It's a sarcastic reference to a satire. The point they are making is that politely protesting in a way that doesn't have any impact on anything is ineffective a

It's a sarcastic reference to a satire. The point they are making is that politely protesting in a way that doesn't have any impact on anything is ineffective and the abusers with power know this which is why they always clutch their pearls and try to prevent, undermine, or disparage anything else. Protest is an interesting thing. Sometimes you can just raise awareness through the approved, legal methods but sometimes you live in a society where the laws protect evil actions and punish anyone trying to change that. Obviously there will never be agreement from everyone about which situation calls for which actions.