this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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Today I Learned (TIL)

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[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 317 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

Literally all of these except number 23 and 31 are left wing protests.

Let that sink in 32/34 that’s over 94% of the biggest protests in the US were left wing.

We are the majority. Stop believing in the Reagenesque “silent majority” BS.

The majority of people, dont want oligarchs and conservative bigotry.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 59 points 2 weeks ago (17 children)

Then why is the government so completely dominated by the right if most politically active people are on what Americans call the left?

[–] growsomethinggood@reddthat.com 160 points 2 weeks ago

Gerrymandering and other structural means of disproportionate representation in federal government are big parts of it

[–] Zenith@lemm.ee 95 points 2 weeks ago

Two words, voter disenfranchisement

They remove the right to vote from our poor, our people of color, our citizens who have made mistakes but paid their debts to society, they remove polling places, making people wait hours and hours standing in lines to vote, giving them water is illegal, they purge voter roles right before elections…. And so so many more things. So many Americans don’t vote because they can’t because our right wing government has put so many roadblocks in the way.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 46 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Because most Americans have knee-jerk reactions to labels as opposed to policies. Like how everyone supports all the protections Obamacare provides, but how they all want to get rid of Obamacare.

also voter suppression gerrymanderinng élite control of the media etc

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 26 points 2 weeks ago (21 children)

My take is that there are a lot of Left people who won't vote for anyone except a candidate they support 100%. Hilary Clinton should have destroyed Trump. Those people ignore the simple truth that any time any GOP gets elected the whole country moves to the right.

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[–] nickhammes@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

Because while a lot of Americans support a lot of left wing positions, there are no major left wing parties, and a very small number of politicians who run for national or statewide office who actually take action to further left wing policies. There's Bernie Sanders, who isn't a member of a large party. AOC, and a few others qualify, but being a small proportion of those running, they're a small proportion of those elected, and have relatively little actual influence.

Ideas neither major party supports are basically impossible to see happen.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 25 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Others have commented valid points but I also wanted to bring up propaganda;

A lot of people are unwilling or even unable (i.e. there is only one tv in the house and you don’t get to control the remote most of the time) to get their news from sources that aren’t constantly telling them that Democrats are out to get them and 2SLGBTQIA+ are the enemy and that if they just vote for (wealthy conservative) then all their problems will be solved overnight. Couple that with an education system that has failed to give people the critical thinking skills to ask what trans folk have to do with the economy and you get the 2024 election.

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[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 48 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's been clear for a long time that the "silent majority" is in fact just an obnoxiously loud minority.

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[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 46 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

We are the majority.

🌍🧑‍🚀🔫🧑‍🚀 Always have been. That's why conservatives constantly try to make it harder to vote - the more people vote, the more left wing politicians win. Because the majority of people agree with left wing ideals.

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[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

100%. Republicans have been blatantly against the will of the people, and can only maintain power through gerrymandering and straight up rigging elections. We are the majority by a long shot. The last election was likely rigged, and the heritage foundation, Trump, and Putin are working on the business plot 2. We have to do everything possible to stop it.

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 weeks ago

Also, if memory serves, the right wing group the 3 percenters got their name because it only took 3% of the population to initiate change at some historical event.

Ergo, it doesn’t take that many people to get out and change the nation, but ffs you got to get out

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 86 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

1 George Floyd protests 500,000[5] 15,000,000–26,000,000 2020

2 Earth Day 20,000,000[6] 1970

3 No Kings protests 5,000,000 2025

4 Hands Across America (poverty) 5,000,000 1986

5 2017 Women's March 3,300,000–4,600,000

[–] IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (14 children)

Did any of these have any lasting impact?

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[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 77 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

I was about to say the list was incomplete as several million attended the Iraq war protests, but it turns out that was global and only a few hundred k Americans bothered to protest the invasion of Iraq based on manufactured propaganda.

The post 9/11 bloodthirsty hysteria, "you're either with us or against us" dissonance, religious nationalism, and ignorant patriotism is what made me believe the US would become an authoritarian dictatorship in my lifetime. Great job teenage me. I hate it.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 36 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

A lot of people forget the shear bloodlust in the USA after 9/11 that lasted for years.

When people compare the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, a lot of people forget there was a large chunk of the country who were rabidly pro Iraq War while there wasn't an equivalent base for the Vietnam War.

[–] Zenith@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

It felt like everyone was like you were either 1000% on board or you were casually on board cause you weren’t “into politics” but trying to find likeminded people who opposed it felt impossible to me. I was 16 when 9/11 happened and shortly after was when I stoped standing for the anthem or saluting the flag in the morning and I was the only kid in my highschool of 1,800 kids to do that and wow I got SO MUCH hate for it

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[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 49 points 2 weeks ago (29 children)

This makes me really hopeful.

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[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

7 out of top 10 during Trump's presidential terms. My take is that civil duty to protest is stronger than voting for non-Republicans, maybe if elections were on saturdays instead of tuesdays...

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[–] riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] barkingspiders@infosec.pub 17 points 2 weeks ago

Seriously, there will be more, I don't think we've seen the biggest ones yet either.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago

We clearly have the numbers against traitorous conservatives.

Would be really cool if we could use those numbers before allowing them to destroy our society.

[–] LostWon@lemmy.ca 31 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Cool. I just hope your leaders take the hint. Maybe now that they're getting directly threatened they'll show their true colours. Either they stand up for themselves as they see their colleagues start to get attacked (at events or in their own homes), or they cower and come to heel. (Sadly, I have little faith most politicians in most countries these days will do much if it's not their own hides at risk.)

Incidentally, something weird is going on with that list. I'm not sure how the ordering works but much more important, it says only "500,000" for the protests over George Floyd even though one of the references says 15-26 million over the entire course of that movement.

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm afraid this may not be enough. One who is so deep in their delusions isn't so easily brought back to reality, if they ever can be.

[–] usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This isn't the first large nationwide protest of his second term and it won't be the last. For instance, the Hands Off ones in April were number 6 on that list. They're getting larger and there is already planning for the next nationwide ones. Or more broadly, here's the cumulative number of protests including smaller ones too

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[–] omgitsaheadcrab@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I'm afraid the US and all its allies are marching straight into another set of wars and the consequences they'll bring. Apparently we're all the baddies now

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[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Good... now repeat it but as a General Strike

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[–] barkingspiders@infosec.pub 26 points 2 weeks ago

It feels good to know that lots of other Americans care about what's going on. I don't know if we're going to make it but I felt like part of a country out there and I hope we figure it out.

[–] mathiouchio@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 weeks ago

Match the energy during election day ballot yeah?? Thanks

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 20 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Ok but it's crazy that the George Floyd protests were 5x bigger than this, even with COVID in full swing.

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[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Earth Day needs to keep happening too.

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[–] nednobbins@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

That's great news. The other 9 of the 10 biggest protests were were extremely successful at affecting change.

Since we made such massive progress on all the others, this is clearly a harbinger of social and political progress.

[–] CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Until we start seeing general strikes, or other action, they will continue to ignore the people.

A week of general strikes, and the stock exchange tanking acordingly, would actually have an effect.

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[–] droans@midwest.social 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)
  1. George Floyd (Police Brutality)
  2. Earth Day 1970 (Environmental Protection)
  3. No Kings (Trump)
  4. Hands Across America (Poverty)
  5. Women's March 2017 (Feminism)
  6. Hands Off (Trump)
  7. March for Our Lives (Gun Violence)
  8. Women's March 2018 (Feminism)
  9. #RickyRenuncia (Puerto Rico, Resignation of Ricardo Rosselló)
  10. Great American Boycott (Immigrant Rights)

Only #9 actually accomplished what they wanted.

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[–] glitching@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

not to rain on the parade or nothing, but a protest that hasn't the implicit threat of "...or else" is just a hang

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

All the other benefits of a non-violent protest aside, there's also immense value is reminding people that they're not as singular in their viewpoint as they feel.

For a lot of people, it's been very easy to feel like everyone else must be in board with this.

I'm not sure what you're looking for to codify the implicit threat. A couple million people calling you a king at an event called "no kings day" in a country whose founding narrative is "violently rebel against kings" seems pretty implicit to me.

Also, I just realized that there's a red coat/red hat parallel I haven't seen leveraged yet that has a lot of potential.

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 12 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

there's also immense value is reminding people that they're not as singular in their viewpoint as they feel.

This destroys the narrative of the protested party. They cannot convincingly talk about 'a few misguided people disagreeing' when you see so many others who feel like you. Even if nothing would be achieved by the protest, this is an immensely powerful confirmation of an individuals beliefs. 100% agree.

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[–] DomeGuy@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Getting millions of Americans to go out and essentially shout "F U Donald" is a little bit more than a hang. And is potentially much more effective than a riot or occupy wall street.

America is still a democracy, in that all the roads to power require you to get folk to show up and vote for you.

[–] Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago (13 children)

America is still a democracy,

Not much longer if americans dont fight harder.

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