A long time ago I was invited by friends on an animal rights demo. They were good friends who had done me many a good turn and I came along gladly.
The demo was a terrifying allicance of punks and old ladies. There were fences turn down, policemen's helmets knocked off. And the punks weren't much better.
At one point I realised that the scientists inside the defense research facility we were protesting must be getting, at the minimum, highly nervous. The chant of "Porton Down, Porton Down, Close, close close it down" had turned to "Burn it down" despite the efforts of the organisers to stop this. People were getting past the police and close to the buildings.
And I realised that I had no idea about whether or not the allegations of what was going inside were true or had ever weighed up the necessity of defence research. But here I was getting swept up in the drama of it all. As I am on the autism spectrum I am adversely affected by loud noises and confusion. I eventually took myself to the side of the road and sat down and waited for the roaring in my head to subside. A policeman found the time to come up and ask if I was OK. I said I was, adding "Sorry about all of this". He grinned and said "We've had worse".
So I was wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences. Further it led me to wonder how many people who join causes of any kind actually believe what they are protesting about. I know for a fact that at least some of people on the National Front marches are actually decent people when you meet them individually, and actually having no real opinion of racial superiority, nothing against black or Indian people.
Not making any particular argument, just seeing what ideas bounce around.
The demo was a terrifying allicance of punks and old ladies. There were fences turn down, policemen's helmets knocked off. And the punks weren't much better.
At one point I realised that the scientists inside the defense research facility we were protesting must be getting, at the minimum, highly nervous. The chant of "Porton Down, Porton Down, Close, close close it down" had turned to "Burn it down" despite the efforts of the organisers to stop this. People were getting past the police and close to the buildings.
And I realised that I had no idea about whether or not the allegations of what was going inside were true or had ever weighed up the necessity of defence research. But here I was getting swept up in the drama of it all. As I am on the autism spectrum I am adversely affected by loud noises and confusion. I eventually took myself to the side of the road and sat down and waited for the roaring in my head to subside. A policeman found the time to come up and ask if I was OK. I said I was, adding "Sorry about all of this". He grinned and said "We've had worse".
So I was wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences. Further it led me to wonder how many people who join causes of any kind actually believe what they are protesting about. I know for a fact that at least some of people on the National Front marches are actually decent people when you meet them individually, and actually having no real opinion of racial superiority, nothing against black or Indian people.
Not making any particular argument, just seeing what ideas bounce around.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/Abwpniv
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