Hey protesters, here’s what not to do
I enjoy a good protest as much as the next guy.
Back in my college days, I even participated in anti-war protests. This was many wars ago, when we were embroiled in Vietnam.
I like to think the protests helped us get out of Vietnam, and maybe saved some lives. Yes, protest beats apathy for sure.
But the protesters back in the ’60s actually got people on their side, whether it was Vietnam or civil rights or whatever.
Today’s protesters think they can get the job done by being cute on social media and antagonizing people, as we’ve seen in South Florida and nationally.
After seeing the protests of recent weeks, I have a couple of suggestions for the protesters of today.
Don’t be gutless. Earlier this month, we had some creeps called Anonymous who hacked into the city of Fort Lauderdale’s website to protest regulations against the homeless.
Yeah, what courage on the part of the Anonymous. No names, nothing but a guy in a video wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, which a lot of protesters seem to like even though I’m sure they have no idea who Guy Fawkes was.
What did Anonymous accomplish?
Well, they really inconvenienced residents who wanted to pay bills, check beach conditions or search criminal databases. From all reports, we still have homeless people in Fort Lauderdale.
And how about the buffoons who went to Mayor Jack Seiler’s house to picket and protest?
All of you folks, Anonymous and the rest of you, give protesters a bad name.
Don’t bring traffic to a standstill for hours: Then we had the folks who were protesting for a good cause — police brutality and discrimination against minorities. They were upset about the lack of indictments in cases in Missouri and New York, in particular.
Good cause. Really dumb way of trying to get people on your side.
Unless you think shutting down major highways, and inconveniencing people for hours — and doing it for several days — is a great way to get the public to support you.
Protesters shut down I-195 during Art Basel in Miami last week.
In Broward, protesters blocked off parts of Broward Boulevard, Federal Highway and Las Olas Boulevard, bringing traffic to a halt.
“People here are angry,” said Verhonda Williams, an attorney who organized the Broward event.
She posted her protest call on Facebook in the morning, and got over 100 people to join by late afternoon. And what did it accomplish? Nothing except making people angry. People who might very well be sympathetic to the cause.
Let me say again — blocking streets and highways for hours is a lousy way to protest.
Do the protesters really expect support from people who took several hours more to get home?
Or people who were rushing to see a sick relative or friend?
Or people who need to get home to their family and kids?
As for emergency vehicles that needed to get through, did the protesters care about that?
Probably not, but I’m sure they were glad the police — the police they are protesting against — were on hand to try and keep things under control.
Don’t be total slobs: People liked the Occupy Wall Street protesters for awhile, until they started turning towns into pig sties.
Occupy Wall Street is now about as relevant as eight-track tapes.
If protesters want to really get something done, here’s how.
You want to protest police or government, do it at city halls or at police stations. Do it at government meetings. And how about getting out to vote to bring about change.
I’ll go out on a limb here and say the majority of those protesting in South Florida last week didn’t vote in the most recent election.
Yeah, stopping traffic and making noise gets attention on TV. In a negative way.
It’s not going to win people over.
At least, it won’t win over this former protester. Gary Stein can be reached at gstein@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4616 or on Twitter @SSEditorial.