petition(n.) mid-14c., petiocioun, "a supplication or prayer," especially to a deity," from Anglo-French (early 14c.), from Old French peticion "request, petition" (12c., Modern French pétition) and directly from Latin petitionem (nominative petitio) "a blow, thrust, attack, aim; a seeking, searching," in law "a claim, suit," noun of action from past-participle stem of petere "to make for, go to; attack, assail; seek, strive after; ask for, beg, beseech, request; fetch; derive; demand, require," from PIE root *pet- "to rush; to fly." Meaning "formal written request to a superior (earthly)" is attested from early 15c. In law, "a written application for an order of the court" (1737). also from mid-14c. petition(v.) "make a request to," c. 1600, from petition (n.) or from or inspired by French pétittioner, from the noun in French.

https://openyls.law.yale.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/a8f53157-074e-48b3-87e3-ad7aab5981fc/content

as in, i hear him say "we must not petition" and my first thought it: what does petition mean and my second thought is: what is the history of petitions thru time in law, in culture, as a right, the challenges, failures, successes, lessons, the differences between a petition brought before a king, a tyrant, in a republic, to congress as in: what can i read to learn more?

my third thought is: as simply as possible in the immediacy of right now with what im working with in a general consensus reality basic mid level understanding, as in, what did i bring to this before i heard his words? as in: what does it mean to bring a petition to your neighbors? to go door to door? what is that about? isnt it about building awareness? consensus? support? why wouldn't that be a good move? a strengthening one?

the third thought is for what? if we are short on time, answer right now? where am i? to me, i think petitions sound wise, would take a lot for me to axe them as a nonviable strategy, so how did julian get to where he is? taking that off the table already entirely

Fair point.

I don’t much like the definition of this word. Seems to imply the one petitioning less superior, implying government is not a servant but rather the master which contradicts the American constitutions positions that government is the servent.

Perhaps his implying that government will ignore/disregard or circumvent it with what ever tricks they have. So maybe he’s saying we need to act and take it away from them rather than let me play the long game and drag things out til people get tired, distracted or forgetful.

if the people get tired, distracted, or forgetful, then that is what the people deserve nothing justifies a king, not even king julian assange

But the people have always been tired, distracted and forgetful. Government makes sure of this and people can’t help but fall back into complacency. Which is why almost (if not all) governments in history eventually devolved into a some sort of tyranny, until it was so bad people were forced to wake and take back control and make the change ( i.e the Magna Carta) Sadly nothing has changed and that pattern continues. That’s likely why when Ben Franklin was asked “do we have a republic or a monarchy” he responded “A republic if you can keep it” So you’re not wrong, it is what we deserve. It is what we allowed. It’s ours and the fault of those before us who failed to “keep it”.

maybe this time it will be different, maybe this time it wont, i have more reading on petitions to do in the meantime