Simon! Thank you for responding, you bring up some very interesting points. Going all the way back even before Martin Luther King, a similar debate has existed. The debate focuses on what is the relationship between peaceful protest and other types of activism. The whole point of activism is to evoke a response, however, different people have different methods for doing this. As for breaking the law, do you feel Rosa Parks should not have sat at the front of the bus or do you feel that Ghandi should not have broken the law of British rule by making his own salt? Interesting that you bring up pepperspraying as I was one of the organizers at Occupy UC and Occupy Education, so I suppose your comment struck a cord with me. In my opinion, Laws are meant to serve the people and not the other way around. Therefore, if I or anyone else feels the need to breach a city ordinance in order to raise awareness about the problem of pedophila than hats off to them of course this is with the caveat of not going beyond principles of Civil Disobedience. As far as, the JW narrative that you rightfully bring up, I agree that it does, IN SOME PEOPLES MINDS. However, I know for a fact that some people have been reached by his protests. With regard to activism, I am sympathetic to the Weberian framework of Structural Functionalism where we all are like puzzle pieces that fit together and while some of the pieces might have advantages over other pieces the movement would be incomplete and partially impotent without each activist putting in the talents and perspective that the have. Thanks for openly sharing our opinion with me!
