As someone who has been a driver for ridesharing operations,
I can certainly relate to the recent shooting incident in Austin that resulted
in the death of a protester. I have
driven into downtown as festivals or events were ending and people are
everywhere. You turn a corner and you
are in it with no way to get out. The
protesters, being in their single-minded state, do not realize this. I have seen multiple videos and read multiple
articles of vehicles that accidentally get caught in a protest and are forced
to defend themselves against the protester's aggressions. That is when people, usually the protesters,
start getting hurt.
For reasons unknown, many people who are participating in
protests seem to have the mentality that they can do whatever they want when
they are protesting. This way of
thinking handicaps many protesters ability to have situational awareness, make
logical decisions, and to be able to see what someone, such as a driver in a
car that is trapped in the middle of a protest, is experiencing. In this handicapped state, many protesters
only see the vehicle as an unwelcome intruder and begin to take aggressive
actions without stopping for a moment to evaluate what the situation may
be. Good people that get caught up in
these surroundings can have the remainder of their lives ruined if good
judgement is not used.
Perhaps it should be suggested that a protester not just
blindly jump into a protest or a cause without first finding out who the leader
is. Are they really a leader or just
another person with a big mouth?
Following someone or some group that is going to lead followers down a
road that destroys the follower's lives, is in effect a dead-end road. Find a different leader or a different group
that is on a road that will end up at the desired destination.
The so-called leaders of protests with incidents, are not
doing a good job in guiding "their people" towards an effective
protest. It would appear that many
people may be attracted to the protest itself, but those people are not being
attracted to the cause. Too many
protesters are "tagging" along for what they perceive as the
"entertainment value" of the activity or the "social bank"
that they think they will gain with their peers. An effective protest leader would realize
this and would find a way to get a committed follower instead of the troublemakers
and thrill seekers that are only going to hold back the overall progress of the
cause. After all, it is not about
drawing attention to a specific event, a specific group itself, nor the
individuals in the group. It is about
drawing attention to the cause that will promote the desired change. A dysfunctional, disrespectful, and
destructive group is only going to accumulate more of those who are
dysfunctional, disrespectful, and destructive which will diminish the
credibility of any cause. It will also
have many of these dysfunctional, disrespectful, and destructive participants
of this kind of group find themselves in local, state, or federal areas of
detention where they will be more limited in their ability to support a
cause. It is not so much in the
headlines, but lots of people are going to jail and to prison for the
destructive and deadly acts that they are engaging in while supposedly being
part of a protest. This also puts the
leader at the same risk, so it is worthy of the leader's effort to filter out
those who are not true promoters of the cause.
Being a leader is about making good decisions and helping to
guide people in a direction that makes things better for them and for their
lives. There have been entirely too many
examples lately of good intentions being led by individuals that are not leaders. A good leader knows that tact must be used in
effectively getting their message heard.
Having the biggest sign, being disrespectful, and yelling at the top of
your lungs may not be the best prescription for a particular cause. The way a cause is represented can have a
huge influence on the outcome of the cause.
People who were on the side of a cause, have and will continue to switch
sides on the issue. Not because they feel
any less committed about the issue but because of the way it is being represented
by those who are supposedly protesting for the issue.
