For conservatives like Charles Sykes, parallels between 1968 student protests and ones today loom ominously large. What remains constant generation to generation is the fixation of the conservative mind on rebellion, protest, as a threat — chaos is the word that often springs to conservative lips. Let idealistic young people get out of hand, let them raise their voices and hark what discord follows: mere anarchy is loosed on the land.
In this conservative framing, the "existential threat of left-wing activists" is a serious issue on par with the repressive right-wing response of political leaders, university administrators, and police to the protests. The violence is not, conservatives would have us think, being caused by that right-wing repression, but by "left-wing" student activism.
Why not for once look at the deep conservative penchant to react violently to student protest, BLM protest, etc.?"
"New York police in full riot gear stormed Columbia University and the City College of New York Tuesday night, arresting over 300 students to break up Gaza solidarity encampments on the two campuses."
@FrankFrank The equivalence is that young citizens are exercising their power of free speech to address and act about issues that seem to them of utmost importance. In both cases, many US adults reacted to these exercises of free speech violently, spreading lies about what the student protest movements were about — showing that in the US, there's a strong authoritarian reflex reaction against free speech, especially when it comes from young people.
@FrankFrank The lies being spread by certain authoritarian groups of Americans today about the protests — that they're fueled by antisemitism, that they're expressions of Islamic death-to-America ideology — are no different in kind from the lies spread by similar groups in 1968 about the student protests then. Some of us just can't and won't get over our ugly authoritarianism and reflex reaction to repress (and lie about) student protest movements.
@FrankFrank I've seen no evidence that "these Colligiate Pro-Hamas/Palestinian activists" are advocating for this. I've seen no evidence that this represents the vast bulk of student protesters.
This is disinformation. It seeks to tar with a broad brush a large group of people who want to draw attention to Israel's repression and, yes, slaughter of Palestinians.
For many of us, no attempt to use disinformation to draw our attention away from that will succeed. Wasted use of time and energy.
@FrankFrank I'll be grateful if you stop trolling my Mastodon feed and trying to use it to spread disinformation. If you don't cease and desist, I'm afraid I'll have to block you.
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