> "These protestors aren't going to solve anything ," she said. "Like, what are those people even trying to do? Seriously. What are they trying to do? Make people mad about getting stuck in traffic? Piss people off because they can't get to Grand Central? It's annoying . I just can't stand it."
> She rattled off a couple of other disparaging comments about the peaceful protestors I was preparing to join, repeatedly referring to them as those people before a chorus of my team’s nodding heads, each bobbing affirmingly behind their desk.
I agree that you shouldn't expect your co-workers to openly protest anything in particular, or anything at all. But I think it's just common sense to not shit on a bunch of people protesting police brutality committed on a black man... when one of your black co-workers is sitting a few feet away. At best it's insensitive.
> "These protestors aren't going to solve anything ," she said. "Like, what are those people even trying to do? Seriously. What are they trying to do? Make people mad about getting stuck in traffic? Piss people off because they can't get to Grand Central? It's annoying . I just can't stand it."
Yes. That's how protests work. You're trying piss people off enough to notice and take action. It doesn't matter what they're mad at so long as they're mad enough to take action. I don't care if they're pissed off that I'm wearing dark pants that they make the social change I'm after, so long as it gets made.
It's dangerous (and quite condescending) to assume that people are ignoring your plight out of ignorance or malice. Don't ask "why aren't they listening to me?" Ask instead "how am I making my point relatable and appealing to them?"
If you're pissing off the very people you're trying to win over to your side, then you have little reason to be surprised when they turn against you.
Truthfully you can either make them like you (by being relatable) or hate you (by annoying the crap out of them) -- just so long as you're not forgettable.
IMO we have an unlimited supply of problems we could focus our attention to, and as people, we don't have the capacity to address them all. We sort in order of pain, and protests cause pain, and pain causes action. It's less a question of morality and more of human physiology.
> Until they weren't.
> ...
> "These protestors aren't going to solve anything ," she said. "Like, what are those people even trying to do? Seriously. What are they trying to do? Make people mad about getting stuck in traffic? Piss people off because they can't get to Grand Central? It's annoying . I just can't stand it."
> She rattled off a couple of other disparaging comments about the peaceful protestors I was preparing to join, repeatedly referring to them as those people before a chorus of my team’s nodding heads, each bobbing affirmingly behind their desk.
I agree that you shouldn't expect your co-workers to openly protest anything in particular, or anything at all. But I think it's just common sense to not shit on a bunch of people protesting police brutality committed on a black man... when one of your black co-workers is sitting a few feet away. At best it's insensitive.
[0] https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6278613/The-Weigh...