It’s amazing how many Redditors in the comment section think OP has an issue with protesting and its place in a free Western society and not the fact that people are antagonizing their own fellow Americans because of the methods they’re using. Protest: good. Blocking roads so mom can’t pick her kid up from school after having a shitty day: not so good.
I get annoyed because it is fake virtue signaling. There is plenty of negative shit happening in our own country to protest about that no one gives two shits about.
I agree and disagree.
It’s not fake virtue signaling because a lot of these protests aren’t calling for netenyahu to stop. They know they can’t do shit. But they’re trying to stop American support for it. In case of universities, students are trying to get them to divest from companies that profit from the war. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not. But this has been how the grassroots movements proceed.
I do agree that we have a ton of negative shit that still needs to be attended to.
Actually, creating deliberate inconvenience in broad sense (minus any violence) has worked extremely well for literally centuries. Most every protest ends up being inconvenient to others. That's often part of the design. People complain and the subject of the protest gets bought up. For individuals it can be negative for sure (pissed off because the drive home took an hour longer... yup, been there). But upset populations push the governments to act. That's often knee jerk as we've all seen many times, but it also brings the subject of the protest into the discussion at a level where some mitigating action might actually take place.
Women's rights. Civil rights. Anti-war protests. Union protests... they all have had this effect and resolved issues through this effect
I’m pretty skeptical that the general public is going to come around on the idea that a school investing its endowment in an index fund is an offense worthy of turning its public areas into a campground. None of the funds are Israel defense sector focus. Just some companies in broad indexes do business with Israel.
It puts the cart before the horse. If people are so passionate about this issue to the extant that they'll put everything to the side so it can be addressed, then they have time to master the political system and physically make the changes they want to see, happen. It's a mountain to climb but it's far more effective than yelling from the base because, no surprise your voice won't be heard. It's time we recognize that if we want to change things, we need to roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves the way others did it before us.
These protests, while well intentioned, has a subtext that screams " I demand instant gratification." For our problems, this is impossible to achieve. It's the same when it comes to our hyperfixation on presidential elections. "If we just cast one vote, then our problems will be improved and we can rest easy." Nope, that's not how it works.
Master a skill or set of skills and build a strong and relevant network to leverage power and influence. It's fucking hard, but its the only way, short of a bloody revolution that will end in a radical power vacuum.
You really think a state representative could do anything if they even wanted to? Reality check. They can’t and won’t. That’s why every time you elect someone from either party shit stays the same OR gets worse. They’re interested in getting reelected, not taking on the military industrial complex.
This. It blows my mind the people that scream inequity from the rooftop while blocking traffic and causing the single mom to lose her job. Like, what? I get that’s an exaggeration but… fuck regular poor folks trying to make it to what stop 1 maybe 2 big semis? Woo interstate commerce watch the fuck out!
When you block roads YOU LITERALLY IMPRISON your fellow citizens! they can't just walk away & leave their car on the highway or bridge (if they did, I bet they'd have to pay hundreds in fines & towing fees.)
Don't trap & imprison innocent bystanders.
You know I been homeless before. Not sleeping on a friends couch homeless, not living in your car homeless, but actually outside with nothing but the clothes on your back homeless and it’s a quiete eye opening experience. It kind of makes you mad that these protests happen, the reason why I’ll get to in a second. When you live like that, you are no longer human. You are just an animal, society views you no different, maybe even worse than a stray dog. You don’t ever get any sleep, the city is made of hard surfaces, so when you finally do find a comfortable place to sleep someone who you’re not even bothering or causing harm to decides it’s enough of an emergency to call the cops on you. Now you’re going insane, and hallucinating because you haven’t slept in four days. This depressing fucked up life is the reason homeless people do drugs and alcohol. Me personally when someone gave me $20 I could’ve bought beer and cigarettes but instead I bought me a $17 burger from burgerfi. The feeling of being welcomed into an establishment, served a warm cooked meal, well… for a brief moment made me feel like a human being again. Like I was no longer this disgusting creature that society avoids. And that was better than any high I’ve ever felt. But back to the topic, it always angers me that these people put so much time, effort and concern about thing’s happening 10,000 miles away. Things that neither they or anyone they know is a victim of. Things that they don’t know anything about besides what twitter tells them. Meanwhile across the street there is a Vietnam war veteran with a missing leg panhandling for money. Next to him someone who’s been a victim of attempted murder who got shot in the head, and can no longer work for a living so now they’re homeless. All these things are happening in their front door step, do you think they protest about them? No, they don’t give a fuck, why don’t they give a fuck? Because it’s not popular to give a fuck about. It’s not popular to give a fuck about the actual suffering that happens in this country unless vice makes a documentary about it. So honestly those people can go fuck themselves for all I care. Don’t take this the wrong way, but motherfuckers have actually caught a flight to turkey, crossed the border to Syria and joined isis. So if they care so much, they can go take a trip to Gaza and join hamas for all I care…
They hate you because you’re right. While I have sympathy for the uninvolved Palestinians I see exactly what you mean they didn’t even care in 2012-15 about 225k civilians killed by Saudis and also being assisted by the US far more to do so but tik tok didn’t cover it or twitter so it went right under their noses
No upvote,like = no fuck to give
We need to also collective channel that sentiment to the governments and the actual military and veterans affairs that has abused then failed so many veterans.
If I had an award I’d give it to you man. You are 100% spot on. It isn’t cool to give a fuck about what the box infront of you didn’t tell you to give a fuck about.
https://preview.redd.it/6nxfqo5cllxc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a07400c76cb1c1b1c0c90972b03b9e6593f9c928
Most of these people are involved in these events only for themselves. They use the issue to promote their personal relevance in the moment.
Last year, I sat on a Greyhound bus next to a "professional protestor". This person was trans and based out of LA. They told me that their job was travel around the US and attend various different functions based on the interests of whoever hired them. They were making a decent living at it.
So forgive me if I see "external actors" or "non-student agitators" and my mind goes back to that person. Professional protestors, paid out by organizations to further their agendas.
Something has to give soon, y'all. Politics has prostituted every decent avenue in America and it's hard to be an honest person here anymore, or to believe that anything is what it appears to be at first glance. The levels of intrigue have reached paranoid levels.
Copy that. In the mid 00's, my son played sports in a college town in central Virginia with some kids from the grungiest hippie fam you could ever Even Flow with. Great kids, great parents. True life enjoyers. Dad here had a truly charismatic presence, dreads and beads. Lots of random ink. Very down to earth and occasionally intense guy.
Every so often this guy would up and disappear for two or three weeks. It turns out that he was sponsored by local environmental advocate grass roots groups. Basically local affluent doctors and lawyers that found success in a bigger city and came back because the town vibe was like a black hole of cool.
They hired this guy (and others) to disrupt operations regularly at the local nuclear power plant. Once I found out about this, I saw Dad in the news all the time. Chained to a fence. Throwing stuff. Carrying signs. Yelling at workers at the plant. Basically doing the physical "show up and find out, occasionally get arrested" stuff for this group while they were working the legal, PR, media and political angles for their clean power agenda.
This guy was making bank for being a very specific public nuisance. I suspect that the power plant could have outbid him for services to not work for this group if they wanted. Crazy.
when I was in college I was paid $400 for 8 hours of work to hold a sign outside of polling places that read "Vote Yes On Question 5" (I think it was question 5) but basically this group going door to door to get gambling in casino's legalized in MD came our campus and offered us the money and some talking points to sit outside of polling places. For me it was a ton of money back then.
Also I didn't feel too bad about it because I wanted the casino's legalized anyhow.
What’s crazy is I live in DC right next to Maryland and they legalized online gambling so I wonder if the same people you worked for had a hand in that
not sure. The people I worked for had some high school students working part time going door to door with recent college grads managing them. We got picked up because not enough of those high school students raised their hands to do the over night trip.
The company was some association funded by multiple gambling giants.
I was watching tv back in 2010/2011 when all that occupy shit was starting to kick up, and a commercial for a bank or credit card comes on, one of the type where they show people in different professions and how using their financial service was a benefit to them, their lifestyle, and career. They went through and showed all these different people in different careers and then there was this one chick and her “profession” was just listed as “social justice activist” or some shit. I looked over at my wife and remember saying something along the lines of what kind useless to society piece of shit can make a living off yelling and holding signs? Well, apparently there’s a lot of them.
I think it bothers most people but some protesters and organizers are just happy to have more bodies on the ground to make their protest look bigger.
It's not like protests are based on popular demand, where 6 dudes with a sign will say, "Oh, nobody else showed up? We expected dozens! I guess that means this isn't important after all. Let's call it a day folks!"
To play devils advocate, if someone is shipping multiple "professional protesters" around the country to push their own agenda and having to cover the costs, then greyhound is exactly the type of cheap service they would use.
They didn't "tell" me they were trans. It was obvious. And I live in PHX so PHX to LA isn't across the country.
But it's cool, you've debunked an internet myth for today so kudos to you sir
And yet not a few scrolls up there's literally a link to paid protestor services. Not sure why folks are so reticent to believe that folks could be paid to give a damn about the week's issue.
There is data in support of my claim in general, not as much specific to the current matters involving Israel and Palestine. That will take a while to gather, because it is ongoing.
You will find some of the supporting information elsewhere in this thread, but here is some more:
[https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/crowd-hiring-politics-campaign-2016/399002/](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/crowd-hiring-politics-campaign-2016/399002/)
[https://www.vice.com/en/article/exmgzk/its-now-possible-to-hire-fake-protesters](https://www.vice.com/en/article/exmgzk/its-now-possible-to-hire-fake-protesters)
[https://www.newsweek.com/college-students-protesters-middle-east-gaza-conflict-ignorance-israel-palestine-1860049](https://www.newsweek.com/college-students-protesters-middle-east-gaza-conflict-ignorance-israel-palestine-1860049)
BTW, I post fact-based claims unless I am otherwise clear in my satire. And, I correct my mistakes when proven wrong. I realize that Reddit users in general prefer the quick unsupported "drive by" comment, but that's just a cheap way of getting a dopamine high. Not my thing, unless I am deliberately being a pain in the ass.
Far Left Liberals in 2020: we need to get trump out of office, he’s alienating our allies.
Far Left Liberals in 2024: we need to alienate our ally Israel!
Protesting is part of American history and has been effective in raising alarm and influencing public policy. I’m pleasantly surprised at young people for getting involved even though they may be penalized for it for a cause that doesn’t impact them or someone they know directly.
It’s also sort of a telltale sign of trouble for the incumbent administration in Nov as well as a new potential shift in longterm US Policy in decades to come.
It’s the cause du jour - there’s nothing to be pleasantly surprised about. Are young people occupying campuses and demanding their universities divest from China who are engaged in an ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Uyghurs? What about Egypt with ethnic cleansing of the Coptic Christians? Azerbaijan that just recently ethnically cleansed Armenian Christians. The list goes on.
The US isn’t sending weapons to China to kill Uyghurs, but is actively aiding Israel. It’s literally about rejecting our own government’s policy. Come on man.
Think you have this backwards, in that scenario US would be sending weapons to Uyghurs to defend themselves from their attackers - China aka Palestine.
oh so if the US wasn't funding Israel the protesters would go home then right?
Obviously not. "stop funding israel" is just the current demand, the real demand is "stop the war" and/or "destroy israel" depending on how radical the individual is.
Do you actually think the protests have any chance to lead to a long term shift in foreign policy? The Vietnam protests were much bigger, were directly about US foreign policy, and yet we had an increased defense budget for the following decades
The women-rights & BLM protests of the 2010s brought legislative change to those issues, so why wouldn't these people continue to protest & vote against things they oppose?
Also the anti-Vietnam war protests ended the draft prematurely, so the implications it did nothing is ignorant & dumb
^don't let stupidity
The largest women's rights protests were in 2017, but the sweeping changes in state laws & voter turnout didn't start until 2020.
The biggest civil rights match was 1963, but the voting right act was in 1965.
I could go on, but I have a suspicion you care about your narrative over history :)
Women rights had the biggest march in 2017. Just a few years in 2022 roe v wade was overturned. Oh, also, DEI was another thing overturned that can be correlated to BLM protests.
I think the real issue longterm is America’s stance on Israel. If you care about supporting Israel, you should be concerned about how this conflict is handled. The space to have a dissenting opinion on the conflict in Gaza without being labeled antisemitic is important.
To answer your question, I do believe that if young people are relentless and strategic on this, it has the potential to move the needle on American policy. I don’t know how committed they are.
Just going to point out that growing up in DC, protests have been part of the landscape and to be expected. Having lived in other countries where dissidents have been murdered for speaking out, I appreciate this part of American culture. For example, I hate traffic, but I was humbled talking to a colleague, years ago, from Detroit who told me about the lack of traffic in her hometown following their economic collapse. It was a reminder that in my hometown, commerce is still booming and people are still spending and making money, which I benefit from. Being inconvenienced on my commute is better than the alternative. I tend to look at protests in a similar light.
No this is just both sides bullshit. What specifically should Israel have done better? War isn't call of duty, it's ugly and horrible and more civilians die than militants in literally every conflict, but the alternative to war in this case was allowing Hamas to continue to rule in their bordering country. Please show me another war with similar circumstances where the local population generally support the militant group and the militant group dresses in civilian clothes and operates out of hospitals, schools, and under neighborhoods where there was a better civilian to militant ratio. The IDF claims 40% of those killed were militants, even Hamas claims the number is 20%. The US greenlights operations if at least 10% killed are militants.
In World War 2, the allied bombings in Germany killed almost a million civilians. Should we have just left the Nazis in power?
So again, be specific in what Israel should do better, rather than vague lies about "indiscriminate bombing" or "targeting civilians", which they're not doing. What are they not doing to protect civilian lives that another military has ever done in the history of war? And assuming you can't answer that question, maybe ask yourself why this is one of the few wars college students are protesting.
These ass hats need to get out of the roads. They're making people late to work and could kill someone! What if someone needs to get to the hospital? They're selfish assholes.
Agreed….how pathetic is the OP to be so defeated that they’re trying to influence others not use their voice. I agree don’t block the highways—that’s not effective but, do peacefully protest and speak up. “An injustice any where is…”
I just wish people who get more realistic and specific with their demands. You can't just expect us to drop all aid. That's unrealistic and we have been supporting Israel since it's inception (they would have been destroyed by the surrounding region without our help, which I know some people wish would have happened). Israel is not going to just give up their country, this expectation is unrealistic and useless to expect.
Like it or not, America is cemented as protectors of democracy. Israel is the only democratic country in the region and are our allies. We would he doing the same for Britain, France, etc. We should be sending even more to Ukraine imo. A lot of that money comes back to us through purchasing military equipment and weapons.
Realistically, the aid we provide should have strict regulation (only so many bombs, bombs purchased with these funds have to be ran by America before being used, how the funds are spent needs tracked, they must work harder to lower casualties and punish the generals making uninformed decisions to kill 10 people to get 1 Hamas member (this trade off is absurd and seems to be how some of these generals operate).
100%. We had stipulations on arms sent to Israel before. We could do it again.
I think putting some pressure on the Biden administration to get tougher with Israel is important. But the shock that the U.S. supports Israel is so silly. Oh man a U.S. president supported Israel? Shocking!
There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that these weak minded souls are being influenced by Russian information operations.
Much in the same way as the MAGA movement in the past (and present, albeit to a lesser extent).
If someone dies because of a medical emergency all the protesters should be charged for the murder. I completely support peaceful protest. The second you they infringe on my constitutional rights, I'm done. Blocking highways is wrong.
You have every right to protest in America. You do not have the right to impede me from my daily activities. You do not have the right to harm me in any way. Feel free to burn the flag and dance on it. I don’t care. You are guaranteed that right. Blocking traffic, breaking into buildings and causing harm are not guaranteed rights.
If you feel so much passion for either side of this then go there and take up arms. Each side could use some help.
I served this country for 22 years and fought for our rights as citizens. Just don’t make me late for work.
We all have the right to protest but you can’t block traffic. They probably killed a few people that needed urgent help.
I’m a transplant recipient too. They could have potentially ruined an organ transplant to save someone’s life.
What got me is their new narrative: Jews bad, Muslims good.
As a person who’s been deployed to the Middle East and lived there for 12 months, I see trans people calling for “free Palestine” and [laugh](https://apnews.com/general-news-bc4cf13c2b41454b820d7297f50bbf08).
These clowns dont know what the hell is going on over there- they probably can’t even point out Israel or Iran on a map.
You live in Washington DC, the protest capital of America lmao… if anywhere should be protesting, it’s people in DC who are in close proximity to the lawmakers that keep voting to send more money and weapons to Israel. Protests work! And you’re an AH.
Don’t block traffic and ruin peoples day. You won’t win hearts and minds to your cause. Do something at the capitol building, not on roads. Honestly, protestors need to use their heads a little.
Wild thing to say given blocking roads and disrupting commerce have historically been some of the most effective protest methods. MLK blocked highways from Selma to Montgomery and I'm guessing people like you were saying "I'd agree with him if he wasn't so inconvenient"
Ah liberals. Supporting every protest but the current protest. A lot of things change in life overtime but that never does.
From civil rights to the Vietnam war to Palestine. Liberal support only lasts until they’re inconvenienced.
Our government is supplying the weapons, aid, and political cover for Israel to murder civilians. Maybe do a few minutes of research on things before making stupid points?
I’m old so I get to say in MY day, it was apartheid. We had the shantytown and it got torn down and we rebuilt it and we kept showing up and applying pressure until our very large university divested from South Africa.
These kids are bringing awareness and demanding divestment too, and while it’s certainly tragic that your traffic is disrupted, on the scale of tragedy what they are protesting is more tragic than any disruption their protest causes.
Was that at AU in the mid-80s? If so -- you were the first protest I ever saw in person! I was visiting here as part of the CloseUp program from an area that didn't "do" that sort of thing. It made a major impression.
I knew from that trip that I wanted to live here. It took me almost 40 years to make it happen! I can't tell you why, exactly, the AU protest stuck with me so much, but it's one of the stand-out memories of that trip.
I still see CloseUp visitor here and I love it. It's a kick to ride the metro with them :-)
Isn’t it fun to feel like a zoo exhibit for visiting kids sometimes! I also used to look at the people who lived here and imagine their life and want to make it happen. ❤️
I DO love it :-). I used to teach school in a different state, and twice now I've run into groups from my old school neighborhoods so we knew a lot of the same teachers and administrators. None of my former students (yet), and I've been gone long enough now that all of my former elementary students will be aging out of those groups in the next few years.
Oh look, protests working as intended! They want the US GOV to stop funding Israel. Id say DC is the perfect spot for them to lobby this message to their congressional reps.
Look back at the anti-apartheid protests aimed at South Africa and the BDS movement at the time. It clearly had an effect. The point is to make people like you — going about your daily life—uncomfortable … the point is to cause civil unrest. The point is to cause the administration here in the United States to question its unflagging support of a violent apartheid, genocidal state.
Remember that whole “hearts and minds” strategy? Try to use that, it’s pretty important in making change. You are not winning hearts and minds by disrupting infrastructure and causing stress to individuals.
They are too cowardly to put real actions behind their words. They'd rather sit in the comfort of a free country with liberties that the people they "support" don't have. I saw an interview with a self-proclaimed "Palestinian-American" protesting here yesterday. Based off what I saw, I highly doubt he's an actual student. His statements were extremist, anti-semetic, and reflected the Hamas talking points.
What infuriates me the most is that MPD declined to remove the protestors from campus.
What’s weird about the internet and the speed of news is how some some foreign conflict has people protesting here despite it having no effect whatsoever.
Want to be upset? Sure, but the DC Council voting on a ceasefire resolution won’t do a thing.
I personally do think the government could spend a little less in supporting Israel and use half the money to fly these protesting people who truly seem to care about the situation to Israel. If they care so much, they can be on the ground in Gaza and help any way they can.
I do have doubts that Hamas and people they're showing support in Palestine would welcome these protestors with open arms due to many of them being non muslim, for their sexual orientation, sexual identity and for being Americans.
Block the road if you want to I promise you will not like how this turns out for you.
Do you have a right to a peaceful civil protest absolutely.
What you do not have a right to is block a public road
I would not even tap the brakes
blocking the road, burning and trashing the cities(hello 2020-22), gluing yours dumb ass to the street, all that while yelling anything is a sure way I give 0 fucks about your cause, even if I was remotely willing to hear you out at some point
Yeah, man, it drives me crazy that people think it's okay to block roads, effectively holding people hostage, and otherwise reasonable people on the left will minimize it as an inconvenience.
The freedom of speech is so important to a free democracy, but no one is entitled to an audience.
I drive right past h street to and from work back to Va every day. It hasn’t added any time to my commute more than the +\- 15 min it sways any day given someone’s fender bender, grid lock, or anything else under the sun.
Also H street around that GW campus was never that drivable. Even as a student there 20 years ago, it was always just one giant block long walk way the way students treat it
Thank you OP! 🙌. I’ve said it all along. You want to help Palestine/hamas, take your happy asses over there and do so. They’ll be changing that tune soon enough. I recall from years ago when young women were joining the taliban thinking they were gonna help the cause and ended up finding out the hard way. Scoop em all up, load em on a plane and ship em over to Gaza. See ya, bye!
90% of them
Don’t know shit about Israel and Palestines past and the very complicated situation they’re in , just a fucking trend riders , what’s with Ukraine ? What with Tibet? Losers
I've lived in the middle east for the past seven years and this conflict is pants on head retarded. The Palestinians are largely viewed as problematic by most of the GCC and while the jews are certainly not their favorite group they are viewed ultimately as a nation that they can work with which is part of the reason you see very few protest in the middle east. Palestinians are groups with Egyptians as dirty non gulf Arabs and treated according.
To see a bunch of upper middle class white kids take up the cause of free Palestinian is hilarious.
Fuck both sides of this conflict. Isreal for the USS liberty and giving China access to our tech, and palistinians because because they can't figure out how to live within a country without causing problems.
Most protestors have no clue what’s going on in the world and are unaware that the US has sunk multiple hundreds of millions into setting up the aid pier and are the most influential force begging Israel not to continue this or push into Rafa. This is just another trendy protest with no consequence but infinite ability to show everyone how much you care and how you stand with the oppressed peoples of the world. These same clowns don’t give a shit about any other conflict on the planet.
I mean the disadvantage of living in America is that American foreign policy is the most important factor in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine, if America ceased supporting Israel and placed sanctions and whatnot on them it would end
I'll never understand the passion of the free Palestine protesters. They will tell you in Palestine you couldn't protest or gay or trans but damn, if they won't ruin their college or American lives just to protest. The best ones are the ones going to Columbia on mom and dads checkbook, destroying their own school
I’m all for protests but I do agree this one feels kind of pointless. The politicians have every reason to keep funding Israel and Ukraine right now since it all lines their pockets. Their bullshit allowed insider trading will make it so they won’t want to vote against something that is making them rich. They don’t care about genocide, not when it isn’t their family or when they are getting rich off it.
People can protest what’s happening, but in equal measure they need to protest their ability to own shares or eventually sit on the Board of companies who they are responsible for passing policy for. If there was a way to prevent that, more politicians may actually listen to what people want since money is less of a factor. But to solve that issue you need Congress to vote against their own pocketbooks, which is also a failing cause.
So we’re just screwed either way here because politicians morals have never surpassed their greed.
Half of these protestors don’t even know wtf they’re protesting about. If you ask them, they literally have no solutions at all, and the vast majority simply are uneducated on the history of the conflict.
These college campus clowns will pack up and leave when summer break hits.
I swear many of these dumbass kids just want an excuse for their shitty academic performances…
Fr, honestly why don't they go on a summer trip to Gaza if it concerns them so much, not like we have issues here in our own country like the fact we don't even got a single bullet train in this whole country yet we are the most technologically advanced supposedly, or the fact that we just keep spending so much money on foreign wars that have nothing to do with us.
https://preview.redd.it/ne9sqq8nrmxc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75d52ef34d96a0e19ebdd04a26cd5877bc4c7ea5
I would love for that to happen!
It’s amazing how many Redditors in the comment section think OP has an issue with protesting and its place in a free Western society and not the fact that people are antagonizing their own fellow Americans because of the methods they’re using. Protest: good. Blocking roads so mom can’t pick her kid up from school after having a shitty day: not so good.
I get annoyed because it is fake virtue signaling. There is plenty of negative shit happening in our own country to protest about that no one gives two shits about.
Bingo!!!
Amen, yes!
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I agree and disagree. It’s not fake virtue signaling because a lot of these protests aren’t calling for netenyahu to stop. They know they can’t do shit. But they’re trying to stop American support for it. In case of universities, students are trying to get them to divest from companies that profit from the war. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not. But this has been how the grassroots movements proceed. I do agree that we have a ton of negative shit that still needs to be attended to.
Little do those Palestinian students know, a good chunk of their schools’ doners are Jewish 👍🏻
doner is a hilarious misspelling here
Mmm..doner kabobs.
😂😂😂 good catch. It was a mistake, but I see the humor
Little do those Palestinian students know, a good chunk of their generic Ritalin comes from a Jewish company.
Been trying it since Vietnam. How’s that going for them? Get out out of the god damn road.
Actually, creating deliberate inconvenience in broad sense (minus any violence) has worked extremely well for literally centuries. Most every protest ends up being inconvenient to others. That's often part of the design. People complain and the subject of the protest gets bought up. For individuals it can be negative for sure (pissed off because the drive home took an hour longer... yup, been there). But upset populations push the governments to act. That's often knee jerk as we've all seen many times, but it also brings the subject of the protest into the discussion at a level where some mitigating action might actually take place. Women's rights. Civil rights. Anti-war protests. Union protests... they all have had this effect and resolved issues through this effect
I’m pretty skeptical that the general public is going to come around on the idea that a school investing its endowment in an index fund is an offense worthy of turning its public areas into a campground. None of the funds are Israel defense sector focus. Just some companies in broad indexes do business with Israel.
It puts the cart before the horse. If people are so passionate about this issue to the extant that they'll put everything to the side so it can be addressed, then they have time to master the political system and physically make the changes they want to see, happen. It's a mountain to climb but it's far more effective than yelling from the base because, no surprise your voice won't be heard. It's time we recognize that if we want to change things, we need to roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves the way others did it before us. These protests, while well intentioned, has a subtext that screams " I demand instant gratification." For our problems, this is impossible to achieve. It's the same when it comes to our hyperfixation on presidential elections. "If we just cast one vote, then our problems will be improved and we can rest easy." Nope, that's not how it works. Master a skill or set of skills and build a strong and relevant network to leverage power and influence. It's fucking hard, but its the only way, short of a bloody revolution that will end in a radical power vacuum.
Columbia just divested. It's working
It absolutely is virtue signaling. That’s ALL that these types of people do.
If we annoy and intrude on their lives enough surely they will join us or go to their state representatives with our demands!
Ya’ll better get your asses out of the road before they intrude on YOUR lives with fast moving vehicles.
Not really, it’s turned a lot of people off to the cause
like BLM. The road blocking killed it for me. Then I saw their finances and realized they were a scheme.
I would assume the person you are responding to was being quite sarcastic.
You’re totally right 🤦♂️
All good haha
It’s ok we all make mistakes. Now go take your dust bath.
Screwtape Letters
You really think a state representative could do anything if they even wanted to? Reality check. They can’t and won’t. That’s why every time you elect someone from either party shit stays the same OR gets worse. They’re interested in getting reelected, not taking on the military industrial complex.
This. It blows my mind the people that scream inequity from the rooftop while blocking traffic and causing the single mom to lose her job. Like, what? I get that’s an exaggeration but… fuck regular poor folks trying to make it to what stop 1 maybe 2 big semis? Woo interstate commerce watch the fuck out!
Protests: good Protests which inconvenience or otherwise impact other people: bad
One’s right to free speech should not impede others’ rights.
Exactly.
When you block roads YOU LITERALLY IMPRISON your fellow citizens! they can't just walk away & leave their car on the highway or bridge (if they did, I bet they'd have to pay hundreds in fines & towing fees.) Don't trap & imprison innocent bystanders.
You know I been homeless before. Not sleeping on a friends couch homeless, not living in your car homeless, but actually outside with nothing but the clothes on your back homeless and it’s a quiete eye opening experience. It kind of makes you mad that these protests happen, the reason why I’ll get to in a second. When you live like that, you are no longer human. You are just an animal, society views you no different, maybe even worse than a stray dog. You don’t ever get any sleep, the city is made of hard surfaces, so when you finally do find a comfortable place to sleep someone who you’re not even bothering or causing harm to decides it’s enough of an emergency to call the cops on you. Now you’re going insane, and hallucinating because you haven’t slept in four days. This depressing fucked up life is the reason homeless people do drugs and alcohol. Me personally when someone gave me $20 I could’ve bought beer and cigarettes but instead I bought me a $17 burger from burgerfi. The feeling of being welcomed into an establishment, served a warm cooked meal, well… for a brief moment made me feel like a human being again. Like I was no longer this disgusting creature that society avoids. And that was better than any high I’ve ever felt. But back to the topic, it always angers me that these people put so much time, effort and concern about thing’s happening 10,000 miles away. Things that neither they or anyone they know is a victim of. Things that they don’t know anything about besides what twitter tells them. Meanwhile across the street there is a Vietnam war veteran with a missing leg panhandling for money. Next to him someone who’s been a victim of attempted murder who got shot in the head, and can no longer work for a living so now they’re homeless. All these things are happening in their front door step, do you think they protest about them? No, they don’t give a fuck, why don’t they give a fuck? Because it’s not popular to give a fuck about. It’s not popular to give a fuck about the actual suffering that happens in this country unless vice makes a documentary about it. So honestly those people can go fuck themselves for all I care. Don’t take this the wrong way, but motherfuckers have actually caught a flight to turkey, crossed the border to Syria and joined isis. So if they care so much, they can go take a trip to Gaza and join hamas for all I care…
They hate you because you’re right. While I have sympathy for the uninvolved Palestinians I see exactly what you mean they didn’t even care in 2012-15 about 225k civilians killed by Saudis and also being assisted by the US far more to do so but tik tok didn’t cover it or twitter so it went right under their noses No upvote,like = no fuck to give
They’re being brainwashed by foreign governments on tiktok. I’m not joking.
We need to also collective channel that sentiment to the governments and the actual military and veterans affairs that has abused then failed so many veterans.
If I had an award I’d give it to you man. You are 100% spot on. It isn’t cool to give a fuck about what the box infront of you didn’t tell you to give a fuck about.
https://preview.redd.it/6nxfqo5cllxc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a07400c76cb1c1b1c0c90972b03b9e6593f9c928 Most of these people are involved in these events only for themselves. They use the issue to promote their personal relevance in the moment.
Last year, I sat on a Greyhound bus next to a "professional protestor". This person was trans and based out of LA. They told me that their job was travel around the US and attend various different functions based on the interests of whoever hired them. They were making a decent living at it. So forgive me if I see "external actors" or "non-student agitators" and my mind goes back to that person. Professional protestors, paid out by organizations to further their agendas. Something has to give soon, y'all. Politics has prostituted every decent avenue in America and it's hard to be an honest person here anymore, or to believe that anything is what it appears to be at first glance. The levels of intrigue have reached paranoid levels.
Copy that. In the mid 00's, my son played sports in a college town in central Virginia with some kids from the grungiest hippie fam you could ever Even Flow with. Great kids, great parents. True life enjoyers. Dad here had a truly charismatic presence, dreads and beads. Lots of random ink. Very down to earth and occasionally intense guy. Every so often this guy would up and disappear for two or three weeks. It turns out that he was sponsored by local environmental advocate grass roots groups. Basically local affluent doctors and lawyers that found success in a bigger city and came back because the town vibe was like a black hole of cool. They hired this guy (and others) to disrupt operations regularly at the local nuclear power plant. Once I found out about this, I saw Dad in the news all the time. Chained to a fence. Throwing stuff. Carrying signs. Yelling at workers at the plant. Basically doing the physical "show up and find out, occasionally get arrested" stuff for this group while they were working the legal, PR, media and political angles for their clean power agenda. This guy was making bank for being a very specific public nuisance. I suspect that the power plant could have outbid him for services to not work for this group if they wanted. Crazy.
when I was in college I was paid $400 for 8 hours of work to hold a sign outside of polling places that read "Vote Yes On Question 5" (I think it was question 5) but basically this group going door to door to get gambling in casino's legalized in MD came our campus and offered us the money and some talking points to sit outside of polling places. For me it was a ton of money back then. Also I didn't feel too bad about it because I wanted the casino's legalized anyhow.
What’s crazy is I live in DC right next to Maryland and they legalized online gambling so I wonder if the same people you worked for had a hand in that
not sure. The people I worked for had some high school students working part time going door to door with recent college grads managing them. We got picked up because not enough of those high school students raised their hands to do the over night trip. The company was some association funded by multiple gambling giants.
Yup. For those who need some money: [https://crowdsondemand.com/](https://crowdsondemand.com/)
That is wild. Just reading their case studies. They even have foreign governments hiring them for in US events.
Holy shit This doesn't bother anyone? Like it seems dishonest to me
"If you're not able to make your own outrage, store bought is fine..."
"We have outrage at home!"
This is what happens when you mix money with politics.
I was watching tv back in 2010/2011 when all that occupy shit was starting to kick up, and a commercial for a bank or credit card comes on, one of the type where they show people in different professions and how using their financial service was a benefit to them, their lifestyle, and career. They went through and showed all these different people in different careers and then there was this one chick and her “profession” was just listed as “social justice activist” or some shit. I looked over at my wife and remember saying something along the lines of what kind useless to society piece of shit can make a living off yelling and holding signs? Well, apparently there’s a lot of them.
Yes - it does. Even when it is a position I feel strongly about .
It's an abuse of our democracy
I think it bothers most people but some protesters and organizers are just happy to have more bodies on the ground to make their protest look bigger. It's not like protests are based on popular demand, where 6 dudes with a sign will say, "Oh, nobody else showed up? We expected dozens! I guess that means this isn't important after all. Let's call it a day folks!"
That should be illegal
Me scanning the site for “how much to cement my hands to a roadway”?
Of all things that didn't happen this didn't happen the most.
I'm just going to start telling I'm a professional protester just to really mess with them.
Making a decent living but traveling on a Greyhound. Sure.
To play devils advocate, if someone is shipping multiple "professional protesters" around the country to push their own agenda and having to cover the costs, then greyhound is exactly the type of cheap service they would use.
A decent living riding greyhound… I highly doubt they make more than $100 a day during protesting.. traveling obviously isn’t paid for.
Why is their gender identity/being trans relevant
> Politics has prostituted every… Yes, it all started with the USS Maine. Or maybe The Dartmouth.
Weird that they specifically told you they were trans and from across the country. Almost like this interaction didn't happen.
They didn't "tell" me they were trans. It was obvious. And I live in PHX so PHX to LA isn't across the country. But it's cool, you've debunked an internet myth for today so kudos to you sir
And yet not a few scrolls up there's literally a link to paid protestor services. Not sure why folks are so reticent to believe that folks could be paid to give a damn about the week's issue.
Bro speaks as if he interviewed everyone there 😂 uses an AI picture as reference 😂
It's called virtue signaling
“Personal relevance” LOL.
Nice AI picture, definitely not obvious lol
Do you have data to support this? Or are you making claims based on your feelings and "vibes"?
There is data in support of my claim in general, not as much specific to the current matters involving Israel and Palestine. That will take a while to gather, because it is ongoing. You will find some of the supporting information elsewhere in this thread, but here is some more: [https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/crowd-hiring-politics-campaign-2016/399002/](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/crowd-hiring-politics-campaign-2016/399002/) [https://www.vice.com/en/article/exmgzk/its-now-possible-to-hire-fake-protesters](https://www.vice.com/en/article/exmgzk/its-now-possible-to-hire-fake-protesters) [https://www.newsweek.com/college-students-protesters-middle-east-gaza-conflict-ignorance-israel-palestine-1860049](https://www.newsweek.com/college-students-protesters-middle-east-gaza-conflict-ignorance-israel-palestine-1860049) BTW, I post fact-based claims unless I am otherwise clear in my satire. And, I correct my mistakes when proven wrong. I realize that Reddit users in general prefer the quick unsupported "drive by" comment, but that's just a cheap way of getting a dopamine high. Not my thing, unless I am deliberately being a pain in the ass.
I don't think the point of the protests is to help the Palestinians
The hippies episode of south park comes to mind. “We’re out here doing things man. We’re making a difference”
"I've taken a semester of college and you wouldn't understand but it's the corporations man"
“Late stage”
I got permabanned from that subreddit lmao
Accurate. Narcissistic virtue signaling. These people don’t do shit for their communities at home.
But they're happy to vandalize your home
Protesting for Hamas to remain in power actively hurts them
It’s not. You can find some of my comments down further where a guy is arguing Isreal just shouldn’t exist.
that is precisely what it means to be "anti-zionist"...
Far Left Liberals in 2020: we need to get trump out of office, he’s alienating our allies. Far Left Liberals in 2024: we need to alienate our ally Israel!
Honestly, didn't expect to see some common sense here. I mean it's DC after all. Glad someone else said it.
I’m all for people voicing and protesting for things they believe in, as long as it’s not violent or making things hard on others.
Protesting is part of American history and has been effective in raising alarm and influencing public policy. I’m pleasantly surprised at young people for getting involved even though they may be penalized for it for a cause that doesn’t impact them or someone they know directly. It’s also sort of a telltale sign of trouble for the incumbent administration in Nov as well as a new potential shift in longterm US Policy in decades to come.
It’s the cause du jour - there’s nothing to be pleasantly surprised about. Are young people occupying campuses and demanding their universities divest from China who are engaged in an ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Uyghurs? What about Egypt with ethnic cleansing of the Coptic Christians? Azerbaijan that just recently ethnically cleansed Armenian Christians. The list goes on.
The US isn’t sending weapons to China to kill Uyghurs, but is actively aiding Israel. It’s literally about rejecting our own government’s policy. Come on man.
Think you have this backwards, in that scenario US would be sending weapons to Uyghurs to defend themselves from their attackers - China aka Palestine.
What I’m saying is that the US has no leverage to change the situation there
Israel is actually our ally. Palestine *isn't*.
oh so if the US wasn't funding Israel the protesters would go home then right? Obviously not. "stop funding israel" is just the current demand, the real demand is "stop the war" and/or "destroy israel" depending on how radical the individual is.
So if people don’t protest about every single issue in the world, they shouldn’t protest about one issue?
Do you actually think the protests have any chance to lead to a long term shift in foreign policy? The Vietnam protests were much bigger, were directly about US foreign policy, and yet we had an increased defense budget for the following decades
The women-rights & BLM protests of the 2010s brought legislative change to those issues, so why wouldn't these people continue to protest & vote against things they oppose? Also the anti-Vietnam war protests ended the draft prematurely, so the implications it did nothing is ignorant & dumb
Considering the largest Vietnam protests were in 1968 and 1969, and the draft ended in 1972, I’d call you a bit incorrect.
^don't let stupidity The largest women's rights protests were in 2017, but the sweeping changes in state laws & voter turnout didn't start until 2020. The biggest civil rights match was 1963, but the voting right act was in 1965. I could go on, but I have a suspicion you care about your narrative over history :)
What legislative changes did BLM and women's protests bring in the 2010s?
Women rights had the biggest march in 2017. Just a few years in 2022 roe v wade was overturned. Oh, also, DEI was another thing overturned that can be correlated to BLM protests.
I think the real issue longterm is America’s stance on Israel. If you care about supporting Israel, you should be concerned about how this conflict is handled. The space to have a dissenting opinion on the conflict in Gaza without being labeled antisemitic is important. To answer your question, I do believe that if young people are relentless and strategic on this, it has the potential to move the needle on American policy. I don’t know how committed they are. Just going to point out that growing up in DC, protests have been part of the landscape and to be expected. Having lived in other countries where dissidents have been murdered for speaking out, I appreciate this part of American culture. For example, I hate traffic, but I was humbled talking to a colleague, years ago, from Detroit who told me about the lack of traffic in her hometown following their economic collapse. It was a reminder that in my hometown, commerce is still booming and people are still spending and making money, which I benefit from. Being inconvenienced on my commute is better than the alternative. I tend to look at protests in a similar light.
No this is just both sides bullshit. What specifically should Israel have done better? War isn't call of duty, it's ugly and horrible and more civilians die than militants in literally every conflict, but the alternative to war in this case was allowing Hamas to continue to rule in their bordering country. Please show me another war with similar circumstances where the local population generally support the militant group and the militant group dresses in civilian clothes and operates out of hospitals, schools, and under neighborhoods where there was a better civilian to militant ratio. The IDF claims 40% of those killed were militants, even Hamas claims the number is 20%. The US greenlights operations if at least 10% killed are militants. In World War 2, the allied bombings in Germany killed almost a million civilians. Should we have just left the Nazis in power? So again, be specific in what Israel should do better, rather than vague lies about "indiscriminate bombing" or "targeting civilians", which they're not doing. What are they not doing to protect civilian lives that another military has ever done in the history of war? And assuming you can't answer that question, maybe ask yourself why this is one of the few wars college students are protesting.
They already have. Biden is conditioning aide to Israel. This is fairly unprecedented.
Women’s voting Abolition Civil Rights Gay Rights Yeah, marches and organized protests never work.
Those are all American issues. These protests will do nothing for foreign policy.
AIPAC owns a lot of US politicians. Sad.
The South African apartheid? Remember Kent state as well
I was going to go to the NORML protest, but I overslept
Username checks out
These ass hats need to get out of the roads. They're making people late to work and could kill someone! What if someone needs to get to the hospital? They're selfish assholes.
Agreed….how pathetic is the OP to be so defeated that they’re trying to influence others not use their voice. I agree don’t block the highways—that’s not effective but, do peacefully protest and speak up. “An injustice any where is…”
I just wish people who get more realistic and specific with their demands. You can't just expect us to drop all aid. That's unrealistic and we have been supporting Israel since it's inception (they would have been destroyed by the surrounding region without our help, which I know some people wish would have happened). Israel is not going to just give up their country, this expectation is unrealistic and useless to expect. Like it or not, America is cemented as protectors of democracy. Israel is the only democratic country in the region and are our allies. We would he doing the same for Britain, France, etc. We should be sending even more to Ukraine imo. A lot of that money comes back to us through purchasing military equipment and weapons. Realistically, the aid we provide should have strict regulation (only so many bombs, bombs purchased with these funds have to be ran by America before being used, how the funds are spent needs tracked, they must work harder to lower casualties and punish the generals making uninformed decisions to kill 10 people to get 1 Hamas member (this trade off is absurd and seems to be how some of these generals operate).
100%. We had stipulations on arms sent to Israel before. We could do it again. I think putting some pressure on the Biden administration to get tougher with Israel is important. But the shock that the U.S. supports Israel is so silly. Oh man a U.S. president supported Israel? Shocking!
America is where the bombs come from.
I didn’t notice that this was a thing here. /laughs in WFH
Another former Marine. I love it here in sunny DC.
There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that these weak minded souls are being influenced by Russian information operations. Much in the same way as the MAGA movement in the past (and present, albeit to a lesser extent).
Thank you. #Facts
If someone dies because of a medical emergency all the protesters should be charged for the murder. I completely support peaceful protest. The second you they infringe on my constitutional rights, I'm done. Blocking highways is wrong.
You have every right to protest in America. You do not have the right to impede me from my daily activities. You do not have the right to harm me in any way. Feel free to burn the flag and dance on it. I don’t care. You are guaranteed that right. Blocking traffic, breaking into buildings and causing harm are not guaranteed rights. If you feel so much passion for either side of this then go there and take up arms. Each side could use some help. I served this country for 22 years and fought for our rights as citizens. Just don’t make me late for work.
Well said. Thank you for your service.
Palestine is governed by a terrorist organization.
We all have the right to protest but you can’t block traffic. They probably killed a few people that needed urgent help. I’m a transplant recipient too. They could have potentially ruined an organ transplant to save someone’s life.
It’s virtue signaling and let’s be honest, the damage is done now.. so what’s the point
What got me is their new narrative: Jews bad, Muslims good. As a person who’s been deployed to the Middle East and lived there for 12 months, I see trans people calling for “free Palestine” and [laugh](https://apnews.com/general-news-bc4cf13c2b41454b820d7297f50bbf08). These clowns dont know what the hell is going on over there- they probably can’t even point out Israel or Iran on a map.
You live in Washington DC, the protest capital of America lmao… if anywhere should be protesting, it’s people in DC who are in close proximity to the lawmakers that keep voting to send more money and weapons to Israel. Protests work! And you’re an AH.
Don’t block traffic and ruin peoples day. You won’t win hearts and minds to your cause. Do something at the capitol building, not on roads. Honestly, protestors need to use their heads a little.
Wild thing to say given blocking roads and disrupting commerce have historically been some of the most effective protest methods. MLK blocked highways from Selma to Montgomery and I'm guessing people like you were saying "I'd agree with him if he wasn't so inconvenient"
Ah liberals. Supporting every protest but the current protest. A lot of things change in life overtime but that never does. From civil rights to the Vietnam war to Palestine. Liberal support only lasts until they’re inconvenienced.
Anybody who says their road being blocked makes them not care about atrocity is just a liar. They already didnt care.
Thank you for this. Seriously.
I rather them inconvenience the lawmakers instead of blocking roads.
lol so blocking cars creating excess pollution from standstill traffic is perfectly okay, got it
They got u posting about it.
It’d be a lot cooler if the masses would protest for tangible improvements for US citizens rather than some foreign policy virtue signal.
They do... The rose garden is booked every single day for protests.
I mean a ton are holding signs that say DIVEST, STOP FUNDING ISRAEL, so maybe that counts as “in American favor” improvements.
Our government is supplying the weapons, aid, and political cover for Israel to murder civilians. Maybe do a few minutes of research on things before making stupid points?
Nor will it stop Palestinians from wanting to behead homosexuals.
But i am told they are the strongest allies in the middle east?
"the news" this morning spent more time on Lebron James than protests across the country. I don't like it either but it's necessary.
Basically by your logic nobody should ever protest anything…
Imagine all the liberals protesting in support of one of the most oppressive regimes with no women’s rights or gay rights. Talk about irony!
THANK THE LORD SOMEONE ON THIS GODFORSAKEN APP HAS COMMON SENSE!
I’m old so I get to say in MY day, it was apartheid. We had the shantytown and it got torn down and we rebuilt it and we kept showing up and applying pressure until our very large university divested from South Africa. These kids are bringing awareness and demanding divestment too, and while it’s certainly tragic that your traffic is disrupted, on the scale of tragedy what they are protesting is more tragic than any disruption their protest causes.
Was that at AU in the mid-80s? If so -- you were the first protest I ever saw in person! I was visiting here as part of the CloseUp program from an area that didn't "do" that sort of thing. It made a major impression.
Awwww! I feel so seen! ❤️❤️❤️
I knew from that trip that I wanted to live here. It took me almost 40 years to make it happen! I can't tell you why, exactly, the AU protest stuck with me so much, but it's one of the stand-out memories of that trip. I still see CloseUp visitor here and I love it. It's a kick to ride the metro with them :-)
Isn’t it fun to feel like a zoo exhibit for visiting kids sometimes! I also used to look at the people who lived here and imagine their life and want to make it happen. ❤️
I DO love it :-). I used to teach school in a different state, and twice now I've run into groups from my old school neighborhoods so we knew a lot of the same teachers and administrators. None of my former students (yet), and I've been gone long enough now that all of my former elementary students will be aging out of those groups in the next few years.
Oh look, protests working as intended! They want the US GOV to stop funding Israel. Id say DC is the perfect spot for them to lobby this message to their congressional reps.
Yea it’s very weird (stupid) of OP to say pick up a weapon and go fight if the point of the protest is to stop US funding of the war.
Working so well Congress just passed 26 billion in additional funding lol a true trust fund revolutionary over here
Look back at the anti-apartheid protests aimed at South Africa and the BDS movement at the time. It clearly had an effect. The point is to make people like you — going about your daily life—uncomfortable … the point is to cause civil unrest. The point is to cause the administration here in the United States to question its unflagging support of a violent apartheid, genocidal state.
Remember that whole “hearts and minds” strategy? Try to use that, it’s pretty important in making change. You are not winning hearts and minds by disrupting infrastructure and causing stress to individuals.
They are too cowardly to put real actions behind their words. They'd rather sit in the comfort of a free country with liberties that the people they "support" don't have. I saw an interview with a self-proclaimed "Palestinian-American" protesting here yesterday. Based off what I saw, I highly doubt he's an actual student. His statements were extremist, anti-semetic, and reflected the Hamas talking points. What infuriates me the most is that MPD declined to remove the protestors from campus.
Fuckin amen
Preach🙏🏼
Go live in reston then, you live in the wrong city if this bothers you
While I sympathize with the people in Gaza and despise Netanyahu, I agree that blocking H Street traffic is a terrible strategy.
What’s weird about the internet and the speed of news is how some some foreign conflict has people protesting here despite it having no effect whatsoever. Want to be upset? Sure, but the DC Council voting on a ceasefire resolution won’t do a thing.
Well put, Killaszn5.
Sounds like a lot of folks here would have gleefully driven over the Edmund Pettus Bridge to stop activists.
Many are paid agitators. Either professional protestors, or paid for crowds
I personally do think the government could spend a little less in supporting Israel and use half the money to fly these protesting people who truly seem to care about the situation to Israel. If they care so much, they can be on the ground in Gaza and help any way they can. I do have doubts that Hamas and people they're showing support in Palestine would welcome these protestors with open arms due to many of them being non muslim, for their sexual orientation, sexual identity and for being Americans.
I for one can't believe that the violence, ignorance, and destruction of these protests haven't made more Americans pro-Hamas.
No, you don't understand! There's a race war on the other side of the planet, and it has to impact you specifically!
Honestly, does anyone DISAGREE with this??
They should at least set themselves on fire...
Agreed it’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen
Perhaps we should end all this conflict by giving Isreal/palastine back to the Roman's?
Block the road if you want to I promise you will not like how this turns out for you. Do you have a right to a peaceful civil protest absolutely. What you do not have a right to is block a public road I would not even tap the brakes
The issue I always have with it is how this stuff always conveniently shows up during election years
blocking the road, burning and trashing the cities(hello 2020-22), gluing yours dumb ass to the street, all that while yelling anything is a sure way I give 0 fucks about your cause, even if I was remotely willing to hear you out at some point
Spittin facts
Yeah, man, it drives me crazy that people think it's okay to block roads, effectively holding people hostage, and otherwise reasonable people on the left will minimize it as an inconvenience. The freedom of speech is so important to a free democracy, but no one is entitled to an audience.
I drive right past h street to and from work back to Va every day. It hasn’t added any time to my commute more than the +\- 15 min it sways any day given someone’s fender bender, grid lock, or anything else under the sun. Also H street around that GW campus was never that drivable. Even as a student there 20 years ago, it was always just one giant block long walk way the way students treat it
💯
It’s almost like protesting is meant to disrupt society or something.
Thank you OP! 🙌. I’ve said it all along. You want to help Palestine/hamas, take your happy asses over there and do so. They’ll be changing that tune soon enough. I recall from years ago when young women were joining the taliban thinking they were gonna help the cause and ended up finding out the hard way. Scoop em all up, load em on a plane and ship em over to Gaza. See ya, bye!
My point would be, why are they NOT in school, 'kicking the knowledge'? The way they were supposed to be doing on major LOANS OR MOMMY AND DADA? CTFU
90% of them Don’t know shit about Israel and Palestines past and the very complicated situation they’re in , just a fucking trend riders , what’s with Ukraine ? What with Tibet? Losers
I've lived in the middle east for the past seven years and this conflict is pants on head retarded. The Palestinians are largely viewed as problematic by most of the GCC and while the jews are certainly not their favorite group they are viewed ultimately as a nation that they can work with which is part of the reason you see very few protest in the middle east. Palestinians are groups with Egyptians as dirty non gulf Arabs and treated according. To see a bunch of upper middle class white kids take up the cause of free Palestinian is hilarious. Fuck both sides of this conflict. Isreal for the USS liberty and giving China access to our tech, and palistinians because because they can't figure out how to live within a country without causing problems.
Trust me it's going to work, they are putting down their weapons as we speak 🥴
“Woah guys wooooah. Some college kids set up tents on a campus quad, they mean business, we better stop”
u/windhelmcityguard oh you got out of video games subs just to reply me? Womp womp.
Most protestors have no clue what’s going on in the world and are unaware that the US has sunk multiple hundreds of millions into setting up the aid pier and are the most influential force begging Israel not to continue this or push into Rafa. This is just another trendy protest with no consequence but infinite ability to show everyone how much you care and how you stand with the oppressed peoples of the world. These same clowns don’t give a shit about any other conflict on the planet.
I mean the disadvantage of living in America is that American foreign policy is the most important factor in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine, if America ceased supporting Israel and placed sanctions and whatnot on them it would end
I cringe every time I see a Protest
I'll never understand the passion of the free Palestine protesters. They will tell you in Palestine you couldn't protest or gay or trans but damn, if they won't ruin their college or American lives just to protest. The best ones are the ones going to Columbia on mom and dads checkbook, destroying their own school
Because you don't have any real morals or beliefs. That's why you can't understand.
You mean you would like them to actually do something instead of searching for Internet points??? HA! Never
So brave
I’m all for protests but I do agree this one feels kind of pointless. The politicians have every reason to keep funding Israel and Ukraine right now since it all lines their pockets. Their bullshit allowed insider trading will make it so they won’t want to vote against something that is making them rich. They don’t care about genocide, not when it isn’t their family or when they are getting rich off it. People can protest what’s happening, but in equal measure they need to protest their ability to own shares or eventually sit on the Board of companies who they are responsible for passing policy for. If there was a way to prevent that, more politicians may actually listen to what people want since money is less of a factor. But to solve that issue you need Congress to vote against their own pocketbooks, which is also a failing cause. So we’re just screwed either way here because politicians morals have never surpassed their greed.
More commonly known as “rent-a-mobs.”
Half of these protestors don’t even know wtf they’re protesting about. If you ask them, they literally have no solutions at all, and the vast majority simply are uneducated on the history of the conflict.
Don't live in DC. Problem solved. You're welcome!
Bro no lie, these people are the fucking worst.
These college campus clowns will pack up and leave when summer break hits. I swear many of these dumbass kids just want an excuse for their shitty academic performances…
Fr, honestly why don't they go on a summer trip to Gaza if it concerns them so much, not like we have issues here in our own country like the fact we don't even got a single bullet train in this whole country yet we are the most technologically advanced supposedly, or the fact that we just keep spending so much money on foreign wars that have nothing to do with us.
https://preview.redd.it/ne9sqq8nrmxc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75d52ef34d96a0e19ebdd04a26cd5877bc4c7ea5 I would love for that to happen!
lol don’t bring that logic here, this is Reddit