The Soapbox

Joined: 09/29/2013 Posts: 6426
Likes: 3387

What's this?

Here's the best effort at understanding their motivation I've seen.

From a liberal, black, Ivy-League English professor who supported BLM (albeit with caveats) and thinks the relationship between black men and the police is a central driver of racial problems.

---

"Thus to truly understand what is happening here, we must see these protesters not as seeking a safe space, but “seeking a safe space,” warning us not of fascists but of “fascists,” “fostering oppression” and threatening “impending resegregation.” Oddly, the kayfabe concept in professional wrestling is the appropriate analogy, a tacit contract under which fans pretend something staged is real. In wrestling the payoff is entertainment; with the new protest movement the payoff is that we all demonstrate our heightened sociopolitical awareness—our faith, as it were. These episodes are religious services of a sort, which is part of why they now occur so regularly.

I do not mean to imply something so simplistic as that these protesters are willfully faking. They are sincere, within their bounds. But the bounds are important—the religious comparison is useful in that the religious person seals off a certain region of their reasoning from the ABCs of pure logic, for what they perceive as a higher purpose. However, we must understand that the protesters are proceeding from just such a cordoned-off area of consciousness, in order to comprehend their refusal to heed calls to observe Enlightenment-style convictions regarding the nature of discussion and the complexities of society."

[Post edited by hoodeyo at 05/12/2017 5:06PM]

(In response to this post by SchmHoo)

Link: Daily Beast - The Know-Nothing Campus ‘Protest’ Movement

Posted: 05/12/2017 at 5:01PM

PREV NEXT REPLY

Insert a Link

Enter the title of the link here:

Enter the full web address of the link here -- include the "http://" part:

Current Thread:

Pretty interesting piece from the Atlantic -- HoosGuy 05/12/2017 09:05AM

Reminiscent of the "Smug Style in American Liberalism" -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 3:19PM

See hoodeyo's post from 10 hours ago about Dems being too PC -- WahooMatt05 05/12/2017 09:45AM

I think you're conflating PC with vulgarity -- HoosGuy 05/12/2017 10:07AM

No offense, but I'm so sick of these takes -- wahoo138 05/12/2017 09:09AM

Sort of related, I get annoyed that we can't call racist and stupid -- HoosWillWin 05/12/2017 10:36AM

When you make certain issues like the police, immigration policy, etc -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 6:03PM

I am 54 years old, -- VaTechie 05/12/2017 11:20AM

Not that I 100% agree with this, I do appreciate the effort at civility. -- SchmHoo 05/12/2017 11:33AM

That's a dangerous way of thinking, in the sense that it leads -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 2:37PM

You may be reading too much into my post. ** -- SchmHoo 05/12/2017 2:41PM

What did you mean? -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 2:47PM

That, and confronting head-on and with useful anger..... -- SchmHoo 05/12/2017 2:53PM

Gotcha. Anger's certainly got a place and racism should be called out. -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 3:01PM

Examples like your 2nd paragraph are extreme. -- SchmHoo 05/12/2017 3:12PM

Here's the best effort at understanding their motivation I've seen. -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 5:01PM

I will buy some of what your selling -- VaTechie 05/12/2017 11:46AM

So racist, not partisan...nope. racist. -- hoothat 05/12/2017 11:19AM

When you have no evidence of racism, you shouldn't call -- Hokieesith 05/12/2017 11:06AM

It is an embarassingly irresponsible position from the pov of duty. -- Chuck Taylor 05/12/2017 09:56AM

I thought the tea party was born as a result of the '08 election? -- WahooMatt05 05/12/2017 10:02AM

I remember a Newsweek article spelling out why Palin was chosen as -- Late 80s Hokie 05/12/2017 12:40PM

It started with Ron Paul and was overtaken by the GOP -- hoothat 05/12/2017 10:25AM

I didn't notice it until shortly after Obama was elected. I think it -- HoosWillWin 05/12/2017 10:55AM

It was initially a libertarian freakout over the stimulus and bailout -- hoodeyo 05/12/2017 3:33PM

Alot of people didn't notice it, but it was there. ** -- hoothat 05/12/2017 11:02AM

Never mind he was the overwhelming choice of Republicans. -- Shenhoo 05/12/2017 09:14AM

I know you are joking and don't really mean that -- wahoo138 05/12/2017 09:18AM

I am not so far removed that I wanted McCain in -- Shenhoo 05/12/2017 09:22AM

2000 McCain was great. 2008 McCain, less so. Today, somewhere in between. ** -- WahooMatt05 05/12/2017 10:03AM

2008 McCain was a uphill battle from the beginning -- VaTechie 05/12/2017 10:11AM

I think if Gore had won in 2000, McCain would have won in -- southdenverhoo 05/12/2017 1:30PM

Me too. I voted for Bob Dole -- wahoo138 05/12/2017 09:36AM

I'd be pro any timeline that didn't put us in Iraq ** -- HoosGuy 05/12/2017 09:27AM

Agreed. ** -- hoothat 05/12/2017 09:32AM

I believe the idiom is 'dyed-in-the-wool' :-) -- HoosGuy 05/12/2017 09:22AM

I actually came up with that expression. Have you heard it before? I came -- VAGentleman05 05/12/2017 09:41AM

Haha. I'd like to blame autocorrect for that? ** -- wahoo138 05/12/2017 09:39AM

Sounds like a bad Hokie date. ** -- Shenhoo 05/12/2017 09:23AM