At What Point Do Activists Step Over The Line?

I think we all cherish the rights granted to us by the Constitution, but at what point are our actions to protect them going too far?  Is there such a point?  Do we have a duty to protect these freedoms and at what point does protecting them actually hurt our cause?

Take, for example, our rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.  When we experience something that we strongly disagree with, then we have the right to gather people together and tell the world that we disagree.  I think these freedoms were originally granted to give us a voice in how our country conducts its affairs.

Today we can (and do) protest anything we don't like, no matter how large or small.  In fact, we protest and march and assemble and scream at each other so much that it's not a big deal any more.  A crowd of 50 or 500 or 5,000 people waving signs and yelling about some perceived injustice just doesn't have much of an impact any more.  We all make our signs, show up at the designated place, scream a little bit, maybe smile for the news cameras, and then put our signs in our cars and go home and forget about the whole thing until some one tells us when to do it again.  Pretty tame and pretty lame.

So if this level or protest no longer drives the change we desire, how do we take it to the next level? We can practice civil disobedience, which basically means we break the law and use our activities to make other people or our government uncomfortable enough to get their attention and hopefully cause the changes we want.  But this is inconvenient for us too.  It takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication and may land us in jail over and over again.

Is it our duty to protest?  Some say yes, others say no.  I think we have a responsibility to take action to initiate the changes we need or to right some wrong, but how far should we take this responsibility?  At what point are we stepping over the line that makes us just as bad as whatever we're protesting against?  And if it's truly a responsibility, then can it end somewhere short of actually causing the desired change if the personal cost to us is too great?

I'm not sure exactly where that line is today, but I do know that the types of protests we've been doing for the last few years are largely ignored today. They really have very little impact other than just taking up space and maybe making some noise for an hour or two.  If we want to make a real impact, then we have to do impactful things.  This means doing things that cause discomfort or inconvenience to others in order to draw attention to our cause.  This also means that we, as activists, may have to bear the consequences of our actions.

I'm not advocating going out and burning some cars because we don't like something our president did today, but I am advocating making our presence known and felt by impacting the lives of others who are not protesting with us.  And when your event is over, don't just go home and forget about the whole thing until next weekend.  Be an activist all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Use social media, but realize that it is no substitute for getting right up in someone's face.  Talk about it to whoever will listen and when someone doesn't want to listen talk to them about it anyway.

Be persistent and take your fight right up the edge of that line every time.  If you want change, you have to work really, really hard for it to happen.