Follow The Science: Riots Don’t Work
June 9, 2020 By Kelsey Bolar
On his nightly soapbox, CNN’s Chris Cuomo requested, “Please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful.â€
Of course, you won’t find these instructions written in the protester’s handbook anywhere, but they are reflected in common sense and a new study.
The study, which conducted six experiments with 3,399 participants, was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In sum, it concludes Americans stop caring about causes when protesters riot.
Using a handful of conservative and liberal causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement, animal rights, and the pro-life movement, researchers examined how different protest actions influence support for the various movements. (In their report, they refer to the pro-life movement as the “anti-abortion movement,†suggesting the authors are not conservative.)
Across the board, researchers found “protest behaviors perceived to be harmful to others, highly disruptive, or both — typically reduce support for social movements.†They also concluded that “these effects were largely independent of individuals’ prior ideology or views on the issue.â€
The results are no surprise. When protesters cross the line from peaceful to obnoxious — or worse, when demonstrators block firefighters from reaching a burning building with a child inside or murder a small-town former police chief — Americans lose their emotional connection for the cause.
more
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/09/follow-the-science-riots-dont-work/
