There was a time in this country when numbers of people both large and small could - and would - gather to peacefully protest injustice, and act like people instead of a damned mob while doing so, from a few young people sitting at a drug store lunch counter to hundreds peacefully walking over the Edmund Pettis bridge, all subjecting themselves to possible harm for calmly and peacefully exercising their right to protest injustices right here at home. Had *they* been the ones screaming hateful and stupid rhetoric, had *they* been the ones engaging in threatening and even violent behavior, how far would their cause have been propelled by those actions? How many minds would have been changed in a positive way, and how much positive change would have come from that?
While supposedly learning to be independent thinkers, the best these college kids can seem to muster is a bad case of monkey see, monkey do from campus to campus. But is that really their fault or the fault of some of their learned professors who are supposed to be educating them? Or is it that their education is happening on their smart phones from social media as much as it is in the classroom. Hard to tell the diff I'd say.
And what the fuck are they learning? How to be loud, hateful and hostile and even more tribal in their outlooks? Well, if that's their goal, give 'em an A. But if they actually want to do something other than create even more division while calling a lot of attention to themselves, an F pretty much covers their effort. However, I expect the habit of grading students on a curve will mostly prevent that from happening in the end.
It's always been easier to be a part of the mob than to think for oneself, especially in the digital age, where nearly all choices have become binary: yes / no; right / wrong; us / them. Anything more than that in the way of nuance or gradation - especially in the world of politics - like a desire to find common ground and apply common sense instead of simply finding another battle ground on which to fight and become part of a mob has been pretty much discarded as a way to accomplish...anything. Anything at all.
Their own posted rules say "Do Not Engage with Counterprotestors." Over and over they've proven they will have no discussion with administrators or other students whom they deem their enemy. There is no reasoning or negotiation with the Hamas Kids. They *want* us to know that.
RE: Reject the Mob
There was a time in this country when numbers of people both large and small could - and would - gather to peacefully protest injustice, and act like people instead of a damned mob while doing so, from a few young people sitting at a drug store lunch counter to hundreds peacefully walking over the Edmund Pettis bridge, all subjecting themselves to possible harm for calmly and peacefully exercising their right to protest injustices right here at home. Had *they* been the ones screaming hateful and stupid rhetoric, had *they* been the ones engaging in threatening and even violent behavior, how far would their cause have been propelled by those actions? How many minds would have been changed in a positive way, and how much positive change would have come from that?
While supposedly learning to be independent thinkers, the best these college kids can seem to muster is a bad case of monkey see, monkey do from campus to campus. But is that really their fault or the fault of some of their learned professors who are supposed to be educating them? Or is it that their education is happening on their smart phones from social media as much as it is in the classroom. Hard to tell the diff I'd say.
And what the fuck are they learning? How to be loud, hateful and hostile and even more tribal in their outlooks? Well, if that's their goal, give 'em an A. But if they actually want to do something other than create even more division while calling a lot of attention to themselves, an F pretty much covers their effort. However, I expect the habit of grading students on a curve will mostly prevent that from happening in the end.
It's always been easier to be a part of the mob than to think for oneself, especially in the digital age, where nearly all choices have become binary: yes / no; right / wrong; us / them. Anything more than that in the way of nuance or gradation - especially in the world of politics - like a desire to find common ground and apply common sense instead of simply finding another battle ground on which to fight and become part of a mob has been pretty much discarded as a way to accomplish...anything. Anything at all.
Their own posted rules say "Do Not Engage with Counterprotestors." Over and over they've proven they will have no discussion with administrators or other students whom they deem their enemy. There is no reasoning or negotiation with the Hamas Kids. They *want* us to know that.
And we should take them at their word.