Redefining The Lines: Clarifying the Line Between Riots and Peaceful Protests is the Key to Bringing People Back Together.
Accurate definitions and understanding the propaganda techniques used by the corporate elite are a good place to start.
We don’t need to rehash everything. If you have been paying any attention at all you can clearly see there is a difference between the way the protesters in the Canadian Convoy rally are being treated, verses how the protestors in the Black Lives Matter protests were treated last year. It is hard to argue that both protests didn’t receive completely different treatment by the media, the police, and by the governments - regardless of how the protestors actually behaved.
One glaring example is that the Convoy had almost $9 million dollars in donations stolen from it, twice. Another is the new backhanded threats by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to “not have to use the military” to break the convoy up.
But the real problem comes back to something simple: definitions.
We need to redefine exactly where the line is between rioters and protestors, and then hold everyone accountable - equally - who crosses that line. Their race, age, gender, political ideology, or any other divisive category should not impact how the law or the government treats them.
We cannot have vague, arbitrary, blurry lines that are allowed to be selectively interpreted and then moved around by narratives and agendas. There needs to be clear and agreed upon rules that follow simple logic patterning. That’s it.
So what should be the clear difference between a peaceful protest and a riot?
Obviously, the presence of violence is one indicator.
However, this can be tricky too. A handful of people behaving badly shouldn’t give sway to the power of shutting down an entire movement of people. Imagine if you shut down an entire NFL football game because a small group of people got too rowdy, got in a fight, or heaven forbid jumped through a folding table. Would it be fair to send everyone home? Of course not; just the bad actors should be punished.
The same is true for any movement. It is way too easy for an opposing political side to infiltrate the opposite side’s camp and act as agent provocateurs (bad actors) during a legitimate protest. If it is that easy to shut down the voice of a massive group of people, then any movement that attempts to go against the powerful corporate elite will be easily shut down - labeled everything from “violent” to domestic terrorists, and then the iron boot of government force will be ushered in to squash it.
The best propagandists of all time - people like William Randolph Hearst - studied and knew what psychological angles the media could take to have the greatest effect on the masses. When it comes to stopping a movement, the propaganda approach is simple: find a few bad actors in any large group of people, and focus on that group and ignore the rest. Magnify that group. Make the whole movement seem like they are just like that small group.
This technique is easily implemented because every large group of people usually has at least a few bad actors in it. (And if by some miracle there isn’t any, how hard would it be to add a few? Or convince a few that they should be?)
This propaganda style is known as the “disassociation technique.” Find the most uncouth members of any movement and put them on display for the world, and basically ask “Do you want to be like these people?” No? Then you better not join the rest of this movement.
Even if the movement perfectly aligns with your core values, this technique is often enough to make one want to disassociate from it.
There are plenty of examples of this technique being used in recent history. In 2008 and 2012 when Ron Paul was gaining momentum in the Presidential races, a few (literal) tinfoil-hat-wearing religious-zealot Ron Paul supporters were singled out, interviewed, and then sensationalized as the cultural norm if you aligned there. We saw similar tactics used on the Occupy Wall Street protestors. Despite the fact I knew many working Americans (like myself) attending Occupy demonstrations, it was quickly labeled “Get a Job” by the corporate media and pundits, and was squashed simply with powerful unified dissociation techniques across media platforms.
People like Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, Larry Elder, and many more have all had this same technique used against them.
In addition to disassociation techniques, one of the proven most effective forms of psychological attacks on mass groups of people is simple wordplay. This is why choosing words is held in such high regard by those wishing to usher in totalitarian states. The wordplay around the Nazis is well documented. So is it with Mao’s regime in China during the cultural revolution. Words and definitions matter. And when we have blurry lines defining important words - especially in law - it opens up the ability for government, media, and corporate interests to change and interpret those blurry definitions to fit whatever agenda they have at the moment.
Isn’t it time that the left and right start looking for the things we can agree on?
Allowing people to peacefully protest their government without the threat of military, theft of donations, or coordinated smear campaigns using taxpayer dollars should be a simple one. Defining the difference between a protest and a riot should be next. Sure, the parameters around the definitions will certainly need work. But it is possible with a little gumption and mutual compromise to find a line most of us can agree on.
Despite the corporate media mantras, this shouldn’t be that hard. And despite the narrative that we are the enemies of each other, we aren’t. We are all citizens with a more glaring enemy. That enemy is the corporate special interest groups that have captured control over most of our institutions. And the only way to get that control back to the people is by bringing the left and right sides together.
Let’s start by coming together over some important definitions and see if we can’t grow from there.
About the author:
Josh R. Ketry is an advocate for freedom, human growth, and human potential. A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blackbelt and Academy owner. Entrepreneur. Writer. Philosopher. Carnivore diet advocate. Birder. Muskie fisherman. Photographer. A voice for the bullied. No topic off limits. Thank you for reading!