Meanwhile on the International front....

I agree with you. What in my post suggested I don't believe that?

 

This is a great post, just in its simplicity. You are on to something in bringing up the face coverings and ID blocks. I wonder whether much of the problematic stuff would even be said or done if people couldn't cover up -- like if that was sort of a rule, either spoken or unspoken, about participating in a protest, which by its nature is supposed to mean you're taking a stand.

Well, taking a stand is supposed to mean you own the position, enough to make a public show of it. You're also right in that covering up automatically makes someone more intimidating. Sure, it's functional in that it provides protection/cover for someone who doesn't want to be identified -- but it is also a way of scaring people and putting them out of their comfort zone and at a disadvantage, simply by virtue of neutralizing people's senses and disorienting them as a result.

That is not just standing up for yourself, or your beliefs or rights, or someone else's.

 

It read to me as a pretty broad brush painting, more applicable to more demonstrably liberal campuses. Not to say that there are no liberals or leftists at UA. It's just, like I said, it's not exactly a burgeoning liberal bastion which must be protected by force of law.

They're strutting and bragging for the cameras. It's an election year, even if they're not on the ballot. It's instinct.

 

Why would you ever need masks at a protest?

 

Even the protestors aren't making that excuse, but sure.

 

I keep thinking of what Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." To be fair, he was talking about breaking unjust laws, but I think it often applies to these protestors.

"In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."

 

A side point that popped in my head, re: covering faces.

This is a generation that’s grown up spewing shit on social media, either anonymously or safe from danger. It sure as hell is easy to do it that way.

But it’s not real life. And they’re finding out what it’s really like in the real world. Don’t be like the white national nazis who march in their khakis and cammo with their faces hidden. Cowards.

It’s certainly not something limited to these protests either. Standing up for something you believe in can come at a cost. And putting your name to your beliefs often comes with consequences.

(And yes. I understand that I’m posting this on an anonymous message board).

 

Let's check in on Day 2 of the Princeton hunger strike:

 

More Wawa for me.

 

I honestly think if some fools were on a hunger strike, I'd set up my smoker across the street.

 

masks

 

Sorry stuck in testing and stepped away from a good argument to not let being tired over testing make me say something dumb.

As I said, if you actually do something wrong, there should be consequences. Protesting on its face is not wrong. Blocking public areas has been a tactic of protests for ever. People sitting at a lunch counter blocked access to another customer, but yet we hail them as heroes. You block access to a building, you're decried. Now, if you disobey a lawful order, you can face consequences. There are legal remedies for such things within the confines of the law. You get a fine or a ticket or you spend a few hours in lock up. But to turn around and heap additional punishments for engaging in the act—when there are other remedies—is wrong and outside of the spirit of the First Amendment.

Covering faces, again, is a problem that cuts both ways. If I'm afraid that by exercising my Constitutionally protected rights I might be the target of punishment, yeah, I will cover my face. And if I'm covering my face to escape consequences for my unlawful act or an act that is clearly defined as being outside school policy, yeah it's a little chicken shit. But again, there is a First Amendment. We don't get to pick and choose who gets to be protected by it. The chicken shits of the country get protection like anyone else, mask or no. I am just very uncomfortable doling out additional punishments just because a person was at a protest.

Now I respect your passion for Israel. I suspect if this was a different topic, you wouldn't be so hard pressed to clamp down on things like wearing a mask at a protest. I respect how hard this is for Jews and Israelis because you walk the line of defending a people from terrorists and becoming the oppressors. This is a no-win issue because you have a group that will use any means necessary—including sacrificing the people they allegedly speak for—to defeat Israel. You also have a group of people that until the end of World War I, had no reason to believe the land was going to belong to anyone but them. Then colonizers divvied up the Middle East and made decisions that cost people their homes. And then Jews who were trying to escape Hitler's wrath or had survived it, simply wanted a place to live and be free. They went back to their homeland that was theirs up until the Roman Empire. The only problem was, people were also living there. Both sides have legitimate beef. And when both sides have legitimate beef, you are going to get people speaking out against yours. It doesn't make it wrong. Now people take it too far. And that needs to be addressed (within the confines of the law).

But I respect you and your passion. I respect where you are coming form with the masks. I just hope you at least respect my hesitation and it has nothing to do with excusing bad behavior.