sorry roots, but this particular rant was triggered by the smugness of
"wahey look at me, i'm an anarchist and i am going to fix everything by bringing london to a standstill and maybe SMASHING stuff too, wheeeeee."

the reality is, it won't make a blind bit of difference to the government or the cuts. it will just inconvenience millions of people who have the misfortune to be trying to go about their daily lives or enjoying their holiday in london. if people could find a better way of protesting, maybe we could all actually get behind the causes and support them too and some change could happen.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:20, 1 reply, 15 years ago)

I don't agree with smashing shit up either.
I like nice "careful now" impotent placard-waving and sing-songs. My days of lying in front of buses are over.
I'm just making the point that not everybody there on Saturday will be out to cause a problem. Most will stick to the approved route. A great deal of them are well-off hard-working tax-payers (like doctors). Some of them may well be naive, smelly, and 'povs'. They have a right to wander through the capital on an approved route shouting "Down with that sort of thing" even though it will achieve fuck all.
Most of them will not be the lazy fat cunts we're thinking of. Anyone who smashes a shop window is an angry tit. Some of the people who will be losing out due to the cuts will be previously hard-working tax-payers who have become disabled/unfortunate through no fault of their own. I am happy to pay my taxes to help them. It could be you or me one day.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:26, Reply)

the problem is
that we get them all the time in london. all the time. if it's not about the war, it's about petrol prices, if it's not about petrol it's about bikes, if it's not about bikes, it's about students, if it's not about students, it's about the tamil tigers, if it's not about the tamil tigers, it's about the cuts...

if you do anything too often, it loses its impact. protest marches are just another one of these same things. nobody cares. nobody in london will feel anything other than irritation at having to miss a night out or being locked in a shop for a few hours or having to pay more council tax to clear up the shit. yes you could say that is shallow and selfish, and you'd be right. but when it affects their lives, eg their ability to do their job, people are selfish. look at the reaction to the tube strikes - not one jot of public sympathy do those tube drivers have, now that bob crow has cried wolf fifteen times a year. it's not that i am saying people shouldn't protest, or that these issues aren't important. but this is not the way to effect change. it won't make a scrap of difference.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:34, Reply)

I know it won't, but people are driven to do it anyway.
They do it in every capital, part and parcel of living there.
Just like buying a house near football ground and moaning about the hordes of mongs parking in your street and throwing their burger wrappers outside your house every fortnight. You AND the protestors are King Canute AICMFP.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:37, Reply)

But King Canute was actually demonstrating that even a king didn't have the power
to overrule nature, so your comparison is totally inaccurate.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:39, Reply)

That's not how I was taught it.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:41, Reply)

Well you were taught it wrong
it may not even have happened, but the principle of the story was that Canute was demonstrating that even a king was a subject of God and couldn't control the tide.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:45, Reply)

The TIDE of Fat Cat consumerism
and the TIDE of smelly povs are, like totally, OVERWHELMING the capital. And we're like ALL fucked.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:42, Reply)

there is nothing natural about
povs smashing up shops.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:43, Reply)

i'd drive them to it alright
i'd drive right over them with my tank...
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:44, Reply)

So you are in fact saying that people shouldn't protest.
Which is fine, but don't try and pretend that you're saying something else.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:37, Reply)

And it's worth pointing out that
your freedom to call all these people cunts is exactly the same freedom that they are using to have their protest. You can't have it both ways, either there is freedom of speech or their isn't.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:38, Reply)

Calling them cunts doesn't cost the taxpayers hundreds of grand to police.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:40, Reply)

read the OP's comments for the glee that is clearly being taken
whilst they are causing a huge problem and actually costing the system more, i am trying to do a job that is paying money into the same system.

i say "i" but i mean "everyone working here or otherwise spending money in the country's crippled economy".

how can stopping this possibly be a good thing?
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:42, Reply)

It's pathetic, student shit.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:44, Reply)

yes
yes it is.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:45, Reply)

The cost of the policing is a fairly redundant argument since the cost is measured in the hundreds of thousands
but the amount of money being cut is in the order of billions.

And they aren't stopping people doing their jobs, they are just making their feeling about the stupidity of the current governments attitude clear to the government. The best way to do that is to make the protest as large as possible so that their opinions are noted.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:48, Reply)

their opinions won't be noted
the government doesn't care.

there isn't enough money coming in to support everything that is going out. therefore people smashing stuff isn't going to change a red cent. the only way to improve it is to earn more money so you can pay more tax and make the country better off!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:50, Reply)

And the cuts the government are making
are going to hamper growth and cripple our economy again. Which is not going to make the country better off.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:52, Reply)

We should charge each protester a quid to be there and herd them all into Wembley
They can shout to their hearts content in there, and there is no way they could trash the surrounding area.
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:43, Reply)

this is actually a very good idea
except that none of the protestors will want to pay a pound. the country OWES it to them to give them it for free, doncha know.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 21 Mar 2011, 11:44, Reply)