# G20 Protesters - They're Clueless, Right
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 2, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778 "2009-04-02T23:06:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/41 "2009-04-03T17:38:01Z")
> [@QuercusMax](#):
>
> Was this a whoosh?
I think by doing a 360, he meant the soldiers turned over in their graves, not that their attitudes swung around and returned to their starting point (i.e. twice a 180).
---
### Author:  [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/42 "2009-04-03T17:45:42Z")
> [@ajb867](#):
>
> Does peaceful protest ever really change anything? A bunch of people show up and just “stand” there holding their “peaceful please do this instead” signs.
> Whats the incentive for anyone to care?
As \*\*The Tao’s Revenge \*\*said, there was that whole Civil Rights Movement thing, but then I’m sure those were just starry-eyed, know-nothing hippies too huh?
Of course other times a peaceful protest could result in workers actually getting to [keep their jobs](http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/workers-in-sit-in-to-get-jobs-back-under-new-owner.html).
Cripes, I wish this was the in The Pit.
---
### Author:  [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/43 "2009-04-03T17:48:31Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> As I stated before, there were 2 groups of people there. One group was peaceful and the other was not.
>
> Nihilists are assholes who do not respect authority, and never will. They deserve the same respect they give the police which is none.
That’s still not what Nihilist means.
---
### Author:  [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/44 "2009-04-03T17:50:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> If you read post 18 you would know that I’ve been to a number of protests before so your comment is misplaced.
>
> Actually, that was specifically what the pain beam was designed for. It’s designed to drive people back and in your case could have saved your life if you were being crushed.
Actually I was only being crushed because of actions the police took. The crowd was peaceful and the most dangerous actions taken were by the NYPD. If they sprayed me with the pain beam it would have started a stampede of people trying to get away from it and I probably would have been trampled as I would have been most incapacitated by it being right in the front and all. So likely if they’d used it I would’ve died or ended up in the hospital.
---
### Author:  [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/45 "2009-04-03T17:51:08Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> But if you’re at the front of a crowd, and there are people several metres back pushing you towards the police line, how is the police officer going to direct the pain beam to the people at the back causing the problem?
The people in the back causing the problem were the police trying to push 10 horses and a giant police truck into a crowd that was packed in wall to wall.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/46 "2009-04-03T18:02:44Z")
> [@ajb867](#):
>
> Does peaceful protest ever really change anything? A bunch of people show up and just “stand” there holding their “peaceful please do this instead” signs.
> Whats the incentive for anyone to care?
I don’t know, there was that one guy-Gandhi something or other? Oh, and I think there was this Dr dude, uh, Queen, Emperor, or something like that.
:rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/47 "2009-04-03T20:24:34Z")
> [@mswas](#):
>
> Actually I was only being crushed because of actions the police took. The crowd was peaceful and the most dangerous actions taken were by the NYPD. If they sprayed me with the pain beam it would have started a stampede of people trying to get away from it and I probably would have been trampled as I would have been most incapacitated by it being right in the front and all. So likely if they’d used it I would’ve died or ended up in the hospital.
You’ve never seen the beam demonstrated. It’s mounted above the crowd, not in front. It’s designed to get people to step back versus the chaos of tear gas. It’s probably closer in function to a water canon.
I think this discussion gets away from the thread’s topic. I personally think these protestors put in a great deal of effort being useless tools when they could collectively be working toward something useful such as car modifications for fuel efficiency.
---
### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/48 "2009-04-03T20:25:40Z")
> [@mswas](#):
>
> That’s still not what Nihilist means.
It’s how they behave.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/49 "2009-04-03T20:40:48Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> You know what?
>
> This shit doesnt happen in the suburbs 🙂
>
> Sorry, couldnt resist.
That’s 'cause the suburbanites all come to town to smash stuff. Without spoiled suburbanites we wouldn’t have a tenth as many clueless, violent protesters or post-victory rioters in the streets. At least not in the US.
---
### Author:  [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/50 "2009-04-03T20:40:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> And after the dead and injured from the stampede of agonized people are cleaned up, the disaster will roll on for years. Cops killed by bombs, or dragged into alleys and hacked to pieces with an axe, for example. The next G20 summit not being worried about protesters, but assassins and bombs. That’s the kind of reaction I’d expect to the use of a mass torture weapon; the transformation of a bunch of economic protesters to a revenge driven terrorist movement. One with more public sympathy than it has now.
>
> Personally, I think that anyone who has ever used one should be hunted down and executed.
I’m curious as to how you feel that riot police should deal with rioters. As I see it, the options are:
[ol]
[li]\ Run away! \[/li][li]Non-lethal force[/li][li]Lethal force[/li][/ol] Which would you prefer?
---
### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778/51 "2009-04-03T21:12:08Z")
**Leaffan** , if you, (or anyone else), wants to have an actual debate on a specific topic that has come up here, feel free to open a new thread to discuss it. Had I seen this sooner, I’d have simply moved the OP to the Pit as a rant. Several different posts have attempted to engage an actual discussion, but the themes are so varied and there is so much knee-jerk reaction to the OP that I doubt this thread can succeed.
I am closing it without prejudice and welcome any new thread that attempts to discuss a specific issue without its own OP poisoning the well.
[/Modding]
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g20-protesters-theyre-clueless-right/491778.md?page=2)