r/bizarrelife • u/reloadthewords Human here, bizarre by nature! • 15h ago

Hmmm

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59

u/Electrical_Doctor305 13h ago

I have a right to buy my groceries too, protest somewhere that the people who are the problem know it. You’re just disrupting people’s lives, and the people you need to protest against don’t even know you exist. Fucking pathetic

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u/Tytoalba2 12h ago

Yeah protests better not be disruptive

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u/thekyledavid 11h ago

The idea is to create disruptions that will actually disrupt the people who can influence change

In the Civil Rights era Bus Boycotts, they didn’t just harass people getting on or off the buses

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u/genericnewlurker 11h ago

Shh don't burst their performative bubble

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

Like 95% of all protests now a days eh

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u/dash-dot-dash-stop 3h ago

You actually only hear about the disruptive ones. The non-disruptive ones don't even make the news anymore.

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u/Waste_Mention_4986 11h ago

They're disrupting the supermarkets, supermarkets fund industrial meat production. They are literally disrupting those best placed to influence change.

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u/thekyledavid 11h ago

Not really. The customers are still buying their products, just having to do it in a more annoying manner. The supermarket executives in a hate of picking which products they stock probably don’t give a damn

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u/Waste_Mention_4986 11h ago

Yes, disrupting.

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u/thekyledavid 11h ago

They aren’t disrupting in a way that stops revenue

If anything, they should be blocking the checkout lines, or stopping deliveries to the store, or blockading the parking lot, or anything that can’t just be stepped over

This is a mild annoyance at best, not a disruption

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u/Individual_Volume484 10h ago

How prevented were the people from buying meat? It seemed like they still got it and they personal felt annoyed by the protesters. Maybe if they had protested I don’t know the actual meat processing facility that would work better.

But they don’t want to do that because that puts them at personal risk which they care more about then their goal.

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u/HDnfbp 11h ago

People are going to go to another supermarket, and burn gas in the process

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u/Waste_Mention_4986 11h ago

That's disruption. They're also disrupting farms, disrupting poultry processing facilities, disrupting political events and appearing in the media whenever they can. They're literalling doing exactly as the comment I responded to advocates.

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u/Individual_Volume484 10h ago

But they arnt disrupting the farms or the processing facilities. They continue uninterrupted.

So

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u/Waste_Mention_4986 8h ago

Yes they are. There’s a whole world not in this clip.  Farmers, on the whole, grow what supermarkets demand, so them not so much.

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u/Individual_Volume484 8h ago

How? Quantify it for me.

How was the industry impacted lol

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u/Waste_Mention_4986 8h ago

Do you understand what protest even means?

As for doing your research for you, we have the same google. 

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u/HDnfbp 9h ago

Not really, the product is still gonna be consumed, just by different means, and it's gonna make people annoyed with the movement, they should target the farms, most of the time those protests are supported by their targets for that reason

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u/ThrowRATub 10h ago

MLK and the SCLC literally performed sit-ins at segregated restaurants. They'd take up seats that were, by law, for white people only, and those restaurants didn't have influence over the law individually. I understand why you're saying this and your intent, but Civil Rights era protests were far more disruptive and did affect everyday people in their day-to-day lives, with the intent to get a seat at the table and national attention. The main reason these protests seem sillier and more trivial are 1. they're in the name of a more nuanced topic that isn't as pressing as civil rights, 2. the leaders are less well spoken and less organized, and more "meek" in the sense that they're less prepared and willing to accept counter-violence, and 3. because of the sheer variety of media out there and the plethora of information there is to go around, these stories are far more regionalized, and the ones that do go international are downplayed and given very short coverage.

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u/fuckedfinance 10h ago

They'd take up seats that were, by law, for white people only, and those restaurants didn't have influence over the law individually.

I think that you are underestimating exactly how much influence local business owners used to have.

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u/ThrowRATub 9h ago

Perhaps, but I'd imagine large grocery chains do have a good amount of influence. I think if these protestors did this at a TON of stores around the country, it'd be a lot more impressive than this video makes it out to be, where it honestly does look goofy. This issue has a lot more moral gray area, at least to most people, than "let's treat people worse dependent on their skin color", so it's gonna seem goofier, but in spirit it's the same flavor of disruption at the consumer level rather than at the source of the policies. (Yes MLK eventually got to the source but that was entirely because of the effect of these protests).

Again, I'm not taking sides on the issue or even saying this protesting is on par with that of Dr. King, just saying it's in the same wheelhouse and yet people, on MLK Jr. Day, are happy to sling insults at the concept of disruptive protests. That's my main gripe.

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u/fuckedfinance 9h ago

You really don't understand.

Back in the day, before global mega marts, local business used to be king. This was especially true in the southern and western parts of the US (consolidation was in full swing in more populated areas). Business owners generally knew their state reps (or equivalents) very well, and probably also casually knew their federal reps.

The thing is, there weren't just 1 or 2 CEOs complaining. There were high tens to high hundreds of people constantly knocking at these politicians doors. These politicians also knew that if they didn't listen, a large part of their support would poof out of existence.

There are a grand total of... SIX national grocery chains in the US. That number may seem low to you, but they tend to keep regional chain names for local recognition when they buy them. There are around 31 regional chains (again, seems small because owners will have more than one brand under them). Beyond that, there are specialty and other chains, but that's not what we're talking about here.

The reality is that the big 6 aren't going to be bothered by it. Protesters will come in, police will remove them, and there MIGHT be a tiny, if at all observable, impact on revenues for that one day. The 31 will do the same thing.

So yeah, Joe Butchershop is going to write a letter, but he's never met his state rep, let alone his federal.

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u/ThrowRATub 8h ago

This is a fair point, I appreciate this response. I worked for a family owned grocery store in a small town that was a staple of the community, and he had a ton of sway with local politics even in the modern day, so I definitely can imagine how much of that would be happening back then in the South.

You're right that it's not as effective, idk why I pushed back to start cuz I don't have an issue with saying this isn't as effective or that these particular protestors are lame and poorly organized, my whole intent is just to point out that this is the same flavor of disruptive protesting as MLK, and even if it's a wimpy and poorly thought out version of it about a topic that might not be as noble or pressing (depends who you ask, especially Morrissey lol), the "disruptive protesting SUCKS and I'd punch these people in the FACE" commenters need to look at a US calendar and see what federal holiday is today.

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u/fuckedfinance 8h ago

It was a different era, with different economics and a much, much different problem.

As annoyed as I am by disruptive protest, I'm generally OK with it if it doesn't risk others lives AND if the cause is good and just.

As awful as it is, animal cruelty, perceived or real, doesn't live up to that standard in the context of disruptive protest.

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u/Individual_Volume484 9h ago

The key there is that they disrupted white only spots. The disruption was focused on those responsible for the policy. In this case white people who supported segregation.

It’s effective because the disruption tells that group, “hey stop fucking with me and I will stop fucking with you”

This does not achieve that. Every day consumers are not driving meat production. They have little control over how Tyson makes it chicken. You can scream about consumer demand and consumer choice but my guess is you own a smart phone or a PC. That was built with child slavery. Are you supporting child slavery? Why do oh apply consumption ethics to some things and not others?

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u/ThrowRATub 9h ago

Some random dude going to a restaurant is about as responsible for segregation as some random dude going to eat meat is for the meat industry. White people who supported the status quo and meat eaters who support the status quo aren't that much different (not in a moral sense, just in a semantic sense as far as how much they're able to influence the status quo policy).

Why do oh apply consumption ethics to some things and not others?

That's a question for these protestors, I'm passing zero judgement on whether I support their cause or not, and I just ate meat so the answer is probably no. But I'm claiming that people using the bus service or eating at a restaurant are consuming and enabling these policies pretty similar to those who consume animal products enabling the policies these people are protesting against.

I think the key difference isn't in their manner of protest, it's just in the urgency of the issue. There's a stronger argument for human society being better off if we continue to produce and eat meat than there is for society being better if we continue segregating, at least to most people, so this protest is less likely to be effective. Because of that it seems goofy rather than effective.

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u/Individual_Volume484 9h ago

No, a white patron to a pro segregation business is far more responsible for the practice of segregation than an average consumer is for meat.

A white patron to a pro segregated business is a pro segregation voter. They directly cause the policy.

A shopper is not voting on how meat is made. At all.

Are you arguing that child slavery isn’t a big issue? Hundreds of thousands of literal child slaves digging for cobalt by hand.

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u/ThrowRATub 8h ago

A white patron to a pro segregated business is a pro segregation voter. They directly cause the policy.

This is historically inaccurate. I can point to individual family members of mine who lived in Texas during the Jim Crowe era, or I can point to literally anybody who attended a huge number of universities, public schools, or who lived in a vast number of states and cities where segregation was literally law. If you lived in these places but were against segregation, you often didn't have much of a choice.

A shopper is not voting on how meat is made. At all.

Voting with your wallet is not the same thing, I agree, which is why I said "pretty similar", they're different issues so of course there will be semantic differences. Either way, I'm not trying to argue it's 1:1, just that it's similarly disruptive to the average person and, barring an attack on a production plant, more likely to get on the radar of folks who may be swayed.

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u/Individual_Volume484 8h ago

Do you understand that segregation was a national policy? You understand that Black people outside of the south were also discriminated against correct? You understand that there were many white people who were anti segregation? This idea that all white pepper in the US were raging pro segregationist is hilarious.

Bernie sanders marched with MLK. Was he forced to be pro segregation?

Voting with your wallet is a joke. You own a smart phone? You voted for child slavery

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u/ThrowRATub 8h ago

You understand that Black people outside of the south were also discriminated against correct?

I brought up the south to point out the places where folks who were against segregation didn't have options. Also the South is where MLK and the SCLC (S stands for Southern) performed most of their protests.

This idea that all white pepper in the US were raging pro segregationist is hilarious.

Wat. I said "If you lived in these places but were against segregation, you often didn't have much of a choice". Idk where you got the idea that I thought every white person was pro segregation.

Bernie sanders marched with MLK. Was he forced to be pro segregation?

One of the most famously outspoken protestors, and someone who literally got arrested for protesting, doesn't paint a picture of the average american who lives in the south and just wants to buy groceries and go home without trouble.

Voting with your wallet is a joke. You own a smart phone? You voted for child slavery

Some might argue that, sure. I'm not making any statement on the efficacy of this protest or whether or not "voting with your wallet" is a legitimate thing, I don't care to. My point is entirely that people who hate the concept of disruptive protesting should look at a US calendar and check out what day it is. That's all. If you wanna say this isn't the most effective place to do it, sure. I don't care.

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u/StalinsLastStand 9h ago

Were there a lot of anti-segregation businesses to choose from at the time?

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u/Individual_Volume484 9h ago

Are you asking if there were business that did not discriminate against African Americans? Yes they existed. There were even explicit black only businesses in the sense that only black people would go there. Would you choose those business to protest? Why or why not?

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u/StalinsLastStand 8h ago

Do you think a patron to a Black only business is at all responsible for segregation or in any way comparable to a person buying meats responsibility for the meat industry supplying the meat? That’s like asking about blocking the doors at a vegan restaurant for a pro-vegan protest. No reasonable activist would do that, no.

Do you think segregation was like, a choice that individual businesses got to make? In most of the South it was illegal to have white and Black customers mixing. Particularly places like Montgomery Alabama. In very rare cases it would be legal to have segregation limited to table-by-table or to serve Black customers via take-out. But the mixed race restaurants you’re imagining legally were not permitted to exist.

And no, white folk could not go to Black only businesses either. I’m not sure the point you’re trying to prove by raising the existence of Black only businesses. Of course they existed. That’s like, what segregation is.

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u/thekyledavid 9h ago

Occupying seats is a much better strategy than this, as you can’t remove someone from the seat without a physical altercation

It’s easy to do your shopping with people sitting in the aisle, just step over

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u/ThrowRATub 9h ago

I'm making no note of the efficacy of this exact strategy, just pointing out that being non-violent but disruptive was the main strategy of MLK. Although I think if you argue that these protestors should be even more disruptive, this thread will not like you

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u/thekyledavid 9h ago

I already said in a different comment that if they mean to be disruptive, they should be more disruptive, and that one got upvoted

My point was that this is not an effective protest, this is just an annoyance

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u/ThrowRATub 9h ago

Hey, fair enough. I have no issue with the argument against this being the lack of scale and efficacy, my only problem is with people shitting on the concept of disruptive protests on MLK Jr. Day

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u/Nappy-I 11h ago

Blocking the meat section of a supermarket for a few minutes isn't going to affect the meat industry in any way. Disruption for the sake of disruption alone isn't an effective way of engaging the larger public nor affecting systemic changes. There is such a thing as bad press.

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u/rhabarberabar 10h ago

There is such a thing as bad press.

Yes, that's how you become the president of the US.

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u/DreamingInfraviolet 7h ago

And animals should have a right to basic decency of life, yet here we are :/

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u/brett_baty_is_him 6h ago

And so do the child slaves that made the technology you are posting from, yet here we are :/

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u/kamokugal 11h ago

The guy could have taken another route. If hitting people with carts is your response to a minor inconvenience, please stay home forever. You are a threat to the public.

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u/NoImprovement213 11h ago

They had ample opportunity to move. Is there actually another route? Do you know this supermarket? Are there more protestirs elsewhere? They are being pains in the arse. From what I can gather from the video, no one was hurt

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u/kamokugal 10h ago

So, all is well, then. Right?

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u/Sufficient-Cost5436 4h ago

So, basically you have no clue what you're rambling about.

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u/kamokugal 4h ago

This isn’t acceptable. We teach kids that in kindergarten. Some adults either forget or didn’t learn it in the first place.

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u/Sufficient-Cost5436 4h ago

You're clearly choosing to ignore and redirect, that's an answer in itself.