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College Protests Thoughts

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to say that I've always appreciated all of your opinions and insights, especially when it comes to global issues. I tend to get caught up in my own thoughts and this group has always done a great job of helping me balance out those thoughts. Many times reminding me that I need to pull my head out of my ass.

On that note, what is everyone's thoughts on the college protests that are happening across the US. Although I've been pretty "left leaning" most of my adult life, I've become a little conservative on certain topics (usually finances). I have to admit, I haven't been a fan of the protests. One side of me say's that these "kids" don't know what it's like to live in the real world (I know, total boomer shit). I'm sure a lot of the media coverage is probably distorting the truth as well.

anyways... just wanted to see if I needed to pull my head out of my own ass... again!

(Live in Los Angeles so I'm constantly hearing about the protests at UCLA).

What do you think the protests are about? I tend to see opinions on them are dependent on whatever information folks have about them.

For the record, the main crux of these protests are about the universities sending financial donations and aid to various agencies that support IDF military actions, with students (and various faculty members) wanting them to stop. Similar protests occurred in the '80s over South Africa apartheid.

Yeah, there's more, but most of it comes off like noise intent on distracting from that key issue.

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Originally posted by Sykonee What do you think the protests are about? I tend to see opinions on them form dependent on whatever information folks have about them. For the record, the main crux of these protests are about the universities sending financial donations and aid to various agencies that support IDF military actions, with students (and various faculty members) wanting them to stop. Similar protests occurred in the '80s over South Africa apartheid. Yeah, there's more, but most of it comes off like noise intent on distracting from that key issue.

I think I keep hearing/seeing the noise which does distract me.

quote:

Originally posted by Sykonee For the record, the main crux of these protests are about the universities sending financial donations and aid to various agencies that support IDF military actions, with students (and various faculty members) wanting them to stop.

Unfortunately this is the part that doesn't get the attention. I'm consuming about 50 hours a week of news, coverage, material etc about the conflict and it took me almost a day to find any official statement from Columbia or USC. That is something you can criticize on their part but it should be mentioned that legacy media does everything it can to not mention it.

On the actual topic, I think the students have been extremely brave regardless of how I feel about some of their tactics/messaging. The media reaction has been expected. The Palestinian cause never gets fair criticism from mainstream news outlets and if they aren't going to be fair considering the past 7 months, they never will be.

The problem is that there's so much to say about the protests (and what caused them). What exactly do you want to know more about? There's the whole question of whether divestment will have a lasting effect, whether the police should have arrested the protesting students, not to mention the reaction to the protests and, of course, the conflict itself, which has roots that go way back.

Unfortunately, nothing about this is simple, straightforward, or easy.

Ps.: If you're into audiobooks, The Middle East in the 20th Century is on sale if you have an Audible membership. These are useful lectures that encompass much of what we need to know

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Unfortunately, nothing about this is simple, straightforward, or easy.

This!!! I think that's what's been driving me crazy.

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate the feedback and am slowly pulling my head out of my ass.

I've got nothing to say about the protests, but the whole Israel - Palestine issue is yet another example of an incredibly tedious culture war in our society where everyone immediately adopts an intensely polarised position on an extremely complex issue and starts demonstratively shouting about it. As far as I can see, both sides are complete cunts and it seems brutal violence is the only thing that's going to resolve this decades old cluster fuck.

There's a video from NYU where a protester is interviewed and asked what it is that NYU is doing that they want to change, and she admits she doesn't really know. She asks a fellow protester, who doesn't seem to know either. Hard to say whether these were actual protesters or part of the interviewer's crew to shoot these kinds of videos and make the protesters seem clueless in order to undermine the protests, but I do feel like in these gatherings there's bound to be a good amount of people present who don't really know what they're protesting. Some of them seem like they hadn't heard of Israel or Palestine before the most recent bout of violence, let alone their history.

Could be interesting to hear how many of the protesters hold pro-Russian sentiments, too, after they've spent some time in an anti-Israel protest.

There are, of course, people on both sides of the debate who are very well researched, but there are an enormous number of bandwagon jumpers who know four fifths of fuck all about the conflict. And the ones who are most vocal are very rarely the ones who actually know what they're talking about.

After the Houthis started attacking international shipping in the Red Sea they deemed to be helping supply the Israelis, the US responded by striking targets in Yemen to deter them. The very next morning, I saw someone on social media share a link that said "The US are firing missiles at Yemen - contact your local MP (member of parliament) now!" This was some circus-performing psy trance hippy as well. What the fuck do these people think they know about military strategy? What do they know about what targets the US are striking and whether those strikes are likely to be effective? And what do they think a British member of parliament is going to do about it if they get a few emails or a malnourished petition in their inbox? All I could think was: what's the real reason you're sharing this link? Is it to make a difference, or is to take a performative stance on an issue? I know what my money is on.

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Originally posted by SYSTEM-J circus-performing psy trance hippy

LOLOLOLOL

quote:

Originally posted by Lira The problem is that there's so much to say about the protests (and what caused them). What exactly do you want to know more about? There's the whole question of whether divestment will have a lasting effect, whether the police should have arrested the protesting students, not to mention the reaction to the protests and, of course, the conflict itself, which has roots that go way back.

Just wanted to clarify that I was replying directly to the OP's question in the literal sense rather than expand on the entire conflict. Mainly because it always has the potential to explode into a shitshow thread (and to be honest I can see this thread being that in about 2 days).

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Originally posted by SPANIARD Just wanted to clarify that I was replying directly to the OP's question in the literal sense rather than expand on the entire conflict.

Oh, I didn't mean to add an extra layer of complexity to criticise any of the previous replies or anything.

It's just that... the whole thing has been getting exponentially messier by the day, so if the original poster wants to burst the bubble he's in and learn more about the protests, maybe it would probably be best highlight the various nuances and angles behind the causes, as the protests are a reaction to an ongoing conflict that has flared up countless times in a region that, to make matters worse, has been a basket case for decades

quote:

Originally posted by SPANIARD Mainly because it always has the potential to explode into a shitshow thread (and to be honest I can see this thread being that in about 2 days).

I am not entirely convinced I should be so optimistic, but I reckon we have been making progress over the years. Perhaps it is also the slow pace, but it is still calm around these quarters after... 5 days?

Maybe we'll have a calm week after all

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Originally posted by Lira I am not entirely convinced I should be so optimistic, but I reckon we have been making progress over the years. Perhaps it is also the slow pace, but it is still calm around these quarters after... 5 days? Maybe we'll have a calm week after all

I suspect because we see just how much of a shit-show this topic is on all the other social medias, everyone here is like, "eh, is it really worth getting into?" We come here to bitch about trance no longer being trance or celebrate when a trance track comes out that sounds like a trance track. Let the global politics discourse be left on areas more appropriate for it, like Facebook and YouTube comments.

i support them 100%. fuck israel

quote:

Originally posted by Zak McKracken Them? Hamas?

yes hamas. not literally, though; that would be illegal.

That alone isn't gonna liven this place up. You'd need a more elaborate post about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Oh, I didn't mean to add an extra layer of complexity to criticise any of the previous replies or anything. It's just that... the whole thing has been getting exponentially messier by the day, so if the original poster wants to burst the bubble he's in and learn more about the protests, maybe it would probably be best highlight the various nuances and angles behind the causes, as the protests are a reaction to an ongoing conflict that has flared up countless times in a region that, to make matters worse, has been a basket case for decades I am not entirely convinced I should be so optimistic, but I reckon we have been making progress over the years. Perhaps it is also the slow pace, but it is still calm around these quarters after... 5 days? Maybe we'll have a calm week after all

You're spot on. All we can do is hope. The politics forum hasn't seen a huge Middle Eastern shit show thread since... I'm guessing the Syrian war? Even those are probably child's play compared to previous Gaza threads.

thanks for the insight everyone. Really helped! And please know that I had no intention of creating a shit storm that could have been.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J This was some circus-performing psy trance hippy as well. What the fuck do these people think they know about military strategy?

Also, on behalf of the psytrance hippy community, I apologise for our members who seem to be stuck in a perpetual k-hole and misread our memo in which we've made clear we support hummus.



Astrix is just so damn good some of our members never recovered

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Also, on behalf of the psytrance hippy community, I apologise for our members who seem to be stuck in a perpetual k-hole and misread our memo in which we've made clear we support hummus. Astrix is just so damn good some of our members never recovered

It also does weird things to the fingers, apparently.

(A.I. finger failure will never not be funny)

quote:

Originally posted by Sykonee It also does weird things to the fingers, apparently. (A.I. finger failure will never not be funny)

That wasn't even the funniest one:



Neckbearded Psytrance Hummus Ladies does sound like the title of a amazing goa banger

quote:

Originally posted by Lira That wasn't even the funniest one: Neckbearded Psytrance Hummus Ladies does sound like the title of a amazing goa banger

Or the name of one's Ozric Tentacles all-female cover band.

(geezus, I can't stop staring at... whatever is going on underneath that bowl)

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