287 Protesting

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Rudeness is not boldness; yelling your opinion in a crowded auditorium is not brave nor admirable; disrupting a gathering of people you don't agree with is not righteousness. Unfortunately, these actions carry the aura of protesting, but protesting should not occur at the expense of other listeners. The people whose time you interrupted were meeting in sincerity and with decorum, and you took advantage of their courtesy & their aversion to conflict. They weren't offering you a platform to express your opinions: you were not protesting, you were impinging on their Freedom of Association, and they certainly don't want to associate with you.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In a Liberty Nation, where people are taught to be responsible for their own actions & respect the autonomy of others, rude behavior should have some check, but in reality, it doesn't. The only thing that allows society to function smoothly is the voluntary courtesy & acquiescence of everyone towards everyone else. It only takes a small number of the exploiters to ruin it for everyone, because when anyone is allowed to flaunt civility, everyone is. Without voluntary civility, our nation is only inches away from armed barricades & violence. The “protesting” of the past has become temper-tantrums in the present.</p>