[quote=ShonHarris]
Pussy Riot has a long, sorted past with Russia besides the incident that supposedly led to the arrest. The language used describing them has gotten as extreme as 'terrorists' and all too often they, and those like that, have been battered in response for their protesting. Many of the groups who push for recognition of women's rights will show up very exposed, literally topless, but the police habitually come armed to the tooth and brutal despite the clear lack of protection or weaponry. While short snippets of events can seem extreme, it's important to consider that oppression is not ended quietly. American activists for human rights do not quietly request those immediately around them to perhaps consider another mode of thought. You have to wake people up to see another perspective.
[/quote]

You're not wrong. Even Rosa Parks climbed on the bus with the intention of going to prison -- that's a means to an end, and the end is the message. A just message is worth the cost -- and to appreciate all that, you have to appreciate the whole narrative. 

I bring it up because, for Pussy Riot especially, nobody seems to know or care what the full narrative is. We like to hear about Pussy Riot for a fifteen-second sound byte so we can be mad for a while -- it's a manipulation thing, maybe justifiable if you care deeply about their message and the state of Russian civics, but to me personally.... it's hooligans doing hooligan stuff, and I feel like I don't need them to be on a pedestal for it. They've gotten plenty of the abuse they asked for, and all I can really say is "Sucks, don't it?" Maybe think about that next time you mock someone's sacred rituals or whatever on international TV. Pissing them off seems a likely outcome. I'll shed no tears for a slapped troll.