Petitions used to seem so polite and mature and civilized to me. Nowadays I see them with different eyes, like an expression of the weakness of the individual. A group of people pandering to a supposed authority, begging for approval from an father-figure while appealing to the myth of democracy: "But if a lot of people want it you have to give it to us!" It implies that an individual has no rights, only when he is part of a large enough group to actually stand outside a government building and be visible on Google earth does he have even a vague shot at acquiring the right to choose what he will do or what will be done to him.