Millennials don't believe protesting works.
I've seen a lot of discussion about why millennials aren't coming out. Yes, they work and have young children. They are taking care of their elderly parents. All of these things are true and valid.
But also millennials have gone to the Occupy Wall Street protests, which accomplished nothing. The BLM protests, which accomplished nothing. The Women's March, which lol. I protested during all of these things only for our country to slide even further into capitalistic greed and corruption. When Bernie was running, someone we could get excited about, he was undermined by his own party.
Many millennials don't even believe their vote matters anymore in the face of gerrymandering and the electoral college.
I still want to believe protesting can effect change. Or frankly that American citizens have any power at all anymore. I'll be protesting on the 5th, but man is it hard to keep hope alive when our generation has been crushed under the establishment for our entire lives. Combine that with how oppressive the 40+ hour work week is and can you blame people for not protesting? Millennials barely even have the energy to do their laundry.
I'm not sure how to energize people. I'm not even sure how to energize myself. The Democratic party offers no leadership or hope whatsoever.
Please offer your local millennial (and me!) some hope. Please tell me we aren't just screaming into a void.
Originally Posted By u/duckhunt420 At 2025-03-31 11:47:11 AM | Source
Peaceful protests stopped really accomplishing anything once the ones being protested learned that there's no long term consequence to just ignoring peaceful protests. Not only that protests in the past were far more strategic. You'd use Rosa Parks because she's got the marketable image when the cameras are out. You had sit-ins. You had well organized boycotts. You had people willing to sit in a county jail for being disruptive.
I went to a protest last month. What I heard reminded me of college. Spent like 40 minutes listening to the DJ talk about how music and activism have always gone hand in hand and how later in the day please stick around to listen to music of liberation. Art is commentary. It is rarely the driver of action. Listening to music isn't going to plan out a boycott and organize weekly/monthly meetings to plan out and continue motivating boycotts.
College campus students like to do silent protests on campus to people that agree with them and/or do symbolic stuff like lay on the ground and draw chalk marks around them or place duct tape on their mouths. Zero stakes, zero risk on a college campus, zero weight to these attempted symbols and of course the lack of organizing regular meetings to further operate. Protests have to evolve into professional/pseudo-professional organizations
And all the peaceful marches from MLK Jr. Elsewhere there was still Malcolm X, Black Panthers, Communist Party, Fred Hampton and his collection of people putting aside their racism and sexismm for shared labor/economic interests, and of course then there was MLK Jr being assassinated and a week of countrywide riots that sped the Civil Rights Act of 1968 through congress and the white house
The Tesla protests are good though. It needs to keep being hammered for years to come that Tesla cars are garbage and support garbage and portray an image of garbage. Continued exodus from X to BlueSky or Mastadon is good. Reddit to Lemmy is good. All things that hit rich people if enough people do make the move. If only there were good movements to get off Facebook and Instagram. Stuff like not buying Kentucky whisky/bourbon is good. Buy Canadian or overseas whiskey. Until American brands take a stand, buy foreign and make it known why you buy foreign
We need people from Instagram to exodus to Pixelfed. I don't know how polished or appealing Pixelfed is though.
I use Flashes. Its on ATProto.