The answer will always be “It depends”.
I disagree. alienist’s answer was a bit flippant, but he’s pointing out a real issue. If we’re not even sure that there is a problem to be solved, how can we assess what protests are supposed to achieve? His links discuss newly-released grand-jury testimony (among other things) that is significant evidence, and should rationally lead us to alter our views of the Ferguson incident.
Well, in the parent I listed one potential “problem” that the protests were trying to “solve”. You might not think of it as a problem (and I would agree), but at least some of the protesters seem to. In any case the protests probably have in fact helped to “solve” that problem. Given what happened to Officer Wilson, many cops are going to decide that they don’t want to risk being the target of the next “anti-racist” media circus/protests and simply avoid policing black neighborhoods.