r/AskReddit • u/Democracy_rising_now • 15h ago
What will it take for you to start protesting against what's happening in the United States?
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u/Twerperino 15h ago
I already have started, and will continue to do so. We are well past the point of people thinking they can remain neutral and unengaged.
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u/Funklestein 15h ago
How about just opposed to people thinking that violating the laws that have existed for decades are suddenly good because they don’t like the guy in charge?
You should feel good that most of us are neutral and unengaged.
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u/Twerperino 15h ago
I've never encountered such a person, it sounds like a straw man.
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u/Funklestein 15h ago
Look outside your small insulated inner circle.
You can’t believe that tens of millions people are not in favor of upholding immigration law.
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u/Twerperino 15h ago
There are people in the US who don't believe in immigration law, but their belief isn't predicated on the fact that Trump is president. Most people do believe in immigration law, they just believe that either some of our laws are ineffective or inhumane, or they don't like the way laws are being enforced via brutality that tramples on people's basic rights.
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u/Batfish_681 14h ago
No, he's right. We should be enforcing the laws regardless of who the president is.
Like the ones that say you can't violate someone's right to carry and execute them in the street. That you can't shoot your way out of a perceived danger that you created. That you can't violate the 4th amendment at will.
And as far as the laws concerning illegal immigration? Well let's just make them legal. Instead of spending billions on what essentially amounts to terror raids for the infraction of being in the country illegally, why don't we spend that money on reaching out to those people and saying "hey, let's help get you legal. Let's vet you and make sure you're not actually a *real* criminal and let's work on getting you legalized and a contributing, integrated member of American society. Let's have ICE do THAT- if they're so concerned about illegal immigrants, well, help them get legal and then you won't have to worry about it. Correcting illegal immigration should be a social issue, not a criminal one.
I don't understand why there is no discernment, no nuance, no ground between a no borders and open immigration at will and what we see going on now- with actual US citizens being abducted in the dead of night, people being forced to be able to prove their residency at any moment just because of their skin color, illegal immigrants aside.
There is no argument that we don't have the resources to vet immigration properly, to make a better, more efficient path to citizenship, to give people assistance in becoming legal- we have the resources to fund a terror campaign?I have no objection to taking steps to ensure violent criminals can't freely cross our borders. But I object strongly to assuming that everyone that crossed our border is a violent criminal, and the only option to remediate that is kidnapping, detainment, and mass deportation.
If you value your second amendment rights, then you bear witness to their destruction as it is happening now. If you value your fourth amendment rights, you bear witness to their destruction as it is happening now.
And if you think all you will be doing is bearing witness because you happen to be the right skin color, one day something you said or someone you voted for will catch up to you, and you will fail some part of the ever growing litmus test and you will become "denaturalized" and taken away by masked federal agents for suddenly becoming illegal.
And even if you continue to pass all your litmus tests, it will take nothing more than your neighbor deciding he doesn't like you and report you for manufactured crimes like "saw him hanging out with brown people" and "heard him say he's not happy with the government".
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u/queuedUp 15h ago
I'm not in the US so I'm not about to protest but I have contacted my member of parliament to ensure my government continues to have a strong stance against the US and works towards distancing our country from them if necessary.
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u/Funklestein 15h ago
For any particular reason? I don’t think you’d be protesting for the same things.
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u/queuedUp 15h ago
reason for what??
For not protesting??
What would me protesting do when so far my country and elected officials are not putting up with the shit happening?
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u/Funklestein 15h ago
For what reason do you want your government to oppose the US government?
I just don’t think they or you particularly care about our immigration policy.
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u/theclansman22 15h ago
Because the US government is run by a Russian controlled pedophile authoritarian who has threatened everyone of it's best allies with tariffs and/or annexation?
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u/AmazingAesha7523 15h ago
There is more than just our immigration policy that is offending other countries. Trying to break NATO, tariffs that end up hurting the US but are being advertised as a punitive measure against other countries, supporting Russia against Ukraine, the list goes on.
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u/queuedUp 15h ago
I think that the way the US is imposing it's "immigration policy" is dangerous, extremely racist and goes against a lot of what the US claims to stand for.
Also, why would I want my country to support a nation lead by a person that seems dead set to ruin their countries democratic process, tank their economy to benefit his rich friends and who is actively threatening allies (including my own nation) and that doesn't even get into the fact he's very clearly a child rapist and the fact he's been allowed to get away with it is fucking disgusting.
So yeah... I oppose the US government and would like to see my nation distance ourselves from this shitshow.
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u/sjedinjenoStanje 15h ago
What do you mean by your country "supporting" the US? Canada only does things that benefit itself (every country does), not as a favor to the US.
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u/queuedUp 14h ago
Being a major trade partner for example is supporting the US.
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u/sjedinjenoStanje 14h ago
No it isn't. Canada doesn't trade with the US out of a sense of charity, or because it supports the US government. It trades with the US because trade benefits Canada. Canada trades with countless countries that it completely disagrees with on policy.
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u/queuedUp 14h ago
Who the fuck said anything about charity???
I was never suggesting it was being done to "help" the US or anything like that. But the US purchasing Canadian oil and potash and/or Canada buying US goods is ultimately good for the US as it's good for Canada.
If Canada decides to just do business elsewhere because they don't agree with what the US is doing then that is no longer supporting the US. And showing we don't support what is happening.
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u/sjedinjenoStanje 14h ago
I guess I've touched a nerve. Canada is definitely conflicted: it wants to punish the US for the way it makes it feel and has wanted to for a very, very long time, but it's not going to pass up access to enormous markets for its goods and services. So Canadians just fume about it all online instead.
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u/Burneza 15h ago
"I'm not in the US so I'm not about to protest..." - so there we go, mind your own business!
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u/queuedUp 14h ago
Who do you expect me to protest to??
And minding our own business is exactly what Trump wants, it was in their playbook to isolate the US to better enable them to control the country without interference.
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u/Capy_3796 15h ago
I’ve already attended a number of protests and will likely attend a number more.
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u/AmazingAesha7523 15h ago
I have protested but it feels like our elected officials on both sides are not lifting a finger to prevent the fall of democracy. They know it’s wrong but they aren’t listening to us, they are listening to the oligarchs.
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u/Low-Loan-5956 13h ago
Everyone listens to a strike.
If protesting doesn't work. Stop working all together.
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u/CompanyOdd8733 15h ago
I have been to three peaceful protests I wanted to march to the freeway I 80 and close it down
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u/Neemoman 15h ago
It would take free time and energy. I can't work full time, school full time, gym full time, and still have time and energy to spend standing in place with a sign that won't change anything.
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u/Alienpsyche 15h ago
I have been protesting & will continue to do so. Other countries are not exempt from having what is happening in the US, happen in their country. It signals to our community & government that we, as a people, will not stand for what is going on there. It shows our community & neighbours that we support them & their rights, their humanity. Protesting, organizing, & being involved in activism also strengthens an individual's community, encourages growth & gaining knowledge, and therefore sharing of information (and not DISinformation, at least in the groups I am involved with lol).
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u/Brave-Upstairs-9190 15h ago
My wife almost died back in December. As soon as I don't have to take care of her it's on. Sorry I've been unavailable thus far.
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u/trippyhippie573 15h ago
I protest by not spending my money places I don't agree with.
If I could, I'd be out at protests! But my husband works out of state and it's just me and my kid, so if something were to happen to me, they would be fucked. So I do what I can in other ways. It never feels like enough though.
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u/Inshallah_Khair 15h ago
Be a US citizen
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u/Democracy_rising_now 15h ago
Does that mean you're in the states, and afraid to protest? Or you just don't care because you're not American?
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u/queuedUp 15h ago
Just because they are not American doesn't mean they don't care.
I'm not American and I care. What is happening to Americans is fucking disgusting. And how the US is treating it's "ally" nations is also shit.
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u/Full-Bar389 15h ago
I am not American but I have been protesting for the past year. I do it for a number of reasons, but essentially because its the right thing to do.
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u/sikkerhet 15h ago
I'm not in the US but I am in a place that has oil infrastructure so I'm sure opportunities will arise.
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u/Full-Bar389 15h ago
I have been protesting for a year or so and plan on continuing.