The current writers and stagehands' strikes got me thinking about the nature of protest in America. I always feel that, nowadays, we never quite protest as well as other countries.
Have you ever protested something? Maybe you walked out of school or refused to clean your room or marched about a political issue. What did you protest? Why? How did it make you feel? What was the end result of your efforts?
If you've never protested anything, why not? What would it take to make you speak out against something?
DUE Sunday, November 18
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This summer I protested something for the first time. A group of friends and I protested a BP gas station on one of the busiest streets in our town, 75th street. BP is dumping waste into Lake Michigan where thousands of Chicagoans swim. We made signs and stood outside on a hot day in August for five hours we also passed out fliers giving people information about all the things BP was putting into Lake Michigan. It was pretty successful the gas station was empty all day and the Mobil across the street was backed up with traffic. BP even lowered their prices that day by five cents, but few customers came to them that day. We got a lot of honks and waves from people who supported our protests and people even brought us water and food and came to join in the protests with their own signs. We had about forty people outside the BP that day. It was a bit scary however at one point because a police officer came up to us. He was really nice though and just reminded us of what was illegal. For example, we couldn’t block the entrance and we weren’t allowed to interfere with traffic. We had been passing out our fliers to cars waiting at red lights and someone had complained so we had to stop doing that. He even showed his support for us by filling up his police car at the gas station across the street. There were some people who were very rude. One lady rolled down her window and started to yell at me but I just stood there peacefully with my sign that said “you should buy gas elsewhere, thank you”. The protest was very peaceful and successful and got a lot of recognition. News crews came and newspaper reporters. We were on the front page of our newspaper the next day and since our protest, BP is being forced to sign a contract limiting what they can put in Lake Michigan. Even though that’s not exactly what we wanted it’s a start. Protesting was a really unique experience. My town is not very controversial and I’ve never had the opportunity to protest something until my friend came up with the idea to protest BP. He made a group on face book and it got a lot of people interested. Protesting was really fun. I got to spend the entire day with my friends and it was one of the last days of summer so it was nice to have everyone together one last time doing something worthwhile. It was also cool to see people I knew driving by. My one friend who drove by saw me, ran home and got us water, drove back and joined us. It was really neat to know that other people were concerned about the same issue and it was a great feeling to make a difference, even if it was just a small one.
I have protested numerous things throughout my life. Many of them were simple things like refusing to talk to my sister because I was mad at her, declining the idea of cleaning my room when my mom asks, or even boycotting certain a certain class because I did not like the teacher. The one protest that seems to be the most real to me was when I protested the installation of an abortion clinic in a medical building in my city.
The abortion protests went on for months and I attended them about once every two weeks. My mom was very active in this area of politics, so she was the person who got me involved. We would stand outside of the medical building, with many other city members, holding picket signs that had sayings on them that were against abortion and the whole idea of a clinic coming to our city. I also attended the Pro-Life March in Washington, DC four years in a row. This march usually took place in either February or March and it was dedicated to the fight against abortion. Thousands of people from all over the country gathered together to walk a 3 mile march to show support for the belief in being pro-life.
The reason I did this protest was because I am very against abortion. I think that it is wrong no matter what. My view is that every baby is innocent and has no reason to die, even if the mother was raped. While I was part of these protests I felt like I was actually making a difference. I was fighting for something that I strongly believed in, and it felt good. While at the Pro-Life March it was nice to see how many people really believed in the same thing I did. It was comforting to know that there are a lot of people out there who also think abortion is wrong in every aspect.
In the end there was no abortion clinic put in the medical building I protested outside of. Whether it was because of the protestors or not, all that matters is that it never went in. I know that going to the Pro-Life March every year will not stop abortion from ever occurring, but I still feel like making a statement and standing up for my beliefs is important.
Usually, I am a pretty easy person to get along with and I wouldn’t protest anything. However, in my junior year of high school, the school board was considering changing the class schedule from blocks to periods. To start off with, the Cambridge City School Board is already much divided and often is arguing over something no matter how big or little. However, one of the members of the school board who many of the students dislike brought up the idea of changing the class schedule back to periods. Some years before I had gotten to high school, the high school had been run on periods, but then the school researched the idea of block scheduling for about four years, and then decided to change it from periods to blocks. One of the main arguments, we as students had, was that they had spent so much time on figuring out that block scheduling would work better for our school than periods, and now after all that work they were just going to change it back over a few years later.
My class has always been pretty close; therefore, when we heard the news of what was being discussed, my class wrote and signed a petition. After that, we came up with reasons the block scheduling wouldn’t be good, and wrote a letter which our class president read at one of the school board meetings. At that meeting at least seventy-five members of the junior class plus parents and teachers showed up, and our class president was able to read our concerns to the school board. Our arguments were that it wouldn’t be fair to us as seniors because it would inhibit the seniors who wanted to double up in the sciences or math. Also, it would not allow people to graduate early as well as do shadowing programs or even postsecondary. Additionally, many seniors, due to the school requirements for graduation, only need to take government and English IV. Therefore, periods would cause these students to have to take classes that they didn’t need or want.
Thankfully, the school board due to the concerns of the parents, teachers, and students chose not to change the scheduling system after months of debate.
When it come to protesting I have never really protested a “serious” issue. Of course I refused to talk to my brother or some people at work, but nothing really big. Most of the stuff that is being protested against are kind of basic issues like wanting more pay or better benefits. People have always protested that issue and people always want more.
But in order for me to really take a stand on an issue and take a place in the picket line; I have to see how the issue will affect me and my beliefs. Like I said before, most of the issues that I can protest against are not worth protesting. It would just be a waste of time to me; the issue was not big enough to earn my attention and time. For instance a few years back some of the local schools combined to form one big school, a lot of students were upset and protested. But I did not see the big deal, we would see the same people, yeah sure we would have a different school name but that is not exactly the end of the world. In the end it happened anyways which to me was inevitable.
I am not against protesting, if you want to go out and protest that’s fine; if you want to protest McDonalds because you think they are cruel to animals then go right ahead. Do what you will, it’s your life not mine. I just think we get caught up in an issue that don’t really matter in the long run and that’s what concerns me.
I have never really though about this as protesting something, but I guess that I have. Normally when my parents keep asking me to do something, like clean my room for example, I won't just to get them upset. I find that I do this more with my mom because we tend to disagree on a lot. Where as with my dad we generally will be able to compromise, and I am able to understand his point of view more than my moms. I guess this is considered protesting, but it never really makes anything different. It just makes my mom more upset with me. I do not know why I do this, it is just a habit. I tend to get into trouble if I protest in this way, by not doing what my mom has told me to do.
I find that now I get alond with my mom better than I ever have before and that we do not get into that many fights anymore. I guess that I have just learned to do what she says so that you do not get into more trouble that you already are in.
My younger brother and I keep in touch a lot, and talk on the phone a lot. He is the only one left at home and we are use to a really busy house having five kids in it. He always tells me about his fights with my parents and all that I can say to him is that he better just do what my parents tell hime to do. But he is good at that, he has always followed my a=parents rules and everything. Where as in High School I use to get in so many fights about curfues and everything. Ryan is a lot better about following my parents rules. It really does not accomplish anything to protest against your parents, it just makes things worse.
I have never protested against anything, I have written many emails and a note stating what is wrong. That is as close as I got to protesting. People in my high school tried to protest against a teacher to get them fired and I thought that it was a ridiculous idea. That is because the school board will never listen to students, no matter how many people signed a petition. Adults, I feel, never take students serious, and I also felt bad for the teacher that they tried to get fired. I liked him as a person, but he was not a very good teacher but I would never try to get him fired. I would feel awful if I was the reason someone got fired. For me to protest against an issue would mean that I truly care about the issue or it is a safety hazard. I might have to start protesting about our dorm bathrooms, because they are nasty and there is mold growing in them since before we gotten here and no one has done anything about it.
Things that make me mad and would make me start to protest would be people not doing their jobs and blaming it on other people. For example, the shower door would not stay shut, so the maintenance workers fixed the shower door by unscrewing the door. That fixed the problem, but then the screws fell out and then the people on the floor had to pay for it. I then wrote an email to the head of maintenance. I also wrote to him about the mold and the other safety issues in our bathroom. They did not respond or fix it, so I had my step-dad write them and of course they respond to him in less than a day. It makes me mad how administration does not respond to their own students but they will respond to their parents.
Protesting has shaped our country and made it what it is today. If the writers go on strike I will be so upset. I love my television shows and I would be very upset if they all go into reruns.
You know what now that I think about it; I have never really protested anything. I have complained about many things, but never really protested anyone I just always did what I was told even if I did not want to write that paper, I still did. That is not really a topic to protest about unless you had to write about a touchy topic. I think I have never protested because my graduating class in high school was very obedient. I mean most of us did not even throw our hats up for joy once we were graduated. What I am saying is being raised in public school we were never allowed to state how we really felt on the topic or issue. My school trained me never to speak up by giving anyone who did detentions. And if they got people to follow them, they all stayed the whole day in the principal’s office. There were many times when people would talk about protesting something, but then we just all had this fear that we were going to get busted planning for it that we never followed through. I do not know why my high school never really wanted us to think on our own because in college it is the complete opposite. In philosophy class we are talking about morals and the golden rule and where did they all come from. We have been reading many different philosophers essays on what they think and they all have something fallacious with them. It is very hard for me to try and think when I feel like I do not have a good well-rounded background. I was not raised very religious; in fact I have never even been to church in my whole life. I think I have always had the potential to protest I was just never motivated because I was always in fear that something really bad was going to happen. I think now that I am making a great number of decisions by myself and for my own reasons that I am starting to get use to speaking out about what I feel. Before I can speak out though I must have a pretty good feeling that what I am standing up for is truly the way I feel so that I do not regret it later in life.
I have never protested in the conventional sense of the word. I have however protested when my friends and I get into fights, when I refused to listen to my parents, and when I refuse to talk to my older brother. I think for me to really feel the urge to protest something it would have to be something that I feel really strong about. The things that I see that are protested the most are for abortion, war, and other controversial topics. I personally don’t find protesting to be a very efficient way of getting your point of view across. You don’t really get anything accomplished and all you do is irritate the people that are affected by the protest. A few years ago my school was considering changing to year round instead of having three months off during the summer. I was too young to participate in anything that happened but if I was old enough I probably would protest something like that. One of the main reasons that I don’t protest is because there is nothing to protest around where I live. I live in a relatively small town and nothing of real significance happens there. So in order for me to protest it would have to be something that I feel really strong about and it would have to be somewhere around here because I wouldn’t travel thousands of miles to stand in a group and hold up a picket sign. I very rarely protest with my parents though. I get along with my parents fairly well and I know that if I do try and argue with them it will pretty much be in vain. so growing up I learned that it was easier to do what i was told than try to argue about it because in the end I still had to do what they told me and I just ended up wasting time arguing about it.
In all honesty, I cannot think of a time where I have protested something. I’m a pretty mellow guy and try not to complain about many things. If I let things too many things get to me I would probably go into a never ending spiral of talking and complaining. It’s just not who I am to go out in protest things. I will be one to act like I want to protest something, but I usually just do this when I want to do it for the sake of doing it. I don’t quite understand why some people get so worked up about things that I feel are menial and just ridiculous. I mean, yes we have the right to protest but come on, bite the bullet and deal. This is probably coming across as cold but that’s fine. Yeah the writers are probably not getting paid enough for what they are doing but they are still getting paid pretty well and they should be gracious for that. I don’t really think they should strike because I personally enjoy the shows, particularly The Office, but they have every right to. Quite honestly, I don’t really care if they strike. I only watch The Office and 24 and I’m so far behind on The Office that it doesn’t even matter. And 24 doesn’t start its season until January so it’s not like it will be stopping in the middle of the season. I guess striking depends on a case by case basis. For me to strike against something I guess I would have to be truly passionate about something and truly believe in what I am fighting for. I am strong in what I believe in, I just don’t like the idea of protesting things. It would be better to talk them out peacefully than to protest, even if it is a peaceful protest. I would rather talk about what the problem is rather than resorting to a protest. I would rather be the one to break the protest up than to join it, even if this would mean ridicule and bickering from the ones who are protesting. I would be the scab because often it would be an opportunity to make a name for myself. So during this past page I have successfully jumped around, saying that it was dumb to protest then it would be okay if someone was passionate about the issue.
Protesting is something that I feel everyone has done one time or another in their life time. When you’re little you do not want to do all of the things that your parents tell you to do. So, a lot of kids fight their parents to get out of doing something that do not want to do, like cleaning their room, walking the dog, doing dishes, cleaning up toys, going to bed, etc. I do not know of anyone that has not tried to get out of doing something that their parents told them to do, especially when they are little kids. Some people do bigger protests, like chaining themselves to trees or marching with signs in front of building or down streets or staging a sit in, boycotting something, or signing petitions. I have signed petitions in high school and so have man y other people I know. I’m not sure how much any of those petitions did anything. I never saw any of their effects. I have never done anything big like march in order to bring awareness to anything or tye myself to a tree to keep a woodland area from turning into a parking lot, but I have protested several things at home, like cleaning my room or doing laundry. Most of the things I have done have not made that big of a difference because I haven’t done anything on a large scale. I feel like I do stand up for things I believe in I just have not yet had the opportunity to do things on a large scale. I think every small bit helps, but it isn’t anything compared to large scale events. For example, if every teacher in a school district decided to protest their health care benefits or something, the schools would have to shut down until the teachers got what they wanted but if a small group a four teacher got together and decided to protest but none of the other teachers did then it wouldn’t mean anything and those teachers would probably lose their jobs or something, because it would not affect the school as much as if an entire district worth of teachers protested. Although, more than likely more and more teachers would join those four teachers and then it would eventually grow into the entire district or maybe even region, and that is why the little things matter.
I cannot say that I have ever protested anything in my life, but I have followed and watched other people protest. I guess I have never really felt strong enough about a certain issue that I would help people fight for it. Even though, I am not a protestor myself, I do think that people who do protest are very strong people. It takes a lot for someone to decide to do it and actually follow through with it.
I do remember in 8th grade, a boy in my class who loves to hunt and used to go every day with his uncle, left his little pocket knife or something in his book bag and brought it to school one day. He said it was an accident but one other student saw it and turned him in. The boy was kicked out of school for bringing a weapon into and supposedly “showing it off” to other students. The other boy who turned in the boy with the knife had a much better reputation then the other so the teachers believed the nice boy and kicked the boy with the knife out of school. The boy who brought the knife in was a very popular boy and did have a lot of friends so some of them started a petition to bring him back. I, of course signed it because I liked Danny. He was always nice to me and I have known him my whole life, and I am glad to say he is still one of my best friends. Other than that little thing, that is really the only form of protest I have been involved in.
Something that I would maybe think about protesting would be the war in Iraq. I know three soldiers who are over in Iraq fighting for our country and seeing the faces of their families or hearing about how worried they are is heartbreaking. Right now I feel like we are not winning anything while being over there, only losing our own. However, like I said, I do not have a strong hate or anything for the war so I do not how much I would participate in the protest.
During my junior year in high school the school took the decision to fire one of our favorite professors without giving us any good reasons. The day after this happen we decided that we were not going to go to take classes until they explain to us what happen with our professor. The thing that angers us the most was that he was our class advisor and he was the person that we most look up to for representation of our class during the year. That day we went to school but went the bell ringed we stay in front of the office as one united class. The principal in our school was so surprise with our actions and got really mad and toll us that she was going to suspend all of our class if we did not go to classes. We ignored her warning and stayed there for a couple of hours until she came out again and told us that if we went to class she would reconsider the situation and reopen talks with the professor. We accepted but we still wanted an explanation of why they fire him. They told us that they cannot tell us that because that was confidential. We decided to go back to classes for that them and that same day during the afternoon we got the good news that our professor was going to come back. We were so happy because we righted for what we believe was right and our unity as a class in the end won. Still today the reasons for the firing of the professor our unclear there a lot of rumors of why but that doesn’t matter for us we got him back he was like a second father to us and still today for my I can call him from the states for advice and that something that no school board can take away from my or from the rest of the 2007 class.
I do not think that I have ever really protested anything. I have never really needed to protest anything I believe. I do consider myself a pretty passive and easy going person, so I guess that might play a role in the fact that I never really feel the need to protest anything. But if I were to protest something I would probably take a really good reason for me to do it. I would have to be directly involved in some way. I would protest something that had to do with my place of employment or the school I was attending, but I do not think I would ever go and publicly protest against anything the government was doing. I just never really feel that strongly about anything the government can do to control us. I would leave protesting against the government up to the people that really want to do that. I think if the occasion really did call for something like walking out of school or sitting in on something, I would feel obligated to join if I see other people with the same views as me participating in it. I guess I have always protested little things like doing chores or a grade I got on something, but I do not really consider those things to be really protesting anything, I would just consider that arguing with someone to get your way. Protesting is on a much larger scale and has a much greater affect that will affect a greater amount of people in the end. I have never really protested anything because I do not have that much to complain about in my life. I am happy and content with just about everything in my life. I am sure that if a big issue was bothering me in my lifetime I would protest about it, but for right now I do not see anything to complain about. If my friends or family were protesting something important to them I would probably join them and help the cause that they believe in. I always like to help or my friends and stand up for things they believe in and I would hope that they would do the same for me.
I am not a big protester; I really do not see the purpose of protesting. Well, that sounds kind of weird so let me explain myself here before I get ridiculed. I am a person who likes to speak my mind about anything politics, sports, religion, anything I love to speak my mind. But I am not one to go out into public and march because I am totally against something or I don’t believe in something. I do believe that speaking your mind, it’s very important it is part of being a human being in this country and if people are not speaking their mind they are not taking full advantage of the current system that we have in place here.
So as I have started before I am not a huge walking protester if you will. But I have done little things that some people might call protesting. Back when I was little and not as mature as I am now I would refuse to clean my room, in sort of a way to get back at my parents. Now looking back at it, it was a really dumb move but I guess that I have learned for that experience so I think it was a good thing because I learned from the protest.
There are only a couple of things that would make me go out and publicly protest. A walking protest as I like to call it. Those things are special education, and basically education in general. I am a big advocate of special education in the public school system, here I go again with my brother, but having a brother with special needs I know how important going to school is for EVERY kid, not just the “normal ones”. But also I feel that every kid should have some type of education until there sophomore year in college, which would mean that at the very least every kid in the nation would graduate from high school and then go on to a community college or a junior college for two year, then the rest is up to the individual. So this is one cause that I would definitely go out and publicly protest against if something were to happen to our public education system.
I have protested many things, whether it is at home or at work. At home I have protested cleaning my room, washing dishes, taking our old dog out, cutting grass, pulling weeds. It is not because I am being stuck up or stubborn, most of the time it’s because I had the feeling that I was right in my actions and I was just acting out my right to protest. Protesting is a great thing, it’s wonderful, and it allows us to get our message out non-violently and makes people listen. I have protested at work and I had the right to do so. I was working and I took a 3 minute break to get some water because of the extreme heat conditions while working outside. My manager told me that I was not allowed to get water on clock. I protested this by sitting on a bench until she said I was allowed to get water. At that time I got water and continued my job. I must say that I didn’t work nearly as hard as I usually do that day because of the disgust I had for her. Without protesting my right to water I would have never received water and ultimately become dehydrated.
To me protesting is one of the things that really gets word out. For example the civil rights movement was partly due to protesting. There were different form of it both, non violent and violent. I feel both get your word out but to make a statement and have integrity doing it, non violent is the way to go. The other day I noticed people lying in Humanities Plaza. They were protesting the cruelty in Darfur. To me this was a great protest because it was noticeable and got the word out very well. A group of students laid down representing dead people or Darfurians who deal with death of family members and destruction of their possessions by the Government. This is a major issue and by the students protesting it made the student body more aware of the problem.
I have yet to protest anything in my life worth anything. Sure I have protested talking to a friend or cleaning my rom but nothing that means anything. I guess I just haven't been pissed off enough about something to protest it yet. Some things I don't think are worth protesting. If no change will come from a protest then that time could be better spent tying to figure out the right actions to take to get change. I believe that protest can be both an effecive and an un effective method of making change. I guess it just all depends on the matter at hand. If you don't feel something is right I believe you can protest it and you may see results. I also believe that it takes more than just protesting. When a group of people come together for common grounds its impossible that the higher ups wont take notice.
There has been a couple times where I protested in high school. One time was when the teachers were negotiating a contract during my sophomore year. Almost 75% of my peers and I wore black on a Friday. Our teachers would wear black shirts every Friday until they got them, and the students decided to show their support. Sooner or later they did get their contract renewed, and we hope that our influence helped that decision. Another time that we protested was when our friend got suspended. We all wore t-shirts that referenced to what he did that was not necessary to get expelled. It really didn’t do anything, and we did get some comments, but not real trouble.
Most of my most important protests were at home when my mom would punish me for stupid stuff, but usually the end result did not end how I would like it to. The one time when I was probably around ten, I was protesting the fact that my mom grounded me. I don’t remember what it was for, but I refused to do any of my other chores. However, my mom continued to ground me more. It ended me doing my chores, and just being grounded longer.
But I haven’t really protested anything that is important. I have never really felt strong enough about an issue to refuse to do something. I never have had my life interrupted that way. I do support protestors because I feel most of the time it is for real issues, especially when it is political issue.
If I had to ever protest a political issue it would probably be for the war. I do not approve of the war. I think we should not pull out of the war now, but the initial reasons for going to war I do not agree with. I do not agree with the initial reasons for going to war. I would love to be part of a protest someday that would actually have an influence on something especially in Washington D.C. to really fight for an issue you’re passionate about. I hope I will never have to protest for my job because usually I am suffering personally from this.
I really do not like the writing strike because most of my favorite shows need writers for them to go on. This means that there are going to be more reality television, which some are okay, but when there are too many of them it is not so entertaining. I believe you need to protest though for something that you are not getting you deserve. I do not agree with protestors that are protesting for something that they do not really deserve or are getting greedy. Protesting does have an effect though.
I don't remember ever protesting anything before. I have seen a lot of people protest in the Chicago area but I myself have never done so because I have never had a reason to. Recently this summer, there was a planned parenthood that was built next to the supermarket and many people set up signs and crosses saying that abortion is wrong. I couldn't help but thinking to myself that these people need to get lives. First, I want to make it known that I am not necessarily an advocate of abortion by any means, however, the facility was already built,just because there is a planned parenthood there doesn't mean that people are going to go off and get pregnant just because they could have an abortion. Those who are pro-life will stay pro-life and those who are in favor of abortion and need to have one will go whereever they need to go to get one. Besides what people don't realize are PP's aren't just about abortions, they are medical facilities that offer STD examinations, parenting help, contraceptives, etc. I feel from past experience that when many people protest things they don't know the whole story and both sides to a situation. I feel like that may be one reason why I don't protest. However, I do respect people who do protest. If it is something that people feel very strongly about and is something that will really make a difference then I think it is ok. I think, me personally, would be most prone to protest something that is connected to bad environmental impacts such as dumping or large amounts of producing because I am very concerned with environmental problems. I also would protest anything that has to do with animal cruelty. I have no tolerance for people who do cruel things to any animal. That is something I would definitely protest. Anytime I hear about some punk you thinks its funny to do cruel things to animals, I just want to beat the shit out of them.That is the reason I have no respect for Michael Vick anymore. I think the main reason I haven't protested is because I like to just mind my own business because unless the thing that is being protested is directly related to me, I feel like I don't have much of an impact.
During my nineteen years of living, I have never protested against anything. I have never protested against politics, working, race, or anything of that nature. Maybe the closest thing I have protested would be me trying not to do chores for my parents. I do not believe I have protested against anything yet due to my age. I am now just becoming an adult who is starting to make my own decision. I am learning how to live on my own because I have lived with my parents all my life until now. Although, there are some issues that I feel strong against, but I have had no power to act upon it. Some of these issues would be smoking, immigration, and the ACT/SAT’s.
I am strongly against the topic of smoking because it is affecting the lives of everyone. Even if someone does not smoke, they are still inhaling the smoke from someone else smoking. It is horrible for everyone’s health so I have no clue why anyone would want to smoke. The stores should just take it off the shelves completely because it is horrible for everyone.
Immigration is bad for the United States because it is taking away opportunities from Americans. Americans should have the first choice when it comes to jobs and things like that rather than people who come to our country and take our jobs. Plus, we will be way over populated if immigrants keep coming to the United States and have children.
Finally, the ACT/SAT’s I believe are some of the most stupid things that schools make students do. This is because it tests student’s on things that they have not learned. Like on the science part of the tests, it asks students things that they have never seen before. This is just like the math section because some students might not have learned up to a certain level, so they have no clue how to perform some of the problems. Finally, in all the sections I do not believe they give students enough time to complete the sections, so the students feel rushed and will end up performing badly. These are just a few of the topics that I could possibly protest against in the future.
No I have never protested anything politically that I know of. I believe that people often times protest issues that they are not even aware of. In school I’ve protested being in trouble. There have been times where teachers have tried to give me detentions for stupid things like having a shirt tail out or not shaving. All what I simply would do is tell them they could give me the detention but I wouldn’t serve it. As a result they teachers would often times try to tell me about respect and try to enforce their authority but in the end sometimes I would get out of it or other times I would get the detention.
I believe that most people do not stand up and protest anymore in this country simply because they do not feel that their voice will be heard. In the 60’s people had a cause and a reason for protesting. In my generation I honestly do not believe that anyone will protest an issue like people used to. The reason being that my generation will never protest is simply because the leading protesters of that past are either dead because they were silenced or they are hidden in the background.
When thinking about protesting I can hardly think of anything that I have protested. I guess you could say that I have protested teachers and chores in the past by refusing to do assignments that I do not wish to do or refusing to cooperate in class after a teacher is less than kind to me. As far as political and moral issues though, I have never protested and I hardly consider my attempts to make a teachers life as miserable as I possibly can “protesting”. “Protesting” teachers does not really do anything. As far as not doing homework and being a jerk to my teachers goes, it does nothing to hurt them; it just makes it more work for me.
I do not think that I have ever really had the opportunity to protest a major issue. Personally I do not think it would take much for me to protest something. All that I would need would be to believe in what it was I was doing and have a passion for it. I am kind of a liberal person so I would have no problem speaking out against something, it would just have to be the right thing. I could see myself protesting some international issue such as the world’s non-action in Darfur or something along those lines. I just have not had the opportunity nor the time to go out and actually march on a subject or go on the front lines.
I can’t recall on anything that I have ever protested on before, but if there was something I believe in, that I would consider protesting it would have to be the toilet paper in the bathrooms. It is only one ply, if that, and is very rough on my bottom. I understand that the school is trying to get their dollars worth out of us. However, we pay a lot of money to attend this institution, and we deserve two-ply toilet paper. If I had the motivation to protest, I would go to my resident advisor, and find out where I can go, and what I can do to get that changed. How much more money would it be to just buy two-ply toilet paper? I mean seriously, it wouldn’t hardly be any trouble for the University to put two-ply toilet paper in the bathrooms.
Two-ply toilet paper is much more environmentally safe than one ply. With one-ply you are using two times as much toilet paper than you need to be using. On top of that it is uncomfortable to use. If we had two-ply toilet paper then the residence would be happier, and it would be environmentally safer than one ply.
I would gather up all of my friends that feel the same way to make posters, and stand outside our C.A.’s office until she gave in. I would also start a facebook group on the internet, having everyone who agrees with me to call the housing department, and demanding two-ply toilet paper in the bathrooms. We put up with a lot of stress thorough all of the classes we take, the last thing we need is for our bottoms to be hurting due to sandy one-ply toilet paper.
I realize that toilet paper is kind of a dumb topic to protest, but I don’t really have any problems at the moment. I am a pretty easy going guy who doesn’t get too worked up about shit like that. I mean I believe in standing up for what you believe in and everything, but sometimes I just don’t see the point. Expecially if protesting is just going to be a waste of my time and get in other peoples way, who don’t even have control over what we are protesting for. I am extremely angered by the writers in Hollywood and the fact that they are being money hungry sons of bitches really gets me going. They are all so rich, and yet they demand more money, when I just want to watch some funny episodes of The Office, which is the first show to run out of material and to be effected by the strike. I hate rich selfish Hollywood people who think just because they don’t drive a Ferrari that they won’t survive.
In high school I went with my social justice class to Lucasville to protest capital punishment. I strongly disagree with capital punishment because it’s inhumane. I also don’t believe that whether a person should die should never be the decision of another human because all humans are capable of doing wrong and because of that, no human is any better than the other. No human should ever have the choice of killing someone else because they wronged especially if that person that s making the choice has also done wrong in his or her life. Protesting made me feel really good because I was with a lot of other people shared in the same belief as me. I felt bad for the families there that wanted capital punishment because they lost a loved one, but I also don’t believe that we should “take and eye-for-an-eye” either. In the end there is of course capital punishment, but I feel like every year that I went with my class we all got to voice our opinions. Although we didn’t achieve our overall goal, we did let the public know that there is and always will be people who are against the death penalty and that we won’t give up protesting.
Protesting I believe is one of the most important rights that is giving to us as American citizens. The idea of having the freedom to stand up for what you believe and your opinion and not be struck down is something that we should be proud of having. Many governments in the World do not allow such acts but the idea that ours does truly shows how great a place this truly is.
You asked me if I ever have protested and if you mean the typical protesting with signs and walking up and down the street in a group screaming things then no I have not. I have protested against my parents about things but I do not believe that is actually what you mean. I have taken part in things such as the freedom walk that occurred in Washington D.C. where a large group of citizens walked the memorials in support for our great nation and the American troops. If you consider this to be a protest then yes I have.
I have also had a few encounters with protestors in my life who I have not agreed with. When I see a protestor who has different opinions than I do I will normally go up to them and ask for their reason and support for their beliefs. In doing this I never try to take away their freedom to protest but only ask for their reasoning in doing so and by doing this I usually get a negative response.
I would love to protest more for something I believed in and I have no problem with those who do protest as long as it does not turn into violence or negative thoughts. I believe it is a great experience for someone to take the opportunity to protest something they believe in and it can show them what occurs at such experiences. If a person wants to show what they believe for in a positive manner then I would say go for it but the moment it turns into to violence or insults to others then it has gone too far and the protest needs to be brought to a halt.
I have never been involved in a real protest before, but there are definitely things that I would want to protest that happen within the United States. Each person knows something that is going is wrong and they don’t have to guts to stand up to it. I want have each person that lives in the United States to say something that should be protested against and I think there would be a list miles long because most people don’t have the guts to say anything. One of this issues I think that should be addressed is the war in Iraq because there are many people dying each week and it is getting to be the norm. I was flipping through the channels and on CNN there was the body count on home many different people that we being killed on each side and I was amazed to see how the number were incredible. There are so many people dying each day and no one has the voice to stand up and say something that they believe. If each person that thought it was wrong stood up and said something we would no longer be a war. I would defiantly make a difference if I could but there is nothing that will happen with one person saying something so the rest of the country has to make a stance to stop the war on terror and make a new push to have peace throughout the world. I want to go and make a voice in sending letters, but again this will not be enough and I will be wasting my time because no one will listen to me. Protesting has become less and less effective because there are no more ways to get people to change within the government because they care less and less what they people think because they are running the country. I am really surprised that they let a woman into government status because that could change things. I also think that it is a good thing because many people can look and see that diversity is hitting the country in a bigger widespread sector. I hope that everyone learns to stand up for what they think is right and be a better person in their lifetime.
I have never really protested or stood against anything really because of the fact that I am a pretty easy going kid and very little bothers me. I pretty much go with the flow and haven’t had anyone wrong me in a way that deserved such a drastic reaction. There was one occasion that I did break some rules and stand up for what I believed it. We have this awards ceremony every year in which awards are given out to certain students for each class. However, it is a known fact that the same students get every award, and that is possibly the worst two hours of your known life. I had my parents sign me out and tell the office that I was coming in late the next day. Many kids do this every year and have their parents lie and say that they have a phony doctor’s appointment. I simply told my parents to say that I would be in late. When I arrived at school after the ceremony the tool of the assistant dean asked me why I had been late. I told the truth saying that I came in late after the ceremony. He then asked me if I would be attending detention the following Monday. After I promptly told him I would not be attending detention because I had been excused by my parents, he tried to tell me that my parents do not reserve the right to dictate when I did or did not come to school. After much debate he tried to tell me that he would not let me play in the big football game that night. I was infuriated to see those that lied to the administration getting off totally free of punishment. I mean when was the last night 31 people all had a doctor’s appointment on the same morning. I also realized that my friend was in the same predicament. Later that day I got called out of class and into the dean’s office. He wanted to take away my athletic privileges for disrespecting the assistant dean, and for cutting class. I sat there for about fifteen minutes explaining that I missed no class, was excused by my parents, and that the kids that lie are the ones getting off with no punishment. Our crest has the words Honor, Perseverance, Fortitude in bold letters across the coat of arms. I asked him where the honor was in lying to your school? This is only teaching us that if you lie, you get what you want. This did not sit well with me. After much talking he told me that I wasn’t in trouble and that in the future don’t pull anything again. In the end I felt like I won and I was very happy to walk out of there and play in the bi game that night.
I have never rallied or protested anything in my life, nor do I really plan too. However, I guess if I would protest something, it would have to be something with importance to me such as prohibition, no Mexican food, Hilary Clinton for president in ’08, and so on. I am usually a very content person, but those would be the things that I would protest in a heartbeat. I guess I would go watch a KKK protest or we hate Hilary protest as well just because I think it would be funny. Although I am not all too familiar with protesting, I am sure that I would just start a riot if the prohibition was to come back and for the government to take away Mexican food and restaurants such as Qdoba, Chipotle, and La Hacienda; I would probably throw bricks through buildings, start small couch fires, and grab an ozie and climb a clock tower.
Although, I have talked so some people who have been to rallies or protests, and I thought it was very interesting with what they told me. My oldest brother is a senior at Indiana University and while he was in high school he told me that went downtown with some of his friends to protest against a White Supremacy Parade. Why the government still lets that go on I have no idea but I guess that why we have our freedom and the first amendment gives us the right of free speech and the right to assemble. None the less, my brother told me how many people were there in protest against it. He said that he had never seen so many people in his life, and that there was only a hand full of white supremacist s who had gathered. He told me that I need to experience something like that; which brings me to a vacation my family took up to Toronto when I was in fifth grade. My parents set up a few days for us to go downtown and walk around and do other stuff, but that all changed when we found out that there were Gay Parades going on and my parents wanted nothing to do with that.
In the end I have never protested anything nor have rallied against anything, I guess I don’t have much motivation to exercise the first amendment in what it was attended for; although I have still been to a gay rally parade.
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