Thread: Demonstrating: Violent or Peaceful?

Originally Posted by Phion

I might agree with you there, though, personally, and it may seem cowardly, if I were given the choice to live or die depending on my outward beliefs or activities I would probably choose life every time. However, to be fair, I can honestly tell you that my convictions have not been tested to the extent that some might participate in a riot, other unlawful behavior, or even warfare.

Hypothetically speaking, do you believe there are any values which are more important than your particular life? Is there any possible circumstance you can imagine where it'd be worth it to sacrifice yourself to change or protect human ethos? By that I mean to help make the world a better place or stop it from degenerating into a worse place, better and worse obviously being subjective and I leave them free for your own personal interpretation. For this, I personally would point to freedom, equality and justice as three tenants I would be willing to die for, and kill for. Even though I couldn't blame the officer unwittingly assaulting these values, I would stop him the same way I would stop a rabid dog from hurting my family. No blame, no hate, but if the choice came between ending a life or allowing that life to cause more harm to my ethos, I would end the life.

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

A lot of times when protests get violent it seems like the protesters are then seen as stupid punks who need to go to jail. Non-violent protests, if publicized right, seem much more intelligent and I think taken more seriously.

It seems as though the media tends to paint whatever picture it wants on protests, as do information warriors that incite riots within protests in order to provoke police retaliation. But I have a question, if the rioters were truly causing damage, perhaps with molotovs and the like, does it really matter what the media thinks? Does it really matter what kind of attention they give it? What is the purpose of a non-violent protest? What is achieved by holding up a bunch of signs and marching down a street?