I’m all for peaceful protest. However, whenever people gather en masse for a well intentioned exercise in making their voices heard, inevitably the enemy of all rational civilisation rears its ugly head;
Litter.
When most people look at angry mobs they probably look at the people. Personally I can’t help but notice the ground covered in abandoned signs and dropped sandwich wrappers; concluding that the world isn’t coming to an end through human violence or war but through relentless litter-buggery.
I once watched a climate change protest, which advertised a “save the trees, save the planet” philosophy by printing and displaying several thousand square feet of paper and cardboard before dropping them across the city streets as if the sight of a forest’s worth of flattened dead trees was some kind of modern art instalment. It’s more likely that someone prepared to travel 200 miles and sleep on the streets for a climate change rally is still as much of an inconsiderate prick as the next person.
It’s like campaigning to “save the whales” atop a parade float made out of whale skin and powered by porpoise fat.
I’m sure these people have carried the damn placards from miles around so surely another thirty feet to a bin wouldn’t hurt?
Perhaps the police could be ordered to “kettle” protesters into an area with a favourable person\rubbish receptacle ratio and refuse to allow protestors to leave until everything gets cleaned up… like the time you were caught having a party in your preteens.
This is one of many reasons why my spirit was so greatly lifted by the uprising in Egypt; after fighting for their personal freedoms, people chipped in to pick up the litter. Why? Because as one protestor put it; “this is our city now.”
So whether you’re a passionate group of citizens or a potentially violent oppressor, whether you’re marching, rioting or burning a city, do try and clean up.
We’ve only got one world; please take care of it.
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