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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

Well in 1688 Quakers in America protested against slavery. 1773: Boston Tea Party. Temperance in the 1800's. Women's Vote in 1913.

But they entered the public awareness in 1963 with the March on Washington, and haven't let up since.

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It's a bit sad, but I believe "protests" have lost their meaning. All of what you described were meaningful events, but it these days some one is always protesting something. For instance, there are "women's marches" every year turning out tons of people in a society where equal rights are constitutionally enshrined. That probably doesn't merit such an event.

My concern is that if, Heaven forbid, there is ever again something worth protesting to that degree, no one will pay attention. Regular Americans, rather than being swayed, will look on and say, "Oh look honey, the kids are protesting again."

> a society where equal rights are constitutionally enshrined

I don't think they are as "enshrined" as you think they are.

Are you talking about the US? I though the Equal Rights Amendment was not yet ratified, and that equal rights are thus not actually 'constitutionally enshrined'?

The ERA is not the only way or attempt in the Constitution at enshrining equal rights. The ERA is about sex specifically, which is arguably already covered by the text of the 14th Amendment (some may disagree about the 14th Amendment in practice, but it's hard to argue that the text doesn't cover sex).

I imagine that to most people living though those protests at the time they were viewed as "someone is always protesting something." Don't underestimate how the narrative telling of history changes your perception of how something went down compared to what your own observations are right now.

Survivorship bias ensures that history only remembers the protests that were meaningful, making it seem like protests were historically more effective and more meaningful.

Legal equality != true societal equality

> and haven't let up since.

Or one could observe that it has completely let up and now most Americans are cynical about protests and cheer on authoritarian figures from both parties.

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