I’ve been seeing an insane amount of petitions circulating young, mostly liberal spaces online. Some of them being obviously useless and embarrassing, like sign to end the war in Yemen or to free Hong Kong.
What’s the general consensus on petitions? I feel like they often stand in for action that is much more likely to work like in-person protests, boycotts, etc. Like I see people who said they sign petitions online for large swaths of time every day, which seems to me to be a huge waste time, compared to any other way of supporting a cause.
But is there something to be said for them “raising awareness” for issues? Or do they just let people feel like they’ve done their part and demobilize them? Are there specific issues that petitions can help with? As opposed to generic petitions with no feasible way to achieve their stated goals.
They have extremely limited uses. At the local level, they can have some effect, because sometimes it’s hard to know how many people are paying attention to any given issue. So, if you’re trying to fight a development/gentrification, bringing lots of signatures can let people know there’s serious opposition, for example.
At the national level, they’re honestly just virtue signaling.
