forsyth | Thought of the morning

"...the underlying assumption of any public protest--any public disagreement with the government, "the system," or "the establishment," by an name--is that the men in charge of whatever you're protesting are actually listening, whether they later admit it or not, an that if you run your protest Right, it will likely make a difference. ... So in the end, the very act of public protest, even violent protest, was essentially optimistic and a demonstration of faith ... in the father figures who had the power to change things--once they could be made to see the light of reason, or even political reality." - Hunter S Thompson, Kingdom of Fear