The idea of protesting is heavily nuanced within today’s society. Mainly since many of the protests in 2020 resulted in riots that destroyed many small businesses and government property. Many of the protestors opted to follow the idea that since the government wouldn’t do something, they would take the problem into their own hands. This caused the idea of protesting to earn a bad rep in society today, leading to many people with opposing viewpoints spreading their opinions about the matter. This caused much discourse in the community because many protestors believed that what they were fighting for was right and that anyone who opposed them was incorrect and didn’t deserve to be heard. This caused the other side to think that their freedom of speech was being revoked by the protestors, causing a variety of other issues. This ultimately led to many arguments and discussions over social media, where some people’s livelihood was affected either by getting fired from their jobs or getting doxed by having their personal addresses released to the general public. It is essential to be tolerant of people who don’t share the same beliefs as yourself, even if you think that you are in the right. You don’t know why they feel the way they think, and you won’t see this information until you decide to be open-minded towards others. I’m not saying that you have to agree with everything that they say but you should at least have a discussion with them to try to learn why they think that way. The following site has a variety of podcasts that have discussions with professionals in their field, where they share their opinions about the 2020 protests and riots without using biases: Protests in Perspective | Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
A sit-in that happened in Seattle, WA during a protest.