Scott Duncan
If they want to PROTEST, which by it's very nature is to speak out without inflicting harm, then LET THEM.
I remember being that age. I KNOW how important it is to them.
Yes, protest is pointless in the larger scheme of things, but that does not change who THEY are, and what THEY feel.
Know that I would do the same for a bunch of muslims protesting the fact that Canada allows atheist to live.
WHATEVER the idea, GOOD, OR BAD, when government silences it, it not only deprives someone of their right to express the idea, it also denies YOU the right to hear it.
Protests are EXPRESSION. POLICE are just a goon squad. One is your right, the other isn't. Personally I'd rather everyone KNOW Muslims (Yes even the "moderates") want atheists killed, rather than having it come as a surprise to people, because the government repressed speech a few short years earlier.
PROTEST is what stops the young from spiraling into depression and despair! I Know! I used to do it!
Mine weren't a waste. Protesting Scientology was NOT protesting any "authority", it was warning of a money-driven fraud. Those protests lead to the formation of Anonymous.
So i know what Natasha feels, and it really makes enduring the Derek Moran ilk a little less painful to endure.