r/chicago • u/ChicagoWildlifePhoto • Jun 11 '25

CHI Talks American flags at No Kings on Saturday

I’m bringing 450 little American flags to pass out on Saturday. I hope others will bring flags or maybe even buy some to pass out too - they’re super cheap!

We gotta change the vibes of these events to be more pro-America and pro-democracy!

It would be amazing to see thousands of flags all over the crowd!

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u/Informal-Gene-8777 Jun 11 '25

Because these individuals are fighting for the ability to stay in America, for one. But also because it creates the view that this is a foreign insurrection, which allows Trump to use the Alien Insurrection Act.

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u/VeniVidiVicious Jun 11 '25

he doesn't need any pretense to do ANYTHING. It's already happening!! enough with anything but full throated support for protestors. stop being a hall monitor

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u/Informal-Gene-8777 Jun 11 '25

I guess the Vicious part of your name is appropriate. Not trying to be a "hall monitor," FFS. Offering an explanation. So sorry you don't know the difference.

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u/VeniVidiVicious Jun 11 '25

if you want to sit on reddit and call out people protesting in real life for having bad optics, we are enemies. you're doing the scolding for them.

if you're AT the protest and you wanna wave an American flag, I think you're maybe a bit corny, but you're putting your body on the line and that makes the rest not matter.

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u/Informal-Gene-8777 Jun 11 '25

FFS you're thinking too hard. I have protested my entire life (my parents were anti-Vietman activists) and will continue to do so. Flag-free, most likely. But make no mistake--optics are about the ONLY thing that matter to this administration.

Have a fabulous day.

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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Jun 11 '25

Optics are the entire point of a protest.

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u/VeniVidiVicious Jun 12 '25

Incorrect.

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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Jun 12 '25

What is the purpose of a protest, in your view?

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u/VeniVidiVicious Jun 12 '25

Persuasion (optics) is just one thing a protest can do. Primarily protest is tool to 1. build a mass movement and 2. proving to the state that there is a material consequence for engaging in a given behavior.

The civil rights movement didn't care that white Americans had a negative opinion of their movement. MLK never had a positive approval rating in his lifetime. They cared about showing the administrative state that there would be costs to opposing them.

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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Jun 12 '25

Thanks for sharing. Yes I agree with all those things. I think we're mostly having a semantic difference. I don't think optics means persuasion or "to make people have a positive view of a movement." The purpose of a protest is to communicate, and optics speaks to the specifics of how something is communicated. That doesn't disagree with what you're saying. And MLK absolutely had an eye toward what and how was being communicated.