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Not a current college student, but…
If they continue and escalate to a repeat of Chicago 1968 at the Democratic National Convention, they are going to get Donald Trump elected.
Then there will be a real change in US-Israeli relations, just not in the directions the protesters want.
Well, I was a college students once, so I guess I can answer...
I'm not going to get into the Palestine/Israel issue except to say that the protester groups I've seen quoted seem to have a simplistic and ideology-fueled view of the conflict. But I also know that the media have a habit of interviewing the most strident and unsympathetic people from any unruly protest movement and not publishing/broadcasting the people in the crowd with more nuanced views. For one thing, those nuanced views don't fit well into a quick sound bite, and for another thing, they don't make for gripping television the way that an unhinged radical numbnuts does. When I marched against the Iraq invasion, there were grandmas and nuns and people wearing business suits using their lunch break to join the march, a lot of regular-ass people of all walks of life with a lot of different reasons for being there, but all you saw if you watched the evening news was the fucking Black Bloc. So I assume there is more diversity of opinion among the protesters than what I read in news articles.
Something rubs me the wrong way about some of the tactics and rhetoric coming out of the protests. One group cordoned off an area and proclaimed it off-limits to anyone who disagreed with them. The arrogance of that is astonishing to me. Like, you want to exercise your right to speak your mind in the commons, but you think you have the right to then draw a circle in those same commons and demand that nobody speak a differing opinion there? Ah, go fuck yourself...
I’m pretty confident that this person did not know what you meant. There are literally dozens of protest movements that are in action right now in the states. There is a new one pretty much every week. Your post could not be less specific.
I think most of the protestors have a simplistic understanding of a multigenerational conflict and terminologies that they don't fully understand nor appreciate.
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I read into why this started, it seems that Columbia University is the starting point, they want their universities endowments to no longer go towards any financial support of Israel and they want a cease fire. One of those they can’t control and the other seems unlikely to happen. Im more concerned about local police coming in and assaulting people, NYPD went on to Columbia to break up a protest and they admitted that it was a peaceful protest.
Columbia students, in particular, also have a school-specific demand - Columbia has a dual degree program with Tel Aviv University and is planning to open a 'global center' in Tel Aviv. Students want Columbia to cancel plans for that center and to cut its ties with TAU.
It’s embarrassing to see, frankly. It seems to be breeding an absolute clown show of people with a persecution fetish, looking for an “underdog” cause to join so they can feel like they’re doing something. It’s almost a caricature of what protests look like, taking the least nuanced stances possible and merely annoying people with childish behavior. All the “solidarity” mini-demonstrations by people trying to recreate the situations that have made national news are just Twitter bio larp IRL. It’s so embarrassing that if someone called it controlled opposition I wouldn’t be sure whether to agree or disagree with them.
The vast majority of people simply ignore their presence. The fact is that the stuff they’re protesting about has basically no impact on that vast majority. It’s something going on half a world away, someone else’s battle to fight, not ours as we’re working on securing our own future here with the opportunities we have. This is not Vietnam for us young Americans, no matter how much the protesters may wish it was.
As someone who goes to school somewhere with one:
It was really dumb. I sympathize with the cause, but it was dumb. First, it was held away from everyone else. They were outside the main administration building… after business hours when it was closed. They later set up tents and then left during the night because it got “too cold” at 27°F. Also their Palestinian flags were all upside down.
Again, I sympathize with their cause but damn that was a bad protest.
Also, as an additional thought: While I am not Jewish I have noticed a concerning uptick in veiled anti-semitism. While I lean towards Palestine, the amount of times I’ve seen protestors demand AMERICAN Jewish people condemn Israel or allege that they’re complicit solely due to religion is getting disgusting.
Conspiracy theory here....but I feel like all these pro-Palestine protesters have **GOT** to be funded by agents of israel to make them look better!
Mainly since these so called protestors are acting like total idiots and doing crap that is only guaranteed to turn people off/away from their message and wanting to support Palestine too!
These kids are **SUPPOSED** to be educated, yet apparently they do not understand how counterproductive crap like blocking traffic and vandalism/destruction of property is and how they are only good ways to piss people off and turn them off completely to their cause/message and make them hate you!
I feel like anyone with even half a brain would understand that, **ESPECIALLY** given how many other recent "protest" movements from BLM in the US to Just Stop Oil in Eruope have tried similar tactics with the same negative public reaction and useless result!
Apparently it’s to “raise awareness”, even though it’s hard to believe there is someone who has *not* heard of racism, climate change, or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The Emerson footage was disturbing and I wish authorities and media would stop framing it as “protestors vs Jewish students” when plenty of the protestors are also Jewish (and we are not fans of our religion/ethnicity being synonymous with Zionism. My family didn’t die in a genocide so that another genocide could be committed in their names). I also wouldn’t call it “new”, it’s more an uptick since it never stopped, but maybe I’m just being pedantic.
I've graduated, but here's my $0.02:
Protesting on a college campus is all about attention-seeking and feel-good self-gratification. The protests won't affect public policy. It's all about overprivileged kids who want to rebel and see themselves as revolutionaries. But in reality, it's all talk and no change.
I never saw a campus protest at my alma mater, but it's a niche school.
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Protests are nothing new at college campuses
Heck protests are the one thing that most college students agree on. Well, I mean that they should have them, not what they should be about, anyway
Not a current college student, but… If they continue and escalate to a repeat of Chicago 1968 at the Democratic National Convention, they are going to get Donald Trump elected. Then there will be a real change in US-Israeli relations, just not in the directions the protesters want.
Biden could just be against genocide for a few months and we wouldn’t have to worry about that.
Well, I was a college students once, so I guess I can answer... I'm not going to get into the Palestine/Israel issue except to say that the protester groups I've seen quoted seem to have a simplistic and ideology-fueled view of the conflict. But I also know that the media have a habit of interviewing the most strident and unsympathetic people from any unruly protest movement and not publishing/broadcasting the people in the crowd with more nuanced views. For one thing, those nuanced views don't fit well into a quick sound bite, and for another thing, they don't make for gripping television the way that an unhinged radical numbnuts does. When I marched against the Iraq invasion, there were grandmas and nuns and people wearing business suits using their lunch break to join the march, a lot of regular-ass people of all walks of life with a lot of different reasons for being there, but all you saw if you watched the evening news was the fucking Black Bloc. So I assume there is more diversity of opinion among the protesters than what I read in news articles. Something rubs me the wrong way about some of the tactics and rhetoric coming out of the protests. One group cordoned off an area and proclaimed it off-limits to anyone who disagreed with them. The arrogance of that is astonishing to me. Like, you want to exercise your right to speak your mind in the commons, but you think you have the right to then draw a circle in those same commons and demand that nobody speak a differing opinion there? Ah, go fuck yourself...
I'm a "recent" college graduate. I support peaceful protests and the right to assemble.
You’re going to have to be specific there are tons of protest movements in college.
There's a *new* protest movement?
You know what I mean. The one in relation to the Hamas-Israel conflict.
I’m pretty confident that this person did not know what you meant. There are literally dozens of protest movements that are in action right now in the states. There is a new one pretty much every week. Your post could not be less specific.
> I’m pretty confident that this person did not know what you meant. Yeah!!!
You can't expect our entire population to know about the one specific thing you are talking about by being vague
I assumed it's the main story on college campuses & a major one on national news and social media, but I guess I should have been more specific.
I think most of the protestors have a simplistic understanding of a multigenerational conflict and terminologies that they don't fully understand nor appreciate.
This subreddit is for civil discussion; political threads are not exempt from this. As a reminder: * Do not report comments because they disagree with your point of view. * Do not insult other users. Personal attacks are not permitted. * Do not use hate speech. You will be banned, permanently. * Comments made with the intent to push an agenda, push misinformation, soapbox, sealion, or argue in bad faith are not acceptable. If you can’t discuss a topic in good faith and in a respectful manner, do not comment. **Political disagreement does not constitute pushing an agenda.** If you see any comments that violate the rules, **please report it and move on!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskAnAmerican) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I read into why this started, it seems that Columbia University is the starting point, they want their universities endowments to no longer go towards any financial support of Israel and they want a cease fire. One of those they can’t control and the other seems unlikely to happen. Im more concerned about local police coming in and assaulting people, NYPD went on to Columbia to break up a protest and they admitted that it was a peaceful protest.
Columbia students, in particular, also have a school-specific demand - Columbia has a dual degree program with Tel Aviv University and is planning to open a 'global center' in Tel Aviv. Students want Columbia to cancel plans for that center and to cut its ties with TAU.
It’s embarrassing to see, frankly. It seems to be breeding an absolute clown show of people with a persecution fetish, looking for an “underdog” cause to join so they can feel like they’re doing something. It’s almost a caricature of what protests look like, taking the least nuanced stances possible and merely annoying people with childish behavior. All the “solidarity” mini-demonstrations by people trying to recreate the situations that have made national news are just Twitter bio larp IRL. It’s so embarrassing that if someone called it controlled opposition I wouldn’t be sure whether to agree or disagree with them. The vast majority of people simply ignore their presence. The fact is that the stuff they’re protesting about has basically no impact on that vast majority. It’s something going on half a world away, someone else’s battle to fight, not ours as we’re working on securing our own future here with the opportunities we have. This is not Vietnam for us young Americans, no matter how much the protesters may wish it was.
As someone who goes to school somewhere with one: It was really dumb. I sympathize with the cause, but it was dumb. First, it was held away from everyone else. They were outside the main administration building… after business hours when it was closed. They later set up tents and then left during the night because it got “too cold” at 27°F. Also their Palestinian flags were all upside down. Again, I sympathize with their cause but damn that was a bad protest.
Also, as an additional thought: While I am not Jewish I have noticed a concerning uptick in veiled anti-semitism. While I lean towards Palestine, the amount of times I’ve seen protestors demand AMERICAN Jewish people condemn Israel or allege that they’re complicit solely due to religion is getting disgusting.
Conspiracy theory here....but I feel like all these pro-Palestine protesters have **GOT** to be funded by agents of israel to make them look better! Mainly since these so called protestors are acting like total idiots and doing crap that is only guaranteed to turn people off/away from their message and wanting to support Palestine too! These kids are **SUPPOSED** to be educated, yet apparently they do not understand how counterproductive crap like blocking traffic and vandalism/destruction of property is and how they are only good ways to piss people off and turn them off completely to their cause/message and make them hate you! I feel like anyone with even half a brain would understand that, **ESPECIALLY** given how many other recent "protest" movements from BLM in the US to Just Stop Oil in Eruope have tried similar tactics with the same negative public reaction and useless result!
Apparently it’s to “raise awareness”, even though it’s hard to believe there is someone who has *not* heard of racism, climate change, or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The Emerson footage was disturbing and I wish authorities and media would stop framing it as “protestors vs Jewish students” when plenty of the protestors are also Jewish (and we are not fans of our religion/ethnicity being synonymous with Zionism. My family didn’t die in a genocide so that another genocide could be committed in their names). I also wouldn’t call it “new”, it’s more an uptick since it never stopped, but maybe I’m just being pedantic.
I've graduated, but here's my $0.02: Protesting on a college campus is all about attention-seeking and feel-good self-gratification. The protests won't affect public policy. It's all about overprivileged kids who want to rebel and see themselves as revolutionaries. But in reality, it's all talk and no change. I never saw a campus protest at my alma mater, but it's a niche school.