No Aim, No Fear, No Consequences

Why protests are becoming more aggressive

Menacing protests have become the new normal.

We’ve recently watched pro-Palestinian protests at so-called prestigious universities turn violent, with arrests, vandalism, and hostile chants like “We are Hamas.” Jewish students, barely a generation removed from the horrors of the Holocaust, once again find themselves in the crosshairs of hatred.

It’s been a disturbing shift in our culture. 

Protest, of course, is an American right, and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” comes straight from the First Amendment. “Peaceably,” however, now seems entirely optional.

The George Floyd "largely peaceful protests™" marked a watershed moment, unleashing a wave of destruction unseen since the 1960s. Across the country, the violence caused at least 19 deaths, countless injuries, and over $2 billion in damage - the highest recorded damage from civil unrest in U.S. history. 

We saw violence at Trump’s inauguration, fires at universities that dared to host conservative speakers, a Federal Court firebombed in Portland, the January 6 riot, and“George Floyd lite” riots throughout the land.

The words on the placards may change but the underlying fuel is the same: aimlessness and perceived impunity. 

Young Americans, basking in the comforts of modern life yet often adrift in a sea of meaninglessness, are desperate for a cause to champion. They latch onto fashionable ideologies, less out of conviction, more out of a primal need to belong to something greater than themselves.

Radical politics offer a moral certainty, a clear enemy to fight, and a rush of righteousness.

Few Palestinian protesters can even properly explain their charges of “genocide” or “occupation.” Their logic is flimsy, but it doesn’t matter.  The opportunity to feel like a revolutionary is irresistible, and it certainly beats going to class.

But zeal alone doesn't make a movement dangerous. After all, passion is the currency of youth. What turns activism into a menace is the second ingredient: the perception that violent actions will go unpunished.

And why wouldn't they believe this? Time and again, we've seen rioters, looters, and vandals arrested, only to be released without charges. 

Progressive district attorneys, more concerned with appeasing the mob than upholding the law, played a Reverse Uno card to the justice system, freeing agitators and threatening victims. In cities like Seattle and Chicago, Antifa and BLM militants operate with virtual impunity, secure in the knowledge that consequences will be minimal.

"There needs to be unrest in the streets," said Rep. Pressley (D-MA). Her sentiments were echoed by a long line of Democratic lawmakers as Kamala Harris bailed out the criminals. The vast majority of this violence has been a product of the left, although Republicans calling January 6 rioters "tourists" certainly wouldn’t have made Ronald Reagan proud.

The temperature is rising. People in the Mideast will still be killing one another, activists will party in Chicago like it’s 1968, and if Trump wins the presidency … well, you know that’ll light some fires.

But there is a solution, a way to pull us back from the brink: enforce the laws. They exist for a reason and need to be applied equally, regardless of someone’s politics, color, or pronouns.

It's not a magic wand, but it's a darn good start.

– Ken