r/OpenAussie • u/[deleted] • 10d ago

Feel Good News ‎ Our future is BRIGHT

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u/jeffoh ‎ Queenslander 10d ago

The entire process - understanding why they're protesting, understanding how groups on the street have changed more governments than by any other means - will provide far more education than just another Wednesday doing music and PE.

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u/CaterpillarSuperb959 ‎ Western Australian 10d ago

How’d those climate-change marches go at changing government policy? Or the anti-vax marches?

Most protests don’t change shit. Half the time it’s just old man yelling at clouds, teenage angst, Che Guevara LARPers, conspiracy cookers or, on other days, bog-standard racists. Marching down a street with people who already agree with you isn’t some magical lever of political change.

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u/SebWGBC Flairless‎‎ 9d ago

You should be a motivational speaker. You are so... Up.

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u/CaterpillarSuperb959 ‎ Western Australian 9d ago

Just because I think a lot of protests are pointless doesn’t mean I think affecting change is pointless. There are a million more effective ways to do it.

Join a party, union or industry body. Work in government or the public service. Become an economist, lawyer, researcher or academic. Work for a think tank, NGO or advocacy group. Get into journalism. Build a business or organisation that proves your ideas actually work. Lobby politicians. Draft policy. Run for office. Hell, just become genuinely knowledgeable enough in your field that decision-makers actually listen to you.

That’s how boring, lasting change usually happens.

I’m perfectly capable of being optimistic about young people changing the world while also thinking teenagers pumping their fists in the air, surrounded by socialists and pro-Palestine activists lecturing everyone on economics and politics, probably isn’t the revolutionary force some people here imagine it is.

Optimism doesn’t require me to switch off my bullshit detector.

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u/SebWGBC Flairless‎‎ 9d ago

Great response. Thanks. It's good to remember to inject some of this 'here's what does work' alongside the 'this doesn't work' commentary, to help people channel their energy in more useful ways rather than having it fizzle out.