We are privileged to live in a democracy wherein we are free to protest the action or inaction of our elected officials in order to bring about change – defined as having our elected officials stop doing something or start doing something. For example, we may want them to vote or not vote for a particular piece of legislation.
The art of the protest, however, seems to have peaked with Dr. King and since fallen steeply off to the point of complete inefficacy. And as much as I personally disagree with many of the protests I see recently, what really bothers me is how much of a giant waste of time they all are. If you are going to do it, PLEASE get it right.
Let’s review how protests currently happen and where it all goes wrong:
1 – the media decides for you what you should be angry or upset about.
2 – Someone funds a protest to improve the business environment of a particular person, organization or entity OR just out of vindictive nature. Money is moved.
3 – People show up, some paid and some not, with a hundred different signs and mill about taking selfies, denigrating the leaders who could actually do something about it, etc.
4 – When the cameras show up, representatives offer up a profanity laced rant without anything informed, intelligent or coherent to say, much less a singular message.
5 – Nothing happens – elected leaders do not actually do anything.
Why did nothing happen? Nothing happened because you:
(1) did not understand the current state of the law,
(2) did not have a single focused message about what exactly you wanted your government to do and,
(3) you were rude and nasty to your government leaders and now they do not want to help you at all.
Now, let’s look at how a successful protest happens – that is, a protest that results in government leaders actually taking action to pass or block specific legislation….
1 – One citizen feels that the law needs to change, be created, be removed, etc.
2 – They talk to others and organize a protest that attracts many like-minded people.
3 – They devise a singular message that includes precisely the action they want and who is authorized and capable of that action. For example, “Mr. President: Veto Bill #123.” and they ensure that everyone at the protest has THAT MESSAGE on their signs.
4 – They chant, focused on a message of positive action – not profanity, rudeness or degradation; continually focused on who should take the action and exactly what action they should take.
5 – When the media shows up, the organizers speak intelligently and impressively about the current state of the law, exactly what change they want to see and who should take action – always focused on the one single message. Their words are prepared and offer quotable sound bites of motivating and profound wisdom.
6 – Change happens.
The particularly adept organizer will have also delivered (weeks ahead) a document to several key congressional offices which they might use for talking points, and/or to prepare a bill for sponsorship.
So there you have it – if you feel inclined to protest, PLEASE go forth and be EFFECTIVE.
~ Love, KC
