City Dwellers and Protests
City Dwellers
A common description that seems to be said about almost every city dweller around the world is that the people who live in the big cities are “blasé” people who seem to look at their surroundings as if everything were “homogenous and gray color[ed]” (Appelrouth & Edles, 267). In addition, many rural folks describe city dwellers as being “unemotional” and “inattentive” people. Indeed, they claim that city dwellers see everyone as not being “much different than everyone else” (Appelrouth & Edles, 270). However, could these assumptions have theoretical support?
Sociologist Georg Simmel claimed that assumptions like the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph have truth in them. He claimed that the city dweller truly is “indifferent to all things” (Appelrouth & Edles, 270) because “…it is impossible for the city dweller to absorb or become emotionally invested in all the happenings and encounters that make up his daily life” (Appelrouth & Edles, 266). Simmel stated that, since “City life is characterized by a ‘swift and continuous shift of external and internal stimuli’” (Appelrouth & Edles, 266), such as loud noises and much movement, in an act similar to one of self-defense, city dwellers “shut off” their senses and become distant to what surrounds them so to not have their mind and body become overwhelmed by the extra stimuli that they cannot handle. Thus, this distancing and “shutting off” can cause city dwellers to be perceived as being “cold” and “uncaring” towards others.
Protests
The year 2020 was a year of much plight. Protests occurred in the small towns, but mostly in the cities. These protests, plights of the unheard and uncared for, were not well received by many of the “blasé” people. For example, these are only a couple of examples of what was written at different times throughout the year of 2020 by city-based news outlets concerning the protests:
1.) The Washington Post: “Many demonstrations sank into chaos” (Garber, 2020).
2.) The Associated Press: “How a Night of Chaos In Minneapolis Unfolded” (Garber, 2020).
3.) The Ingraham Angle: “7th Night of Chaos Over George Floyd’s Death” (Garber, 2020).
4.) The New York Post: “MAYHEM” (Garber, 2020).
A common term used to describe the protests was “chaos.” Chaos is a term which “implies a mayhem so extreme that there is no logic to be found in the tumult” (Garber, 2020). It is a term that dismissed protestors’ “moral righteousness” and obscured the message that the protestors wanted to convey under a “fog of ‘chaos’” (Garber, 2020). Even worse, the protestors, who have also suffered rates of mass incarceration, loss of manufacturing jobs, soaring housing costs and evictions, and police violence presently, as well as racism ever since their arrival, have all of these tribulations and afflictions ignored (Desmond, 2018). The rest of the city dwellers did not even take the time to put themselves in the shoes of the protestors, nor did they attempt to understand the reasons for why the protestors sought justice. Instead, the city dwellers had the protestors be put under the label of “looters and undesirables” (Desmond, 2018).
Almost every time protestors “speak the language of the unheard,” the city dwellers seem to demonstrate “more concern about the loss of store merchandise than the loss of a life” (Garber, 2020). For example, after the initial protests in response to George Floyd’s death, a large proportion of city dwellers lamented and became angered over the monopolies’ chains of establishments being lit on fire, instead of being angered over the real problems of injustice and severe inequality. The city dwellers preferred to focus on how the protesters protested rather than what they protested for.
The death of George Floyd once again ignited the thirst for justice within the Black community. The death of a Black man under the knee of a police officer and within the antipathy of the police officer’s colleagues demonstrated just how much some people value a Black life. The desire for equality and justice were what the community subsequently longed for. A longing that had already been there, but was once again galvanized by the youth. Nonetheless, the other city dwellers, seeing the protests from afar, although saying outwardly that they agreed with what the protestors were doing, silently, within their homes or within themselves, complained about the “disruptions and dramas” caused by the protests and wished for the protests to be “peaceful,” but a “peaceful” that means: “far away from me and in silence.” In other words, a reason for why city dwellers do not like protests is because they intrude into their routine.
Indeed, support for the previous claim is found when observing several city dwellers’ political preferences at specific times. When people protest only within designated areas, when they protest away from the city dwellers’ usual routes, and when they are closely watched by law enforcement, city dwellers vote “Democrat” on their voting ballot (Robbins, 2020). In contrast, when protestors, tired of their plights being unanswered, move out of designated areas, stop traffic, or transmit their anger onto the monopolies’ chains of establishments, the city dwellers vote for the party of “law and order” (Robbins, 2020). By noticing the change in their political preferences, one uncovers the true attitude that these people have towards the righteous anger of a community.
Some city dwellers, during the period of numerous protests, even within the Black community, were heard telling others from their same community to no longer show their righteous anger. “For,” they said, “if we keep protesting like this, we would only help Donald Trump be reelected.” What these people were actually saying was: “Scream! But not too loud. Show Yourself! But not too noticeably. Demand! But really confirm yourself with what is given.” Additionally, they were saying: “Do not disrupt the other’s pleasant day and do not intrude too much into their lives. Be glad with what you have, even if it’s actually the minimum of what you deserve, because we greatly depend on the will of the other whom we are presently annoying.”
“A riot is the language of the unheard,” but for many people who have not experienced the suffering of these unheard in the flesh, the utterances of this language can seem incomprehensible and too overwhelming for their senses. Many city dwellers might start out supporting the cause that the protestors are fighting for, but when the cause becomes a constant noise in the background, the city dwellers become annoyed and begin covering their ears so to have the noise disappear. Such a situation is noticeable when looking at the net approval for the Black Lives Matter movement. Since its peak on the third day of June, it has fallen ever since protests began to occur in the major cities across the United States (Robbins, 2020). Although the city dwellers initially engaged with the plight of the protesters, they quickly left the cause once the events and noise became too overwhelming for their senses. How can they say that they care for the plight of the others when they avoid the presence of the upset so to not have their mirage of a “joyful” and “perfect” existence be broken.
“‘A riot is the language of the unheard,’” King explained years ago. “‘And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years’” (Desmond, 2018). Why has this plight not been heard? The city dwellers have failed to hear this plight because they prefer to maintain the “tranquil” status quo. They wish for no one to destabilize the fabric that holds their society together because they fear the “excessive” stimuli that this action would bring. However, a question these people must ask themselves is the following: “Is the uncomfortableness that comes with the excessive stimuli too much that we should prefer to ‘…sit by idly for one more day while a grave injustice unfolds’” (Tufekci, 2020)?
References:
Appelrouth, Scott; Desfor Edles, Laura. (2016). Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory: Text and Readings. SAGE Publications, Inc. 239-276.
Desmond, Matthew. (2018). Where Have All the Rioters Gone? Good jobs in black communities have disappeared, evictions are the norm, and extreme poverty is rising. Cities should be exploding—but they aren’t. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/matthew-desmond-riots/552542/.
Douthat, Ross. (2020). The Case Against Riots: What nonviolent protest gains, violent protest unravels. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/opinion/sunday/riots-george-floyd.html.
Garber, Megan. (2020). Don’t Fall for the ‘Chaos’ Theory of the Protests: By invoking the word yesterday, Trump erased the purpose of demonstrators across the country. The media should not follow suit. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/06/george-floyd-protests-are-not-chaos-trump-new-york-times/612544/\.
Henderson, David. (2020). It’s time to challenge America’s repressive anti-riot laws. Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/16/its-time-challenge-americas-repressive-anti-riot-laws/?arc404=true.
Robbins, James S. (2020). Rioting is beginning to turn people off to BLM and protests while Biden has no solution: Jacob Blake’s shooting has sparked more rioting and as violence escalates, people are turning away from BLM, protesting, and social justice. USA Today. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/08/31/riots-violence-erupting-turning-many-away-blm-and-protests-column/5675343002/.
Tufekci, Zeynep. (2020). Do Protests Even Work? It sometimes takes decades to find out. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/06/why-protests-work/613420/