mekka okereke Jun 17

No Kings marches:
* Over 2,000 marches
* One day (so far)
* ~11 million participants
👍🏿

Black Lives Matter marches:
* Over 7,700 marches
* Multiple days
* ~26 million participants
👍🏿

Whoever told you 3.5% of the people protesting is some magic number for social change, lied to you.

Show threadfulanigirlJun 17
@mekkaokereke Have heard many Black activists question the study. Did it come out of Harvard?
Show threadWeird SocksJun 17
@fulanigirl @mekkaokereke
Yes. It was Erica Chenoweth.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erica_Chenoweth
Erica Chenoweth - Wikipedia

Show threadDemianJun 17
@ohmu @fulanigirl @mekkaokereke pretty sure Erica is aware of all the nuances but they still seem to push the misleading headline takeaway anyway. The nuances seem to get lost on many
Show threadmekka okereke Jun 17

@dgodon @ohmu @fulanigirl

💯

Yeah Erica Chenoweth knows what she wrote, and her paper is being quoted out of context all over the place. She's not the one lying to people.

First, she already admitted that her rule has been broken several times since she wrote the paper. That was before No Kings.

Second, her data focused on regime change, not civil rights causes like "Abolish ICE" or "Black Lives Matter" or "No Kings."

But people are talking about No Kings like "C'mon guys! All we have to do is get to 3.5%, and then we win! It's like, science man!"🤡

Like, they just memory-holed BLM protests, and how massive and sustained they were.

Show threadfulanigirlJun 17
@mekkaokereke @dgodon @ohmu I find that many activists today have self-induced amnesia. They don't "remember" any other period in American history where there was sustained resistance to the government that took place over years, or the govt's violent pushback. I'm not criticizing people who protest, they need to, just reminding folks not to make up a bench mark that isn't actually helpful.
Show threadDavid Bainbridge
@fulanigirl @mekkaokereke @dgodon @ohmu I'm old enough to remember the anti segregation protests and especially the anti Vietnam War protests, even from the UK side of the Atlantic!
Jun 17 at 4:34pmWeb
Show threadfulanigirlJun 17
@davebainbridge @mekkaokereke @dgodon @ohmu Sure. I am as well. So, I often find it astonishing when activists referring to something the clown is doing state that it (whatever it is at the moment) has never happened before! I'm like what??? It (whatever it is) has happened repeatedly...like snatching immigrants off the street. No...it's not the first time.
Show threadhuman_poweredJun 17

@fulanigirl @davebainbridge @mekkaokereke @dgodon @ohmu
Using a word like 'never' is all too human.

In drama it can signify effectively! Also between quarreling 7 year olds -- eg "You'll never be my friend anymore!"

'Never' signifies too loosely for history writing.

Another mixed-bag-signifier is 'unprecedented'.