Social Media Buzz on December 17, 1773

Across social media…

“OMG. They threw TEA IN THE WATER. SO DISRESPECTFUL!!!!”

 

“This is so offensive to those who gave their lives to settle this land.”

 

“It’s so violent. Typical colonists. ”

 

“I agree with what they’re saying, but I wish they had chosen a different way to say it.”

 

“Don’t they know that they’re hurting real people by destroying all that tea?”

 

“They have no business complaining. They make plenty of money. They should just be thankful for what they have.”

 

“Now I can’t even have tea for breakfast. JERKS!!!!”

 

“They wore costumes so no one knew who they were. Cowards!”

 

“This is the way things are done here. Nobody’s forcing them to stay. ”

 

“England does so many good things for us. These protesters are so ungrateful.”

 

“They should have waited until the next shipment came in because I was really running short on tea.”

 

“It really would have been better if they had just written a letter to ask for representation.”

 

“There are better ways to get attention if you’re unhappy with the government.”

 

“If they aren’t happy here, they should go back where they came from.”

 

It seems that we have forgotten that our nation was formed on the protest of perceived injustice. It was disruptive, unruly, and often violent. It was rarely polite. It was almost always done after other avenues were exhausted. It was designed to make people sit up and take notice. And, unfortunately, it’s often the only way that major change has come about. The Boston Tea Party. The American Labor Movement. Women’s Suffrage. The Civil Rights Movement. These all brought sweeping changes through an ongoing series of protests, some peaceful, some not. Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of protest and built protections to our constitution to ensure that we could peacefully assemble and speak out. While we may or may not agree with the ideology behind a protest, it’s ridiculous to expect protesters to behave in ways that make us comfortable. The whole point is to push people outside of their comfort zones, since that is typically when change starts to occur. It’s easy enough to sit at home on your couch and criticize, but it’s those who are out getting dirty, getting hate messages, and being torn apart online and in the media that are actually making a difference.

 

Seriously. Stop trying to tell protesters how to protest.