Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: brightback on October 05, 2013, 03:19 am
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I would understand why vendors and bigger buyers wouldn't want to, but I'm just a personal user that liked having SR when I needed it, Couldn't we set up some kind of peaceful protests before one of the so called DPR's court dates. We aren't going to stop the government, just thought it might raise his spirits or something if he knew people were there in his support.
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Sounds like a HUGE waste of time. Protests rarely work these days unless there are THOUSANDS of protesters participating. Gathering such a massive number of participants and organizers is extremely UNLIKELY, especially for a cause that's considered stupid for the majority of Americans.
A peaceful rally in support of an online black market for drugs/weapons/illegal services/hacking will NEVER appeal to the masses and will fail miserably. Also, a protest to "raise the spirit" of DPR sounds like a unworthy cause and really accomplishes NOTHING for the protestors. People already know DPR has a huge support base, he's a multimillionaire through his SR operations, so I doubt we can or need to do much to "raise his spirits." If you care so much, maybe try to write him letters or donate $ to him.
Finally, I am CERTAIN that NO PERSON would prefer showing themselves in public rallying for the biggest anonymous internet black market and it's founder. If anything, people are more concerned about getting off the radar & attention of the LEOs after SR's seizure.
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What would you be protesting... him being guilty? Would the signs say "Free DPR"?
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What would you be protesting... him being guilty? Would the signs say "Free DPR"?
Already scammer-looking websites and t-shirts:
http://www.freedpr.org/
http://freedreadpirateroberts.com/
[facepalm]
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I would understand why vendors and bigger buyers wouldn't want to, but I'm just a personal user that liked having SR when I needed it, Couldn't we set up some kind of peaceful protests before one of the so called DPR's court dates. We aren't going to stop the government, just thought it might raise his spirits or something if he knew people were there in his support.
That came into my head for a sec all right but how many users were part of SR and how many of those are from the States and then narrow it down to how many would turn up considering a lot of sellers will keep on what they do and won't want to risk it!
Tis a good thought though!
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Couldn't we set up some kind of peaceful protests before one of the so called DPR's court dates? We aren't going to stop the government, just thought it might raise his spirits or something if he knew people were there in his support.
Yeah sure. Why not? Protesting drug policy doesn't mean you're a drug user or seller. There are plenty of people (in my family alone) who don't use drugs but at the same time don't agree with US drug policy or with criminalizing/institutionalizing drug users. As long as it's peaceful and you don't get arrested, you can protest semi-anonymously (I say semi because they could ID you with facial recognition software, but why on earth would they bother?). Besides, they are not going to start surveil people who show up to support DPR or who protest his treatment.
You can protest anything you like. The point isn't to "stop them," the point is to raise awareness for drug policy change and to focus attention on how wasteful and pointless the war on drugs is. The point is to gain popular support.
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You might be better off just writing him a letter while he's in the pen.
I will just for the hell of it. Curious if he'd even bother to reply.
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Couldn't we set up some kind of peaceful protests before one of the so called DPR's court dates? We aren't going to stop the government, just thought it might raise his spirits or something if he knew people were there in his support.
Yeah sure. Why not? Protesting drug policy doesn't mean you're a drug user or seller. There are plenty of people (in my family alone) who don't use drugs but at the same time don't agree with US drug policy or with criminalizing/institutionalizing drug users. As long as it's peaceful and you don't get arrested, you can protest semi-anonymously (I say semi because they could ID you with facial recognition software, but why on earth would they bother?). Besides, they are not going to start surveil people who show up to support DPR or who protest his treatment.
You can protest anything you like. The point isn't to "stop them," the point is to raise awareness for drug policy change and to focus attention on how wasteful and pointless the war on drugs is. The point is to gain popular support.
"I say semi because they could ID you with facial recognition software"
The fact that they can or would even use this technology is worrying enough to realize that it just isn't the democratic, free speech liberal society portrayed.
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Sounds like a HUGE waste of time. Protests rarely work these days unless there are THOUSANDS of protesters participating. Gathering such a massive number of participants and organizers is extremely UNLIKELY, especially for a cause that's considered stupid for the majority of Americans.
Public opinion in the US is shifting away from prohibition. The number of non-violent drug offenders in prison has drawn a ton of media attention in the last 10 years. I wouldn't say that the "majority" of Americans find this to be stupid cause. People are less willing to support DPR because of the alleged murder-for-hire incidents. But support for ending prohibition, especially for marijuana, has never been higher.
Finally, I am CERTAIN that NO PERSON would prefer showing themselves in public rallying for the biggest anonymous internet black market and it's founder. If anything, people are more concerned about getting off the radar & attention of the LEOs after SR's seizure.
It's not all about SR and DPR; it's about the war on drugs and about what are really in most cases victimless crimes. Because it's a high profile cse, it gives people the chance to capture some media attention. That's an opportunity that you wouldn't have with, say, with John Doe charged with crack possession. I wouldn't sweat protesting publicly. I'm not worried about guilt by association and I don't think LE would target the protesters at all if that's what you mean.
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A peaceful rally in support of an online black market for drugs/weapons/illegal services/hacking will NEVER appeal to the masses and will fail miserably.…
Weapons? What weapons?
"I say semi because they could ID you with facial recognition software"
The fact that they can or would even use this technology is worrying enough to realize that it just isn't the democratic, free speech liberal society portrayed.
My face has probably been picked up at many protests and other gatherings. So what?
It's not all about SR and DPR; it's about the war on drugs and about what are really in most cases victimless crimes. Because it's a high profile cse, it gives people the chance to capture some media attention. That's an opportunity that you wouldn't have with, say, with John Doe charged with crack possession. I wouldn't sweat protesting publicly. I'm not worried about guilt by association and I don't think LE would target the protesters at all if that's what you mean.
Indeed. As a general opportunity to protest laws that pointlessly waste Government and LE resources while doing far more harm to people than good, this could be a very effective idea. While Mr Ulbricht may know the truth, the general public probably think of SR users as worthless street junkies with computers, if they bother to think of us as humans at all rather than as site and financial statistics. A large crowd of actual real people, of all ages, genders and states of attire, showing that they really believe it's time to make a stand for civil liberties, might actually make some dent in public perceptions.
One thing I would advise is to prepare a small group of erudite people, preferably with a little media experience, to head in the direction of the press when they appear to explain the principles of the protest. One thing the media love is to grab an extensive interview with a raving anarchist loony as representative of an entire movement.