Why do people protest loss of rights?
From an article on User interfaces and selling:
"Another explanation of why scarcity works has to do with freedom—or rather loss of freedom. If something is scarce, it may be unavailable in the near future. And that idea doesn't sit too well with people—it violates our sense of control over a situation: "If I don't act today, I won't be able to. . . " Psychologist Jack Brehm writes about "psychological reactance," or the ways people fight against restrictions on their freedom. . . why people rush to protest government restrictions on their rights, even when the issue means very little to them personally."
What does that mean to a person in the world of politics and government? If you don't act now to protect what you have NOW - you may NEVER get it back once it is gone. Government is ALWAYS about restricting freedoms thru conformity and threats to each individual if you do not conform - actually that is also true for any society. And the society in turns creates governments to ensure that the ideals and rules of the society are enforced through whatever means necessary.
This means when some people asks "why are you protesting" it often means the people do not feel any loss of power over the issue; therefore do not see the issue as a threats to THEM now or in the future - no loss of freedom - and do not get involved.
Example: if a person does not drive a car and only takes public transportation (which is 70 to 95% subsidized by taxes on others) and sees a proposed tax of 35 cents a gallon to be made on gasoline (like what President Obama had hinted he would like back in campaign 2008 to get people to drive less and take public transportation) there is no threat to them and thus will not protest it at all.
Take that same person and tell them that there will be a transit tax of $1 per day to help pay for the cost of fuel and that same person would be out protesting immediately - now it is a direct threat to them so they will fight.
This same psychology of freedom can be seen in many local and national issues in the USA and around the world.
posted by Tom Philo at 3:14 PM
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