

Independence Day, NSA leaks inspire 'Fourth Amendment' rallies - kimlelly
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/04/19287215-independence-day-nsa-leaks-inspire-fourth-amendment-rallies

======
adamors
> more than 400 had gathered in New York City and Washington, D.C.

That's depressing.

~~~
seferphier
wow only 400 ppl stood up for their 4th amendment rights?

most of the people are waving it goodbye by being at home browsing facebook.

~~~
kimlelly
I'm starting to think that we didn't deserve Edward Snowden's sacrifice (kind
of like nobody deserved Jesus, in case he existed).

And then the next question:

What must future potential whistleblowers feel, when they're forced to think
"the public doesn't give a f##k".

I feel, as a whole, we're currently just not worth the brave wo/men.

~~~
adamors
Bare in mind that the protest was on a holiday, it was too late and outside of
a few places like Reddit, it didn't receive any promotion.

I think people do care, but not if they have to give up spending time with
their families.

~~~
kimlelly
> people do care, but not if they have to give up spending time with their
> families.

So in the end, it all comes down to economic pressure.

People don't earn enough/can't/won't take holidays and therefor have no time
to defend themselves and democracy.

The next question then becomes:

Who creates and maintains this economic pressure? Who wants the middle class
gone?

------
kimlelly
What does everybody think about the outcome?

Was it a failure or a success?

And most of all: Where should we go from here?

~~~
jmccree
I can only speak for the Atlanta protest, but it was just sad. Your regular
ATL assortment of Occupy types, militia looking folks open carrying guns in
tactical vests, copwatch groups, guy fawkes mask wearers, random college age
people, and the single Georgia Capitol Police Officer sitting in his car
across the street. I don't think it ever topped 100 people.

No matter your opinion of them, the Tea Party was very successful at staging
effective protests. Occupy was a total failure. (At least in ATL, most people
supported OWS until Occupy ATL, at which point they were almost universally
hated. Living a block from the park occupied, and having my bldg regularly
used as a urinal by a group who, due to no decision making structure, could
not agree whether or not they should have violent protests, I agree.)

The difference? Tea party protests in every city were orchestrated by some
group (that was likely more astro-turfing than grass roots) that chose the
speakers, invited guests with name recognition to speak, and kept the "fringe
looking types" in the crowd and not the stage, and were generally more like
attending a concert than protesting in the street.

For a protest to be effective, you need to get turn out from the mass
population. The Occupy style no leadership sadly does not seem to work. I
believe the unfortunate reality is you need a stable legal organization like
the Tea Party, the NRA, MADD, etc to actually create long term political
change. If we had a National Privacy Association with millions of dues paying
members, we could have congress blocking the NSA at every step.

