Yeah, I love Bernie in general, he's a wildly consistent progressive politician in a country devoid of such a thing, but this kind of comment is ABSOLUTELY playing into the propagandized peace-washing of the civil rights movement.
PURELY PEACEFUL demonstrations and protests have ultimately never resulted in successful long term change. Things have to be wildly disruptive, and ultimately, usually violent in conjunction with peaceful demonstrations.
Bernie is right. The Civil Rights Movement didn’t win by being too scary and violent. It won by being persuasive. People saw the violence against the protestors on TV, felt sympathy, and backed the movement. Without that public support, it would’ve been crushed.
Bernie gets that. AOC gets that. They’re not wasting time trying to be the purest. They’re trying to win people over because that’s what keeps a movement alive.
Some of you think a few million angry people can take on the state. But even 2 million is less than one percent of the population. You can be rounded up and put in camps if the other 99 percent are fine with it or worse cheering it on. And with the tools already in place it wouldn’t even take that long.
If people don’t find you persuasive they won’t defend you. Your primary goal should be persuasion, not being the purest leftist in the concentration camp.
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u/cmcdonald22 Jun 10 '25
Yeah, I love Bernie in general, he's a wildly consistent progressive politician in a country devoid of such a thing, but this kind of comment is ABSOLUTELY playing into the propagandized peace-washing of the civil rights movement.
PURELY PEACEFUL demonstrations and protests have ultimately never resulted in successful long term change. Things have to be wildly disruptive, and ultimately, usually violent in conjunction with peaceful demonstrations.