moose eater
Well-known member
At least one of the universities (Brown) has now agreed to hold a vote on divestment from Israel.I'll continue to disagree with what the goal of a protest is. If the goal is to sacrifice yourself to cause a disruption to institutions that you damn well know are unlikely to care about your stance, then these are doing a great job.
To me that is a temper tantrum. And its not effecting any change. Go ahead and cheer lead these people as they get squashed by the powers that be and not make hardly one bit of difference, they can be righteous, but it will be for nothing and it will be erased from history more or less.
I was mistaken when I thought the point of a demonstration was to call attention to an issue and sway public opinion to your side. I thought the point was to deliver a message that is being ignored by the mainstream. Well now the message is lost - they have gotten disorganized, overly emotional, and defensive. The only message coming through is the disruption.
Who have they won over? Which University is going to consider their demands (and not in theater)?
I fully understand its David vs Goliath for these folks, and they will lose - badly. Its not something I am happy to see. Unlike others I actually believe that violence upheaval is not necessary to bring social change. I think some believe its the only way. I guess it will hurt the image of the Universities a bit, and possible slow enrollment a little bit.
In my opinion a message resonates more clearly when you are not attacking anyone and also not allow allow yourself to be the victim of anyone else's attack against your cause. It appears to me that anger and hate are elevated from where this began, sometimes you have to pick your battles, stand down temporarily, and regroup.
Anyways we can agree to disagree. I feel bad for the people who's ribs are being crushed and heads are getting bashed is all. And I also disagree very much with how the administrations are handling/reacting in kind. They cannot stand to honest about what they really area and what they really stand for, or to be exposed for what they really are. And that is the problem, when the non-violent tactics transform into aggression, the University is off the hook for their heavy handed response.
I'd say that's some success... via nothing more than providing a spectacle and disrupting business-as-usual. A turn that would not have likely occurred otherwise.
And the pro-Palestinian protestors on campus have not been violent. That's been mainstream spin, and nothing more.