Millennials don’t believe protesting works.
I’ve seen a lot of discussion about why millennials aren’t coming out. Yes, they work and have young children. They are taking care of their elderly parents. All of these things are true and valid.
But also millennials have gone to the Occupy Wall Street protests, which accomplished nothing. The BLM protests, which accomplished nothing. The Women’s March, which lol. I protested during all of these things only for our country to slide even further into capitalistic greed and corruption. When Bernie was running, someone we could get excited about, he was undermined by his own party.
Many millennials don’t even believe their vote matters anymore in the face of gerrymandering and the electoral college.
I still want to believe protesting can effect change. Or frankly that American citizens have any power at all anymore. I’ll be protesting on the 5th, but man is it hard to keep hope alive when our generation has been crushed under the establishment for our entire lives. Combine that with how oppressive the 40+ hour work week is and can you blame people for not protesting? Millennials barely even have the energy to do their laundry.
I’m not sure how to energize people. I’m not even sure how to energize myself. The Democratic party offers no leadership or hope whatsoever.
Please offer your local millennial (and me!) some hope. Please tell me we aren’t just screaming into a void.
Originally Posted By u/duckhunt420 At 2025-03-31 11:47:11 AM | Source
For any given protest, what does the person attending believe it will do?
Astonishingly few protests in the modern world have led to immediate change regarding the issue they were held against, therefore anyone attending a protest with this in mind therefore will have violated expectations.
I have attended protests before and I see their goal as raising awareness of issues and giving a physical display of how many people are against a given subject. In this sense, as soon as a protest is seen it meets the goal.
So I ask again, if you say “protesting doesn’t work”, my question is, “How do you define work?”
Protesting is hard work that takes a long time. The young are passionate but can be impatient. Millennials in the US today have generally only lived to see an overall downward trajectory. I understand how it can be difficult for them to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
We are in America’s Dark Night of the Soul. The period of darkness before you get yourself back together and transform into something greater.