Do We Protest Too Much?

[KissingSunlight]

Sure this is a click-baity listicle. I couldn't help but read what someone considered 24 offensive t-shirts that have made headlines. https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/style/24-offensive-kids-t-shirts-that-have-made-headlines/ss-BBvh0wS?li=BBnbcA0&ocid=edgsp#image=25 All but one bothered me. Not in an offensive way, but in an unnecessary alteration of a famous movie scene.(I'm referring to the Star Wars shirt.) It doesn't help that the writer describes herself this way:

About Me

Theresa Edwards is a freelance writer and professional whiner. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her family where she enjoys reading, roller derby, and complaining about the heat.

After looking at all the "offensive" shirts, it's apparent that even though we laugh at the "Oh dear God! Won't someone think about the children!" cliche. We are still guilty as a society to have knee-jerk reaction to the slightest provocations. That reaction is always censorship.

Do we protest too much? Should we just move on with our lives when we see something that we wouldn't buy or support? Do we have take a stand on everything? Can we let some things slide? Especially with t-shirts with humorous intentions.

 

[Saelune]

I don't think we protest too much. Things don't tend to change if people don't complain. The issue is what we complain about, why we complain about it, and how we go about it.

 

[Phasmal]

Telling companies "I don't think you should be selling [x] because [y]" still isn't censorship, no matter how badly some people want it to be. Humans have literally always complained about everything, this is not new. Some people are just kinda... sensitive to other people's sensitivity. It'd be funny if it wasn't so irritating.

And, no, I'm British. It's part of my identity. I already don't drink tea, if I don't complain about things, I dread to think what will happen to me. I could cease to exist entirely.

 

[Glongpre]

If anything we don't protest enough. Most people are extremely apathetic (I know I feel that way).

Oh, for something like that...

The issue is what we complain about, why we complain about it, and how we go about it.

Nailed it in one.

We need more people getting up in arms over real issues, like political corruption, the power and greed (and corruption) of big businesses, that we still have racism and segregation (colour, gender).

Who the fuck cares about stupid shit like, depicting Muhammod, offensive T-shirts, and useless crap like that. (Rhetorical)

 

[Euryalus]

And, no, I'm British. It's part of my identity. I already don't drink tea, if I don't complain about things, I dread to think what will happen to me. I could cease to exist entirely.

You'll become a rootless cosmopolitan. A mere peg wearing the clothes of a role whose only purpose is to serve as a cog in the soulless machine that is late stage capitalism.

OT: Yes, but also no. It's not really a question of amount so much as quality, prioritization, and willingness to go beyond words.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Heh and when I thought the recent GAP kid clothing was protesting too much. Funny thing, I was looking for the link I saw yesterday https://mic.com/articles/150294/this-gap-ad-is-being-called-out-for-sexism-and-one-glaring-not-so-genius-misspelling?utm_source=policymicFB&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=WHFacebook&utm_content=inf_10_285_2&tse_id=INF_c2ce67b0598811e6b7dc69ca5c618d1d#.g5FrzSaGQ and I found this one on the first page when typing "gap kids controversy" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-35968787

So overall, yes, I do think we protest too much. I mean seriously, hate the clothing? Then do buy it! The poor sales figure would be enough to tell that the clothing weren't good!

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Yes, but I have a quick fix. Anyone can protest anything, for whatever reason, at any time.
BUT you must be carrying a broom and you can only chant "shenanigans!"

Do that, and the world will be back on track.

 

[Redryhno]

Less protest too much, and more we protest far more often than should be needed because nobody really protests in the correct way. Or at least a way that makes people care even less than they did before if they did at all.

 

[Redd the Sock]

Protest isn't the right word for the topic. Complain might be better, and the answer is yes.

I've spent a lot of time the last few years wondering just why people spend so much time complaining about things they don't have to buy or are otherwise are not forced to partake in. I'm not into yaoi manga, but I don't have any real issue to it being on the bookshelf. I find South Park offensive and stupid most of he time, but watching something else is easy. 50 shades: really not my fetish, but hey, it got my aunt into reading after 50 years, so cool. Yeah, those shirts are in a level of bad taste, but there's hardly a t-shirt shortage, so if others want them fine. I can go back to things with video game jokes on them. If there's come kind of investment of money or time it would be another thing. I believe you do have a right to be vocal about disappointment in things you buy or changes to things you've supported a long time, but if the claim is true that complaining about offensive things isn't about telling others what to do, say or create, I'll be damned if I know what the point is to the "someone's doing something I don't like" level of things. The desperate need to tell a company that they aren't successfully making all 7 billion people on the planet happy with their products like they were supposed to care specifically about you instead of some other demographic?

I'm not going to tell anyone to stop anything, (I'm complaining about complaining so it would be a bit hypocritical) but at this point I just throw up my arms and say that people either need to ask if it's the best use of their free time just to complain about some offensive product just to do so, or fucking own that what they are doing is a shaming tactic attempting to alter the actions of others on moral grounds. I'll do so now: this whole rant is to try and shame excessive complainers as childish and authoritarian.

 

[Fat Hippo]

The people doth protest too much, methinks.

But actually, as has been pointed out, people just complain about unimportant shit most of the time. Meanwhile they ignore the shit that actually matters. But hey, I'm complaining about people complaining too much, so what the fuck do I know.

 

[FalloutJack]

There's no absolute, and it doesn't necessarily mean that I am protesting anything too much, but somebody somewhere is, to be sure. It's not really an all-or-none kind of a deal.

 

[TelosSupreme]

Almost everyone else here seems to have come to the same conclusion, but I'd also have to say that it's not that people are protesting too much, it's that they're picking the wrong targets. Just look at Brexit: After the vote came out as "leave," tons of millennials marched through the streets in protest, and I'm like, "What are you idiots doing? You had your chance to protest! That's what voting is for!" And looking at that MSN article, it just sounds like more of this:

What happened to the West's priorities?

 

[CaitSeith]

Do we protest too much? No, the Internet just makes it sound louder than it really is.

 

[Spider RedNight]

Protest? Nnnnnot necessarily. Complain? Yes. Yes, people complain about EVERYTHING nowadays.

Am I exempt? No, I still whine about wanting specific Overwatch stuff. But, I mean, people just FIND things to complain about and it's a level of ridiculous to the point of hilarity. Shirts? Seriously?

 

[Hawki]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: All for complaining about real, relevant issues, but in the world of fiction/media? Yes.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Add me to the "people don't protest too much, they just protest over the wrong things" list (at least in the U.S.). This has been exacerbated over the years thanks to the media's obsession with pointless celebrity gossip as well as the internet's cultivation of clickbait and "outrage culture." Unless you're willing to really dig, you're hard-pressed to find decent news outlets that don't sensationalize and hype stories all to hell. Walter Cronkite must be rolling in his grave.

 

[Fox12]

Oh. My. God.

Disagreeing with someone is now censorship. Having a reaction is now censorship. The only way to stop the censorship is to cut out everyone's tongues. If you disagree with that statement, then you are guilty of censorship. Fucking... I don't even know anymore.

Your complaining about complaining is censorship. stop censoring people censoring censors. Aw shit, I just censored you.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

I thought telling people how they were supposed to feel was POlitically Correctness...

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

I can see why a few of those shirts would be offensive. Most of the ones for girls imply stupidity and the heroic ones are definitely problematic. Also, boo bees? really? It's not even funny. But they certainly aren't shirts I'd protest against (Well, maybe the Ken State one). I just wouldn't have my children wear them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-35968787

Fighting... Urge... To facepalm..!

[sub]This is what racism looks like![/sub]​

[sub]What? You don't see it? Huh... Neither do I.[/sub]​

Also, the girl on the right can't be human.

I'm actually pretty surprised that this surprised me. I mean, this isn't the first time harmless things have been declared racist. Like the 12 year old that dared to *GASP* braid her hair! Can anyone else say cultural appropriation? I sure as hell can't.