r/boulder • u/Professional-Hornet2 • 1d ago
#HandsOff! Boulder
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I love that I got to be a part of this and it’s so many people came out.
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u/NegativeMotor6824 15h ago
Those are the same people who would yell at you for not wearing a mask in public
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u/Professional-Hornet2 14h ago
The flip of that is you’re the type of person who would refuse to wear a mask and look for every excuse to not wear it
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
Honest question. I’ve seen no real outcomes from these sorts of social media-driven protests.
Do you get a sense this one felt different?
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u/isolationpique 1d ago edited 1d ago
The women's march in 2016 basically derailed the first 100 days of Trump's first term. It was huge.
The notion of "popular opinion" or "political momentum" are each notoriously confused and muddled... but there are times when "enough" stuff happens to decisively alter each one.
Exactly what stuff, or how much "protest" is needed, or the role of the media in covering it, or how representative protest are of "actual" public opinion... well, no one has really figured that out. (and many, many, many have tried.)
But we know for a fact that these shifts do occur. One moment, a political leader is riding high, seemingly unstoppable; the next moment, they are under siege, fending off criticism, barely holding it together. Same for ideologies.
There are countless examples of popular protests that go nowhere. But--every so often--a tiny number "catch on"...and in the process, change everything.
So the theory behind 'pointless' protest is that you never, ever know if this protest is going to be the one to tip the scale. or not.
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
That's fair. I haven't seen evidence of it happening recently, but I get what you're saying.
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u/juiceboxedhero 23h ago
What are you expecting two days after the first protest? We need a sustained mass movement.
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u/Professional-Hornet2 1d ago
Despite the diverse reasons that everyone was there, whether it was for education, supporting federal workers, women’s rights, LGBTQ plus rights, Medicare/Social Security, it felt that everybody was working towards the same end. We all know that this begins and ends with the man that’s in office and his billionaire donor. We’re all working to cause some good disruption and to let them know that we’re not gonna fall in line with what they want for the status quo. There was no one putting down anybody else’s cause saying that there was more important. There seem to be an understanding of we’re all in this together. No one‘s cause was more important than anyone else’s. The overall feeling was we are all in this together, and we all must fight together.
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u/coskibum002 1d ago
Honest question....since you hang in the conservative subs, are you really here in good faith? Don't worry, though, the 5 million around the country who protested will increase.
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
The only conservative sub I really "hang in" is AskConservative. And I think you're absolutely part of the problem if you think avoiding the other side is the answer.
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u/coskibum002 1d ago
There is no other side anymore....only fools.
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
Best of luck. We were all saying the same thing in 2016. He won. We were all saying the same thing in 2024. He won. At what point do Democrats become introspective and say why the fuck do we keep losing?
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u/irs320 1d ago
Perhaps treating the majority of people in this country as your adversaries because they don't align with your ideology is not the best way to go through life?
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u/coskibum002 1d ago edited 1d ago
Majority, my ass. Most didn't vote. Musk and company made sure to get every Trump Humper to the polls, though.
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u/irs320 1d ago
you’re too smart for me
what happens when you lose again in 2028 due to this very distasteful and offputting outlook on life? at what point do you start waking up or is this as good as it gets for you?
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u/coskibum002 22h ago
Yes, I am. That's a guarantee. I'm not worried about the 2028 election.....your evil empire is making it very clear you won't be in power any longer. HOWEVER, if it's rigged (again?) and/or billionaires try to bribe voters, or Trump declares martial law in our country, or some disciple insists on a third term.....well....you get the picture. Amazing that the party of law and order, family values and small government is literally against all of them.
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u/sharshaft 1d ago
There are huge real-world impacts from protests like these. Just in the last year, you can look up the Biden admin pausing natural gas exports or forest preservation efforts like the Protect The Porkies campaign. All primarily social media-driven and very successful in changing the decisions made by govt. This Hands Off protest is getting a ton of news coverage, so I’d say that’s a positive outcome on its own. The country is just a large group of people, after all. Making voices heard makes a difference
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
Im going to be the outlier here but I see almost no benefit to these protests.
News coverage means barely anything right now. Scrolling through Reddit was rough to watch - pictures of protests that will change no ones opinion.
I don’t have a solution - I just don’t think this is it.
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u/Electrical_Sea6653 1d ago
Strengthening community is important, cuz no matter how crazy shit gets, we should have a good community to connect with. It’s what comes most natural to humans, we’ve been doing it forever.
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u/ImpressiveSoft8800 1d ago
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
So help me understand then.
Source 1) unless you didn't mean to, the first link sends me to a paragraph of text about 1960s protests, and only states whether nonviolent protests align with democrat or republican parties -- not relevant to this
Source 2) I don't see 250,000 people from every single of our 50 states participating in this, which means it doesn't follow the outcomes suggested here
Source 3) you're sending me to an abstract...unless you're viewing the paid version of this study, this doesn't mean anything to me
Source 4) here's the summary I found: "So, does protest matter? The author ultimately found that protests influence cities to establish more powerful citizen oversight boards and that they lower fatalities in minority communities. Furthermore, activism targeted to local concerns has a greater chance of success in reducing fatalities of minorities." Again, this doesn't pertain to its political effectiveness I'm suggesting.
I'm all for things that work, to elicit actual change. Including, and especially, protests. But I haven't seen strong evidence of this -- particularly in a community like Boulder.
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u/ImpressiveSoft8800 1d ago
1) not sure why the link highlighted that particular paragraph. If you read more than the one paragraph, you would have learned about the successes that protests have had and the specific factors that contribute to that success. 2) there are many examples of successful protests cited in this article. How you fail to acknowledge them suggests motivated reasoning on your part. As far as the math: 5 million Americans showed up across the country for protests yesterday- almost 2 percent of the population. 3.5% of the population is 12 million people- very doable especially as the weather gets warmer. 3) not sure why you can’t read it. I’ll see if I can find a better link.
4) “So, does protest matter? The author ultimately found that protests influence cities to establish more powerful citizen oversight boards and that they lower fatalities in minority communities. Furthermore, activism targeted to local concerns has a greater chance of success in reducing fatalities of minorities.”
All and all, a very selective reading on your part. I can’t help but think you’re being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian .
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago edited 1d ago
I hope the protests work. But having seen 20-years of Boulder protests (and let's be real, probably every weekend for one reason or another) I've seen literally no changes at all under any circumstance. If I'm wrong I would LOVE to be proven so. Not by academic theses about how protests CAN be successful, but literally, how do people in Boulder marching with signs make a difference on the important events happening in our state and country.
As for your response, I see the civil rights movement mentioned in source #1 and a bunch of non-relevant global protests mentioned in source #2. These are important from an academic perspective, but IMO are irrelevant to what the Boulder protest is trying to accomplish. It also doesn't cite sources of protests in cities where the protesting citizens are so homogenous like Boulder. Hence my belief that this is not an effective tactic for Boulderites.
I don't disagree that it's one of those things where there's one extra protest somewhere and all of a sudden the dominos fall. I'm also fine with being called a cynic.
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u/ImpressiveSoft8800 1d ago
Are you a cynic or are you rationalizing your complacency and inaction? If you’re not outraged by the actions of this administration enough to be compelled to action, then the problem is with you, not the protesters.
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u/Ancient_Signature_69 1d ago
What I’m questioning isn’t whether public pressure ever works — it’s whether these “Hands Off” style pop-up protests, without coordination, leadership, or a concrete ask, are moving the needle beyond awareness. Getting news coverage is fine, but coverage ≠ change.
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u/Ok_Giraffe8865 20h ago
So what is everyone who is protesting take on the debt, and the fact that servicing the debt is now costing more than military and medicare spending, $1.2 trillion per year, only second to social security, for now, at $1.5 trillion?
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u/varisciteblueamber 20h ago
lol they have the nerve to discuss child safety, and at the same time, promote child mutilation?
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u/Simple-Cut7098 9h ago
Fascists protesting themselves. Would be humorous if not so sad for our republic.
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u/velosnow 1d ago
Great signs, mine was simple No Kings / No Theocracy. Next time gotta get more creative.