Hands Off in Hawaii
You won't find me in this crowd
Today three thousand reportedly came to the Hawaii State Capitol to protest the Orange Regime.
Even though I hate Great Orange God and his Good Guy Gang, I wasn’t among the protestors. I don’t believe street theater is going to eject our enemies from office, just as I don’t believe it can bring about peace in Ukraine or Palestine.
Standing with Ukraine and Palestine in Paradise
I realize that publicly admitting that I live in Hawaii makes me even easier to dox than I already am. But I can’t resist exploiting my unique vantage point.
In the sequel to that post, I wrote that
“the single worst [USSA] foreign policy decision in the last half-century” [i.e., the Iraq War] would still have been executed, despite “the largest anti-war rallies in human history, with some 14 million people protesting in almost 800 cities around the world.”
If 14 million couldn’t stop Dubya, how could these marchers in Waikiki stop Netanyahu 8,900 miles (14,000 km) away?
Similarly, how could three thousand - or whatever the real number was - in Honolulu stop Trump and Musk 4,800 miles (7,800 km) away?
I’m not saying any of those marchers are wrong. I’m saying they’re ineffective.
Today I learned an acronym from
in the comments on ’s latest post:“the POSIWID principle: the purpose of a system is what it does”
I knew the principle but didn’t have a handy seven-letter term for it. Thanks, Wallfacer!
That principle can apply to protests as well. The purpose of a protest is what it does.
And what the protest in Honolulu doesn’t do is influence our rulers.
What it does do is create the illusion that ‘we the people’ matter, that ‘we’ still have power over the powerful.
It’s collective copium.
I am not saying all protests are illusions. The impact of a general strike would be very real. But the impact of holding signs for a couple of hours? Not so much.
"That principle can apply to protests as well. The purpose of a protest is what it does.
And what the protest in Honolulu doesn’t do is influence our rulers.
What it does do is create the illusion that ‘we the people’ matter, that ‘we’ still have power over the powerful.
It’s collective copium.
I am not saying all protests are illusions. The impact of a general strike would be very real. But the impact of holding signs for a couple of hours? Not so much."
BRAVO!
I went to an anti-war protest during W Bush. War still happened. I witnessed J6 on tv…. Biden was still president. I am looking at this protest, and whatever it is supposed to be against, which appears to just be a protest against Donald Trump’s existence (we had one hear locally where I am). I am pretty sure he will continue to exist.
I believe to a certain degree that if you truly figured a way to make your protest effective, it would suddenly be called “terrorism” or a “riot”