• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Instead we got a list of like, 24 things that random people collected from chat rooms and online forums that they demanded.

    I’m less frustrated by the catalog of demands (plenty of them were reasonable on their face). I was more distressed at how a series of local protests, marches, and sit in near St. Louis and Baltimore became a bunch of national talking heads claiming to be leading the organization or in touch with those that were.

    As soon as BLM became a clothing brand, it was over. Nevermind how many actual activists were arrested on paper thin charges or straight up murdered, while campaigners in LA and NY just grandstanded in the moment.

    This here, this is the thing we want. Make it a bill and push it through now.

    You’re talking lobbying which is fine in it’s own right. But it’s expensive and the sort of activity that’s ripe for grifting.

    Asking people for money, for free labor, and for donations in kind is necessary for an effective legislative change. But it’s also a great opportunity to get paid self promoting.

    Whether it’s Oral Roberts saying he needs a million dollars to save his church or God will call him back to heaven. Or Kamala Harris saying she needs you to donate time/money to her campaign right now or we lose democracy. It’s all a ripe opportunity to play on anxiety in order to commit fraud.