Civil rights picket in the movie Ray
There's a lovely scene in the movie Ray in which student civil rights demonstrators picket a segregated Ray Charles performance in Georgia. It's lovely for its emotional tone. But I like it also because it's a nifty little example of what a demonstration can be when it's well focused.
What was the purpose of the demo? To convince Ray Charles not to play a segregated show.
What was the message of the demo? Mr. Charles, please don't play this show.
Who was the message intended for? Primarily, Ray Charles. Secondarily, the TV news audience and newspaper readers throughout the South.
What was the success criterion for the demo? Ray Charles cancels.
How was success measured? By whether he cancelled or not.
What was the outcome? Cancellation. Success.
This is exactly what we do not do when we demonstrate against the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.
What is the purpose of our demo? Hard to say. To convince the government to stop the war? To convince the people not to support the war?
What is the message of our demo? Hard to say. Stop this particular war? All wars are bad?
Who is the message intended for? Hard to say. The government? The people watching on TV?
What are the success criteria for the demo? None. We're not able to say whether it was successful or not.
How is success measured? It's not.
What is the outcome? We don't know. But, we'll do it again in six months in exactly the same way.
It's not really fair to compare the two actions. The picket is more focused, by its nature. Mass demonstrations have goals which are typically less immediate.
But I think the broader point is reasonable. We often don't know what the purposes of our demonstrations are, who we're trying to reach, what we're trying to say to them, or how to judge whether we've succeeded or not. We do them, I think, because that's what we've always done.
