In recent weeks there have been demonstrations both on campus and off made by a group of UWF students attempting to persuade others to take certain political action.
Sometimes this action is directly related to events that have happened in the greater Pensacola community. Sometimes they are asking students to join their fight against the system as a whole.
I watched one of their demonstrations on campus last week and noticed that the student body seemed largely apathetic to what they were doing. Even if I am slightly sympathetic toward their viewpoint, I still have to wonder if the old tried-and-true method of taking to the streets really works anymore.
It seems like this entire decade has been filled with protests by people from one side of the political spectrum or the other trying to convert people to their point of view.
When Bush was in office we had an ever-increasing number of Americans marching on the nation’s capital and asking for the War in Iraq to end, or for the impeachment of the President. In spite of all of their hard work and planning, nothing changed.
I never heard anybody say that their minds were changed because of the angry protesters on TV. If anything, they complained that these people were getting the attention that they got.
It certainly didn’t put a dent in Bush’s morale, either. It’s the same with the Tea Party protesters (I’ll be civil here and not call them “teabaggers,” as much as it makes me chortle with glee), the abortion protesters on 9th and Creighton, or the “Bible Baptists” who condemn motorists out on Davis Highway. People don’t want to hear it.
They look the other way, drown it out with their car stereo, or even shout offensive things back at the protestors. You don’t exactly endear people to your cause by being loud and obnoxious about it in public.
In fact, you risk turning people off to it altogether. I am not saying that this group of protesting students were necessarily jerks to anybody.
I’m almost certain that they weren’t. I’m just saying that they shouldn’t be surprised if people were less than receptive to their message.
As we say in mass communication, “the medium is the message,” and nowadays if your medium is a bullhorn, you’re guaranteeing that people are going to take offense to what you have to say.
For my money, things like politics and religion are just way too personal to people for you to just change their mind on it like it’s a consumer product. I think the only real way you can change their mind on such matters is by just setting a good example for your cause.
As cheesy as it sounds, everything really is inter-connected, and if you don’t want to say it like that you can say that we’re all part of the same conversation. Everything we do communicates something.
You’re communicating with people just by how you act when you pass them in the hall. If you’re a cool guy, people are going to see that and want to know what makes you so cool and maybe want to get down with what you’re doing.
Just a suggestion.
Originally published by The Voyager for the University of West Florida.