I’m not asking you to prove my point, but I think you’re being myopic.

* Vikor Orban was just ousted by a popular protest movement. This took years due to structural electoral issues but it did work eventually. And it wouldn’t if the people opposing him gave up because they didn’t change anything right away.

* The US ICE protests (and the federal government’s insane overreaction to them) let to the head of DHS being fired and a quantifiable drop in ICE activity (e.g. arrests and number of people currently detained).

* Nepal’s protests last year led to the resignation of the prime minister and a resounding electoral victory this year for their opponents.

Protests aren’t magic win buttons, especially because even the people protesting don’t fully agree on exactly what “winning” looks like. But they accomplish more than acting out your emotions on the internet.