Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 02, 2024, 09:10:09 AMQuote from: apl68 on May 02, 2024, 07:45:35 AMWonder whether those non-students spotted among the demonstrators are actually "professional agitators" from out of town, or simply local lewd fellows of the baser sort taking an opportunity to blow off some steam by joining a protest? Either way, if the protest's organizers can't keep such people from co-opting their protest for their own purposes, they'd do well to reconsider the wisdom of these demonstrations.
I was on a "liberal" campus during the first Gulf War when we only had, like, a week to protest. The students managed not to damage anything, but I became convinced that their motivation was not pacificism but the excitement and adventure of the protest. I was a bit older than most undergrads, so while I went to see the show I wasn't terribly impressed.
What we ended up with were a number of elderly hippies stoking on the disruption. I'm sure someone has done scholarship on this aspect of American college life, and I just wonder how much protest is genuine and how much is the perception on students' part that this is how they are supposed to object and express themselves. Certainly it is okay to support Gaza in this situation and call on Israel to behave in a civilized manner (without being accused of antisemitism), I just wonder how much actual good it does for students to wreck their own campuses.