The Nature of Protests

Students always protest, that’s what they do. And that’s a great thing. Students who have stopped protesting and are meek and quiet are sad to behold. Once students stop protesting and raising hell, we are all done for as a society. I’ve seen meek, complacent students in the post-Soviet space, and that was horrible.

What’s curious, though, is what students demand in their protests. I wasn’t around in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, so I can’t say what student protests were like. I did, however, see (and participate in) the protests of 2003, 2007 and 2009. Only 10 years ago, it was my turn to present myself at the house of the President of Yale with a list of demands. And that was a great experience.

All of these protests were political in nature and had such demands as, “Stop the war in Iraq, recognize our union, no to our university investing in private jails, yes to higher salaries for janitorial staff, yes to daycare for faculty.” In short, the kind of stuff that political agents want to achieve.

And today the protests are all, “make us feel safe, make professors take sensitivity classes, I’m ill, give me a shrink” The private has washed out the public completely. People are not demanding political change, they ask for milk of human kindness to be poured on their psychic wounds.

4 thoughts on “The Nature of Protests

  1. Part of the problem is that there is a demand to eliminate institutional racism without understanding that the people responsible for it are not Republican politicians, dead Confederates, and poor rural white red necks. The term “institutional racism” comes from the 1967 book Black Power by Carmichael and Hamilton. It was a term to describe the continuing existence of policies that led to the marginalization of blacks in institutions run by white liberals who openly denounced racism. The problem of course is that the marginalization of blacks in universities and other major institutions then as now as pointed out by Carmichael and Hamilton was the result of policies being implemented by liberals not red necks. The liberals running US universities have consistently mouthed denunciations of racism while at the same time continuing policies that have results that marginalize blacks. Liberals are completely unwilling to acknowledge their role in this marginalization and instead blame everything on Republican politicians, dead Confederates, and poor rural whites. But, liberals and leftists have run universities for more than fifty years now and the continuing existence of institutional racism there is not the fault of George Bush, Jefferson Davis, or any red necks. Given this fact, demanding “feel good” hugs is all that can happen. Because real change would necessitate recognizing that racial inequality in universities is a result of them being run by liberals and leftists. The most racially equalitarian institution in the US is the military which is not run by liberals and leftists.

    The other problem is the very language. Diversity is not equality. Diversity is perfectly compatible with inequality racial and otherwise. Talking about diversity instead of equality almost guarantees that tokenism will triumph over any move towards real equality. Diversity in support of racial inequality fits perfectly with a liberal elite at universities that benefits from institutional racism and continues to enact policies the perpetrate it while at the same time loudly denouncing the racism of dead Confederates and poor rural whites.

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    1. My dear friend, what could have possibly given you the idea that Yale is run by Liberals? ?? When I was there, the President was a close personal buddy of George W Bush. The current President is a close buddy of the previous president. All of my professors at Yale – all of them, 100% – donated heavily to Republican causes. They were so conservative that even just mentioning Foucault in a paper would enrage them.

      Where are these universities run by leftists? ? ? I’d love to find one and just go hide there, if possible.

      Is today some sort of an April Fool’s day? Because I feel like people are running a practical joke on me. Yale Corporation run by leftists is the most outre thing I’ve heard in weeks.

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    1. This is precisely what I was talking about in my posts on magical thinking as a sign of deep immaturity. The author must have had a very sheltered life to be able to afford to practice this sort of childishness.

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