Does violence raise awareness for a cause?

It does get more media attention sick as it sounds.

A bunch of wannabe anarchists smashing what they can will do nothing but earn a clubbing and I'll bet that the nonviolent protestors in Toronto this weekend want to smash their heads as much as the next man.

It's the same as the Battle in Seattle of '99. A bunch of people with defensible causes and protests are overshadowed by a bunch of idiots trying to compensate for needle-dick synrome by smashing random windows.

Then how come we haven't heard SFA about these pissed off 'legitimate' protestors doing or saying something when those criminals started vandalizing stuff? People are claiming that the vandals were a fraction of a percentage of the 'real' protestors, yet they did nothing to stop the vandalism. They emboldened, empowered and sheltered the criminals in their midst, by milling around and doing nothing.

It definately raises awareness because nothing gets press like trouble.
Whether it raises support is the question.

Well, it's like never hearing the 'good' Muslims bitching about the bad ones, or the 'good' Christians never saying too much against Westboro Baptist or against some pro-life group that decides to blow up a doctors office. The further-out-on-the-fringe leftists are the same. They won't turn on their own because they hold the same beliefs and values, even if the mellower ones are too gutless to come out and say it, or to take it down to street level the way the real radicals will.

Violence is like liquor anyway. Both are about the best things available out there at effectively revealing someone's true character.

Well, it's like never hearing the 'good' Muslims bitching about the bad ones, or the 'good' Christians never saying too much against Westboro Baptist or against some pro-life group that decides to blow up a doctors office. The further-out-on-the-fringe leftists are the same. They won't turn on their own because they hold the same beliefs and values, even if the mellower ones are too gutless to come out and say it, or to take it down to street level the way the real radicals will.

Violence is like liquor anyway. Both are about the best things available out there at effectively revealing someone's true character.

Incorrect. The real reason is that it doesn't make compelling News.

Exactly.

Does violence raise awareness for your cause? Yes. Does it generate support? Not a chance. It's the fastest way to make sure your cause becomes synonymous with violence as opposed to whatever it is you're trying to change.

That's a load of crap. The responsibility lays with the people who perpetrated the violence, not those unlucky enough to be bystanders. Indeed, one wonders what you would expect a bystander to do. If it were me, given that were thousands of police officers all around, I'd probably choose to stay the heck out of it.

And people don't "claim" that violent protestors were a fraction of the group--- that is an easily verifiable fact.

I'm planning a riot next week to support breast cancer awareness.

Violence may raise awareness, but its utility is pretty limited if you are the weaker party in a fight. Violent protest taken to the extreme would be terrorism. Terrorism has done nothing to improve the lives of civilians in Gaza. It's made life worse. Compare the progress made by Hamas to that made by Ghandi or Martin Luhter King.

What do you expect them to do? Voluntarily shut down their legitimate protest because a couple of jerks broke a window?

"Hmm, those poorly-behaved chaps just caused a minor amount of property damage. I guess that's more important than the point I'm trying to make. I'll make the authorities' job easier at the cost of my principles. That'll show them."

You talk about vandalism. Boo-frickin-hoo. It's not like they were sheltering someone who blew up a building, or who stabbed/shot/beat a person or police officer.

I'm sure there are times violence also generates support - when things have deteriorated far enough. Just wouldn't be pleasant living in that situation.

But it is amazing how the rigthwingers love to conflate legitimate protest with the actions of a very small minority. We should all be thankful for peaceful demonstrators, they're helping to keep democracy alive.

Does violence raise awareness for a cause?

Ask a Palestinian.