Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Rhetoric in Protests

Have you ever disagreed with a law in the process of being passed by the legislature and you felt like you could do nothing about it? Think again, anyone and everyone can express their objection to any law or any act of discrimination by protesting.

Many protests take place at state capitols and the nation’s capitol in Washington D.C. Various protesters hold signs that reveal rhetorical phrases to communicate the focus of the protest to people passing by as well as to city officials and representatives.  Along with large, decorative signs to execute a specific message, protesters are protesting for many reasons; some to make change, and others to keep justice alive for instance and they do so by chanting their moral messages.

For example, protesters involved in the fairly recent protest known as the “Women’s March” held signs quoting, “If one man can destroy everything, why can’t one girl change it?”. My idea behind this quote on the protesters’ signs is that those ladies were trying to convey to the government that women can change the world, but since they aren’t fully equal to men in the U.S., they aren’t allowed to.

You may have heard in recent news that the United States broke its record of having the largest protest in the country's history on January 21, 2017. This protest was the "Women's March". According to The Washington Post, this march was “historically massive” (Gade) considering how many people in the U.S. and even other countries around the world participated.

The women’s march is a movement that has what is referred to as having “wide-ranging goals”. Unlike other protests like “Black Lives Matter” and “Occupy Wall Street”, the Women’s March goal was to not only achieve equity, but to protect the rights women currently have.

With that, The Washington Post stated, “it is harder for a government to remove rights than is it for a social movement to gain new ones”. This entire movement was completely nonviolent and drew an immense amount of support from many different corners of society. The Women’s March was overall a peaceful protest which has been in the process of persuading government officials to protect women’s rights rather than coerce the government using violence and threats.

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