I am quite sympathetic to the points made in this post. I was in student government at a fancy college, looked on mid 80s protests at that time with some practical detachment - what is expected of student government at this time, etc - and was not a true believer but still participated.
I still think the key question - which I still ask and is still open - is what is the value of protests/disruptions/stopping traffic/other? I am naturally not very sympathetic to those kinds of actions, but something prevents me from totally dismissing them as meaningless.
It’s easy to dismiss the irresponsibility of the actors and their privilege and all that, but I do think positive outcomes result from protests. It’s just that it’s a messy, random, non-productive process that occasionally - sometimes accidentally - has a positive impact, I think.
It’s always going to be hit or miss - mostly miss. But probably better to have it than not.
The problem is the people who donate money to these schools are often the parents of the kids protesting.
I am quite sympathetic to the points made in this post. I was in student government at a fancy college, looked on mid 80s protests at that time with some practical detachment - what is expected of student government at this time, etc - and was not a true believer but still participated.
I still think the key question - which I still ask and is still open - is what is the value of protests/disruptions/stopping traffic/other? I am naturally not very sympathetic to those kinds of actions, but something prevents me from totally dismissing them as meaningless.
It’s easy to dismiss the irresponsibility of the actors and their privilege and all that, but I do think positive outcomes result from protests. It’s just that it’s a messy, random, non-productive process that occasionally - sometimes accidentally - has a positive impact, I think.
It’s always going to be hit or miss - mostly miss. But probably better to have it than not.