Looking back on the past semester and the first blog composed, I can see my perspective changing on protests. Originally, I thought that protests were for extremists and or those highly motivated to make change. Now I have come across many more examples of people who simply want to raise awareness for a cause.
I am looking at my very first line of my first post, "it must begin with a disagreement," and find my views now to be slightly different. Maybe some join a protest because they agree that they need change or in some cases, that they don't. Previously I believed that the size of a protest determined, in large part, the success of a protest. Now, I believe differently. Ann Coulter, Al Frankin, and who could forget Cindy Sheehan - all individuals and all known for protest. I have learned that groups may get easy media attention, but individual people can find the same, too.
However, there are several things that were reinforced over this semester. Another line reads, "Protests themselves are more often than not a reflection of the protestor's beliefs or the change they desire." I gave the example of the monk who burned himself in protest against the war. I am finding more and more that style is important to recognize in a particular protest because it often reflects the intentions of the individual or the group.
Before this course, I could only think of major (and usually historical) events as examples of protests... now they stick out to me in everyday events. Whether it is the man holding a cardboard sign on the corner of 24th and Guadelupe or the masked students in costume screaming out against Scientology, protests are truly everywhere.
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3 comments:
You are right when you say protest comes in all forms. Often times when we think of protest we think of the march on Washington, the American Revoloution etc. However their is protest everywhere.
I've also learned that a protest doesn't necessarily have to be a huge demonstration in front of the White House or something. It really does come in all shapes and sizes and I find myself noticing a lot of things as protests.
I think you hit on the biggest point in the course, that we encounter protests constantly. One thing I've discovered is that I now consider some actions that I do every day to be protests, while I previously didn't. That's why its so important to understand the significance of rhetoric in protest, so that we can better understand wether the protests that we encounter and improve the tactics of the protests that we make.
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