[Headline] Harass them until they agree

Protests are good fun, often compelling theater, and give participants the illusion of accomplishing something.

Occasionally they actually do accomplish something.

But I have to wonder whether the disabled activists who shut down the American Medical Association building Monday actually served their cause or undermined it.

The group behind the protest--ADAPT--has been doing this for years. They appear at various locations and jam up the works with their wheelchair-bound bodies, though how denying access encourages somebody to care about your own access issues is a mystery. In my understanding of the world, annoying others generates hostility, not support.

Had the AMA already rejected the chance to endorse the issue at hand--a federal bill that would make it easier for disabled people to live independently instead of in nursing homes--I could see how a little vindictive guerrilla action might be in order.

[image]
[image caption] The protesters who were at the AMA building Monday took over the Thompson Center (above) on Tuesday. Joseph Amari-For the Sun-Times

[text resumes] But given that the AMA--not my favorite organization--met with ADAPT to hear its arguments, and is considering the issue with apparent sincerity, it strikes me that this sort of protest is counterproductive. Those within the AMA who share ADAPT's view will have a tougher time selling it now than they would have last week.

Anger can disable you as handily as any physical malady. Yet who protests against that?

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Tuesday 23 July 2013

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Friday 18 December 2020

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