@djsumdog @realcaseyrollins Yeah. Mind you, I wouldn't be very appreciative of people shouting outside my window at 3am in the morning if I'm trying to get some sleep then.

I don't really understand protests, I don't see how they change the state of things. But I can understand wanting to be heard. But how do you get heard when you become a large crowd? All those voices are drowning your own out. You may even lose yourself to them, do things you wouldn't normally do.

@sim @realcaseyrollins I think it's more difficult to do peaceful protests. You have to convince entire groups to not give into violence. MLKing was able to pull it off. Gandhi not so much, but then he'd starve himself and everyone would get back into line.

King let the nation watch his people get abused by firemen and attacked by dogs. It was cruel .. but the people listened.

I heard this bullshit for 2 hours Saturday with a splitting headache, fell asleep, and awoke to find the city on fire.

@djsumdog @realcaseyrollins Oh damn... I would hate listening to horns being set off like that too.

Yeah, doing a peaceful protest is really difficult to do. I think in this case, it's not helping that they are rallying behind someone who has died. So it's like, who is the leader? Who are all these people following? Then it is happening in so many different places at once.

@sim @realcaseyrollins You know .. if it was just the horns and afterwards, and you could walk into a store the next day and everything was cool .. I would try to understand. But it was horns .. and then everything went to fucking shit. Cop cars on fire. Trains shut down. Everything that didn't get looted is now boarded up.

@djsumdog @realcaseyrollins Same here. The fact that there are opportunists and people rioting has really detracted from the message of the protests. Police brutality is a real problem that needs addressing, but this isn't the way to address it. It's just the way to get free shit, vent some frustration and leave everyone else to clear up after you.

Not to mention that it makes the place seem less safe, and could put people into further poverty. Especially if there need to be bailouts, taxes paid to clean up public property. Peoples livelihoods can be destroyed, lots of money lost for small businesses. Sometimes even lives can be harmed.

@sim @djsumdog @realcaseyrollins I would say it needs to transform into a movement behind a central figure, but i just feel like that central figure would be a clown.

@Locksmith @djsumdog @realcaseyrollins Yeah, that figure might just become a mouthpiece. Because this movement didn't have one leader for people to rally behind at the start, I'm not sure it'll work at this point. Doesn't help that you have antagonistic groups looking to make things turn violent.

@djsumdog @realcaseyrollins Seriously, was thinking about this today—got some buddies that participated in all this and blocked a highway. That's not doing *anything* to get people to sympathize with your message or agenda…it's just making people hate you because it's fundamentally an asshole thing to do. Becoming a nuisance to society isn't a productive form of protest and it eradicates support people might otherwise give you. The same can doubly be said for looting, arson, vandalism, assault, etc.. I know many people who were totally appalled at the actions of the officers in Minneapolis—calling for them to be arrested, charged, and made example of. Now, those same people are openly supporting draconian measures by government and law enforcement against these protesters/rioters because they're tearing cities apart. The actions of the antiestablishment managed to 180º many people's support. It makes no sense to behave the way they're behaving if they genuinely want people to listen to/support their message.

@dsfgs Watch the video if you can. It isn't very long.