Perhaps by now you've heard of the Readington 29, a group of ignorant brats who chose to stage a 'protest' because their lunch is too short. Most people who are aware of the story are expressing a level of support for the kids that, if aimed at an adult, would suggest that they're considering joining a cult. Or, at the very least, suffering from Obamamania. (Regulars: don't worry, Baracktober continues soon).
Anyway, I'm not TOO far removed from school, and I remember a 30 minute lunch well. Let's assume that the facts aren't being misstated here (wild, I know), and consider that their lunch period looked like this:
That's a lot for 30 minutes. Perhaps, depending on the size of the school and the number of kids going through that line, too much. So, why am I coming down on the kids? Allow me to introduce you to yet another made-up, numbered list:
Naginata's 3 Rules of Successful Protesting
The kids, sadly, failed on all three counts.
First, make your grievances known. If these kids had been in charge of the revolutionary war (hang on, I'm going somewhere), King George would have woken up one morning and said 'they think taxes are too high? why didn't someone tell me about this!'. You have to make your grievances clear. You look much better if your position is 'they drove us to this' instead of 'we thought it would be cool'. Plus, you never know, perhaps they would have gotten a few more minutes for lunch without having to cross swords with the administration.
Second, never, ever, ever involve bystanders. There were 29 kids involved in the protest, paying with pennies. There were kids behind them in line that did not get to eat. Now the story is twofold - protest brings attention to problem AND protest makes kids go hungry. Now the media can interview people who will say how disruptive the protest was to their lives, and you're the bad guy, even if you're right. Don't give the opposition (or the press) a chance to spin your message in a way that makes you look bad. Pro-life protesters, write that one down somewhere.
Lastly, control your message. This is strongly related to the second point, but I think it deserves its own bullet. These kids didn't go nearly as far as they should have to control their message. The proper protest would have been for them to place all of their money - except the pennies - in their lockers (or leave it at home). Then, they should have made sure that they were the last 29 kids in line for lunch that day. How much better is it for you if every single person who doesn't get to eat is one of your agents? Then your message is not just 'we don't have enough time to eat', but rather, 'we had to go hungry'. This one, you can repeat every single day and, since you're the one suffering, you will gain support rather than resentment from your peers.
There you go kids. You've got a bright future ahead of you, just remember the three rules... and get a job. Protesting is for weekends only.
Posted by naginata at March 5, 2008 10:30 AMAllow me to suggest the book _Waging Nonviolent Struggle_.
It is excellent.
Posted by: todd at March 5, 2008 11:31 AMHmm. I seem to remember getting only 25 minutes for lunch, and it was more than enough. But then, I usually brought my own lunch. *shrug*
Posted by: ångel at March 5, 2008 01:06 PMThey get to go to school and eat? Back when I was a kid, I had to stay home all day!
Posted by: dave at March 5, 2008 02:08 PM