Originally Posted by New Era
Rioting actually isn't pointless. Looting is stupid, but the display and outcomes of both rioting and looting have their point in application of pressure against the entity in power.
Both Gandhi and King strongly believed in nonviolent resistance. Gandhi believed in nonviolent resistance and the use of tactics like protest, both symbolic and through organized disobedience. Organized disobedience can manifest through mechanisms such as sick-outs, sit-ins blocking traffic, or boycotts against specific products or services causing economic hardships against the elite. All mechanisms can be effective in achieving change, so long as you have appropriate media coverage to get your message across to the general population. Media plays a very important role in the success of any of these movements as they act as an amplifier to the cause.
Gandhi and King differed in that King believed in violent protest as a tactic. King recognized that many times protest does not capture the notice or imagination of the larger public. King recognized that violence was only useful to achieve momentary victories and non-violence was the means to a lasting accord.
In King's own words, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.
In a real sense nonviolence seeks to redeem the spiritual and moral lag that I spoke of earlier as the chief dilemma of modern man. It seeks to secure moral ends through moral means. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.
I believe in this method because I think it is the only way to reestablish a broken community. It is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to the conscience of the great decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride, and irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep.
The nonviolent resisters can summarize their message in the following simple terms: we will take direct action against injustice despite the failure of governmental and other official agencies to act first. We will not obey unjust laws or submit to unjust practices. We will do this peacefully, openly, cheerfully because our aim is to persuade. We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will try to persuade with our acts. We will always be willing to talk and seek fair compromise, but we are ready to suffer when necessary and even risk our lives to become witnesses to truth as we see it.”
In essence, violent protest is a mechanism to draw attention to the cause and win immediate victories by garnering attention from the media and broadening the discussion on the issue. A spasm of violence followed by days of peaceful protest and open discourse is a strategy in achieving progress on systemic issues where discussion has come to halt. King knew this and employed the tactic many times, whether this meant actively engaging the police or allowing the police to strike first. Televised violence, especially that against protesters, can be a very strong driver to systemic change.
The violence of the riots brought violence against peaceful protesters initiated by the authorities, which greatly amplified the discussion to the point where there were million person marches in Washington and Philadelphia yesterday. This massive outpouring of support is certain to influence future outcomes. As was pointed out in a tweet, Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes. If yesterday's protests were a thermometer reading of public opinion, Trump is on life support.
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