> Political activism in the South did not occur because anyone's mind was
> changed; it occurred because like-minded people got together and
> developed effective political strategies.
I read and rub my eyes in disbelief:
If no change of mind is required for an individual or group thereof to transition from political passivity to political activity, then the terms "change of mind" and "political activity" are empty of any meaningful content.
If no change of mind is required for individuals to go from a rather ineffective, isolated reaction against the status quo to getting together with others in similar *transition* and take collective political action, then what do we mean by "change of mind" and "getting together," etc.?
Are individual minds opposed in isolation to the state of affairs the same minds as the ones taking collective action against same state of affairs? I'd think that the latter are dramatically changed minds.
> I do agree that we should
> mindfully develop effective political strategies to foment social
> change. However, this has little to do with changing individual attitudes.
Except that I don't understand how we can "mindfully" develop anything without our mind changing.
> I disagree; that's not the point of mass demos. They're for the people
> in the movement, not the general population. "Regular" people who do
> not already support the movement will see the demo and complain about
> the "fucking hippies" and "surrender monkeys".
Right. We should try and stage all future demonstrations in a far away galaxy, so that we really reach the heights of our political onanism. Better yet, let's stage them in our minds. Oops, no, because then our minds would be changing.
> And even if the demos somehow did change "regular" people's minds--so
> what? A significant majority of the population is already opposed to
> the war, and as far as I can see, the war machine rolls on.
Right. And that change of mind of a significant majority of people from supporting or accepting the war to oppositing it didn't really happen, because if it happened, then it would have been a change of mind prior to the end of the war and prior to the reform of our foreign policy, still long ways away.
I'm out of this conversation.