And yet the police reaction has been out of control. These images are from Indiana University (my alma mater, so I’ve been taking a special interest):
Meanwhile, this is the exact same location in 1991 when students protested the Gulf War. I was only in middle school, but I was still there, cooking and doing other things around the camp. The camp was there for 45 days. No one took it down.
The difference between the two eras is how local law enforcement interpreted trespassing laws.
Not to mention the sociopolitical climate and the skin color of the protesters.
I don’t know about skin color. It’s Indiana. It was mostly white students both times.
I love that the pictures I keep seeing come out of these protests are just young nerdy kids. I’d prefer they weren’t being manhandled by fucking commandoes, but the imagery really conveys the reality vs. the “outside agitators” narrative.
Calling obese poorly trained uneducated cops “commandos” is very generous of you.
Commandoughs
One of the few times I’ve seen my dad cry was when we were touring college. We went to his alma mater and when we walked by the administrative building he started talking about how they took it over when Nixon started bombing Cambodia. He trailed off and his eyes filled with tears. And it wasn’t sadness. It was anger. He was furious at the people who were needlessly throwing away lives.
Your dad is cool
A report came out today confirming that 99% of pro-Palestine protests at US colleges have been entirely peaceful, despite the hysterical rhetoric from Congress and the corporate news media.
I don’t think I’ve seen a greater disparity between the mainstream dialogue surrounding a current issue and the actual reality of it since the 2003 Iraq War.
That’s exactly my feeling as well. This is Iraq War media manipulation/propaganda all over again. Like it’s not a coincidence that nearly all the politicians and nearly all the mainstream media just seem to mistakenly imply there’s violence going on. Maybe one reporter got mistaken information, but all of them? All at the same time? And no politician had any ability to just talk to a respected person on campus to hear the protesters’ view?
They’re all willing to briefly mention some platitudes about the right to protest, but studiously avoid talking about why they are. Do we even know where the various political figures stand on university divestment from Israel? That’s the main demand. We’re hearing a lot about their concerns about antisemitism and violence and the rule of law (usually without examples, just “trust us it’s happening”), but no one’s willing to address their actual cause. At least during BLM they’d say “Black Lives Matter” before saying the same crap about violence and outside agitators and whatnot.
No one was shot in the head yet, which is positive. (Knock on wood)
And yet…
I keep seeing this, and it does look bad, but these are honestly there to kill anyone who starts shooting protesters. I remember my university held an event every year with some fair rides and stuff, and there were guys with rifles walking around everywhere securing things. There were no protests and no reasonable expectation of violence. The same can not be said here. I suspect it’s only a matter of time until some outsider decides to start shooting protesters.
It sucks that’s where we’re at in the US, but it is. The snipers are not the guys doing harm. The cops with riot shields are. They look less dangerous, but they are far more dangerous.
I remember my university held an event every year with some fair rides and stuff, and there were guys with rifles walking around everywhere securing things.
That’s uh, not how things are done in most universities… Truly insane that we think people with rifles walking around public spaces are a necessary and reasonable security precaution.
I agree it’s wild it’s required, but I was fairly glad they were there honestly. It was George Mason University. I don’t know of any gun violence happening there yet, but when I was there the campus did have a scare of some group coming near campus with rifles to scare people. America has an a lot of issues that were choosing to not deal with. It sucks.
Did you see the other pictures I posted? Do they look like guys walking around with rifles securing things?
I went to IU. I grew up in Bloomington. They don’t normally put snipers on rooftops.
If you mean the dude in green with the suppressed rifle, actually exactly. Those are the guys who were at my university for those events I mentioned. I don’t recall snipers during those though. That’s the abnormal part, but yeah that’s expected at large gatherings. They’re at large football games if you know where to look, for example, which isn’t because they don’t like football fans.
They aren’t the ones you should be afraid of. They aren’t just going to start shooting people, but the guys with riot shields very well may just start beating you, and the guys with the paintball gun looking weapons very well may start shooting you, even though there’s supposed to shoot at the ground.
The part I am specifically talking about is the abnormal part?
Gosh, wonder why I brought it up?
Also, the other pictures are of cops reacting violently to protesters, so I’m not sure why you’re acting like that always happens when I showed with a simple photo that it doesn’t.
The protests are abnormal. That’s why there’s an abnormal presence. Seriously. Those guys aren’t going to hurt anyone unless someone brings a gun, in which case they’re almost certainly only going to hurt that person with the gun. They’re fine and expected.
Also, the other pictures are of cops reacting violently to protesters, so I’m not sure why you’re acting like that always happens when I showed with a simple photo that it doesn’t.
Yes, and none of the ones acting violently have rifles, at least not what we usually call rifles. The paintball guns may be rifled. Idk. The ones being violent mostly all have riot shields. They’re the ones who are there to be violent. They’re the ones people need to pay attention to.
Again, it’s abnormal to see snipers at the campus but it is perfectly normal to see them at a large gathering of people, especially one that’s politically and emotionally charged. You want those cops there because they will only protect people against a shooter. The guys with shields, pepper spray, and the paintball guns should fuck off, or stand between protesters and counter-protesters at most.
Campus protests are in no way abnormal. Again, I showed a photo to prove that this is different from how they have treated protesters in the past.
I like how you actually went to the university in question and you still get downvoted and told “nah, that’s normal”. That guy in green is only barely distinguishable from a soldier in a warzone. How many spare magazines of ammo does he have in his kit?
Not with bullets, but they’ve been shot in the head with rubber bullets.
The for-profit media has no incentive to calm you down.
