Should people be able to protest things that they know nothing about?

Who would have the right to stop them?

While I would certainly prefer that they didn’t, I don’t think we have the right to say they’re not allowed.

Of course they should be able to. Not allowing them to would be denying them free speech.

Everyone has the right to look like an idiot…

Absolutely they should be able to protest, it makes it easier to identify our nutbag neighbors.

Most people don’t know what they want when they protest…at least they are getting laid out of the deal.

In the U S. there is a thing called Freedom of Speech, which does not include the rule that you must know what you are talking about.

I think that everyone has the right to speak their mind as human beings, not specifically as Americans. I love most protesters. These are people who’ve given up their time and felt passionate enough to stand up and speak their peace. Obviously, it’s all about your personal stance on an issue and how the protesters are behaving. Example, I learned of the Westboro Baptist Church yesterday and THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO PROTEST. (Sorry about the all caps, but those people just need to go somewhere else.)

I’ll be honest here. I’ve heard the term “Tea Partyers”, but I’ve not really sat down and taken a good look. I don’t feel as though I can make a judgement on them because we might be for the same things. I’ve got a 70 year old ex-cop, Republican gun salesman from Chicago at my disposal. So, I’m usually informed about what’s going on whether I want to know or not.

No.
These people who know nothing about their issues really ruin the credibility and image of the movement. It makes it hard for the opposition to take them seriously.

I remember seeing some mock-protest images around the internet where people are holding up signs like “I have a sign” and “I disagree with you”, I remember seeing “I have no idea what I’m angry about” and thought it summed up so many of the protesters these days.

Freedom of speech.
I like when people do that. Debating with an idiot is easy and entertaining.

People should be able to protest, they have a right to protest, whatever the hell they want to protest. Being misinformed is not a valid reason to take away anyones rights.

People have the right to protest. They also have the right to be idiots.

What’s arguably worse is knowing both sides of the issue, and manipulating everyone to your advantage. Enter: The Politician.

BTW, great link. I just snagged it for facebook and tumblr. :)

The Tea Partiers know and feel something is wrong… but they are almost always wrong in their pinpointing. Because they get their info from AM talkradio or cable news, mostly. They whine about taxes, socialism, legal threats to their guns, and loss of family values. They tend to be low on fact usually. I think they perceive something’s wrong, but aren’t quite observant enough to nail it down.

But I sympathize with their whinings about taxes. It’s possible that federal taxes have hindered some of them from living a real life, as federal taxes tend to do to the working poor who have no child credits.

The news link you gave, at first seemed ready for the typical omission of other taxes, but then further down, it said…

“Even though the Tea Partyers were specifically asked about federal income taxes, it’s possible that they were thinking about other federal taxes as well, such as payroll and excise taxes.”

I think lumping all the federal taxes together and complaining they’re too high is reasonable. It it’s normal for a commonperson to refer to payroll tax as “the income tax” when in fact the income tax is only a small part of the overall payroll tax. The income tax alone, is almost perfectly reasonable. It’s the other crap that gets lumped in that makes it so unbearable for some to pay into. I realize much of that is FICA (social security), and you’ll get some of that back 50 years later. But it makes no sense to tax people AT ALL if they can’t even afford a decent health insurance policy. Or if they can’t even afford to get minimum liability insurance on their car, if they have a car at all, most likely used.

The article then went on to give some statistics on this, and using the article’s own statistics, a single individual earning $40K in California would end up paying $4,800 a year in taxes, and that still does not include state tax, sales tax, car tax, etc. That $4,800 is money that does not really exist because it costs $40K a year in many areas just to live a simple live with a used car, a minimum auto policy, food and rent. One cannot afford a health insurance policy, and one cannot afford the federal taxes, in this scenario. And if taxes are so high, they affect someone’s ability to buy health insurance or pay rent… then the taxes are too damn high.

That doesn’t mean everyone’s taxes are too high. But those who suffer for it that much, shouldn’t be forced to pay a single penny into it. People who actually feel a pinch to their ability to live a normal life, when they are taxed…. shouldn’t be taxed.
The meme that “the poor pay no taxes” is a total lie.

And so, as much as I despise the stupidity, hypocrisy, and authoritarianism that is the Tea Party Movement (the co-opted Tea Party).... there are grains of factual truth to their anger.

@jerv

I knew who you were going to pick even before I read your entire note. As I’ve been at pains to say several times, you’re so partisan you make Nancy Pelosi blush! LOL!

ignorance is bliss

You have the right to protest anything you like. Whether you are ignorant on the subject or not. Freedom of speech.

Of course.

Like others before me have said, it’s a free speech issue. If FOX defends their free sppech right to lie, tea partiers have the right to protest based on what they hear there. ;)

That said, we also have the right to question and inform. Something like this.

It’s called free speech and free and liberal use of ear plugs and the remote control. Ignor the ignorant to do otherwise makes them more excited…not good!

Protest is not an effective means of change in our world but let them protest if they want, until they start causing problems with traffic or damaging property.

Protests should remain a legal expression of free speech but maybe we should review education vs voting rights

Sure. And people who know what they are talking about have the duty to try and drown them out.

@CaptainHarley If it weren’t for the fact that the Dems are effectively self-mocking, I would be a little more even-handed. It’s the idiots that get taken seriously that scare me.

@jerv – Unfortunately, if you’re going to disallow certain people from protesting based on some standard of ignorance, you’ll need to appoint someone in authority to enforce censorship. Whenever someone in authority has the power to enforce or prohibit anything, that authority will ultimately be abused to benefit the enforcer’s cronies. Especially when it comes to freedom of speech.

Silencing the ignorant is ignorant. You have to know where the breakdown is. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free… it expects what never was and never will be.”

I think it’s a sacred right that needs to be protected, just like my sacred right to ridicule them for ranting without the benefit of factual support and making outlandish and broad sweeping generalizations based on the words of over-zealous extremist idiots the likes of Glenn Beck. These people are not to be silenced or pitied.. they ought to be allowed just enough rope to hang their arguments with.

Tea-party I’m looking in your general direction

I have to say, it’s nice to see that there is such strong support for the First Amendment here :)

Sure why not! I know people who do this every day it seems!! Resistance is futile!

Freedom of speech. They can do what they want, say what they want. That being said, personally, if you know nothing about an issue, or ESPECIALLY only know ONE SIDE of an issue, you should keep your mouth shut and educate yourself and by educate, I don’t mean listen to extremists of either the Left or the Right and form your opinion. Get the facts first, then protest if you deem it necessary.

Some people have opinions for the sake of having opinions. They put no more thought into it than a 6 year old child choosing her favorite color.

What’s annoying is if they then defend their opinions as a matter of pride, which is pathetic.

@Kraigmo I find it more pathetic when they defend their opinions with provable falsehoods, but that’s just me.