The Art Of The Protest Painting Different Picture

I understand that this is probably unconstitutional but you can call me crazy later and have a good laugh and then wonder if I have a point.

If I need to do a simple story - one that will take me no time at all, can be pre-written and probably be done in two minutes, I go outside my door and do a protest story.  In downtown Springfield like any other American city these days there is always a protest going on.

And that is the problem.  The protest.  

We have made “the art of the protest” so benign in our county that it is nothing more than white noise...something you hear in the background that you no is there but hardly pay attention to..

Wait for it.  How about something out of the box.

Let’s ban protests.  Huh?  Notwithstanding the probability that it is unconstitutional, consider this. 

Is it time to ban or greatly reduce the number of protests we do in America today?

Now before I am committed, hear me out.  Protests, almost always and by definition are based on emotion.  The fiery speaker...the boisterous chant.  Very little of it is based on fact that is either understandable or accepted by the other side.

Likewise, the debate is by definition lacking of emotion, based more of factual evidence and in the long run more apt to change mind and policies.

And the reason why we know that is true is that protests are for show and have done little to change anything.  However, change is always manufactured by a review of facts, lacking emotion and done in an understandable way.

So I guess the message is this.  Hold your protests.  But understand that once you are done with the chant, no matter what it is, you have to come up with the next sentence.  The next paragraph.  The next action to formulate change.

And, with that, if you want change it will be so.

 (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)