The days are flying by
Which is either a really good, or really bad thing. I’ve been busy correcting papers and tests, and teaching classes, and need to get into the habit of updating every day again. It is difficult, after being disrupted in my routines for so long. But it’s ok, I did run Tuesday, yesterday and today! The wind has been fierce and relentless. It’s the start of March and I live on the sea, what should one expect?
So I’m getting a little angry about people’s reactions to protests. On both “sides”. The fact is, there are way more than two sides to anything in this world, but I digress. When someone is protesting “your side” of things and gets arrested, for protesting, stop lamenting it! If you’re not agitating, if you’re not getting in the way, if you’re not disrupting the flow of things, then you’re NOT DOING ANYTHING! If all you do is gather and talk, then you’re having a meeting, not a protest.
“I have identified problem A, my suggested resolution for this injustice is to gather everyone together and voice our opinions, but in no way make a condition where anyone causing the problem would have to change their behavior. They will magically change on their own because I was civil and kind and they will see the errors of their ways.” Not once, in the history of humanity has this EVER been the case! I realize this is from physics and does not always follow when it comes to behavior, but “A body at rest, tends to stay at rest.” Why would anyone change a situation that is comfortable for them? They don’t, people really do not. Never in my life have I seen someone say, “You know what, I’m too comfortable, let’s change that.” If you want to change behavior, you must cause I condition which makes people want to change. So if you’re not disrupting in some meaningful way, then you have done nothing.
Next point on this, yes, driving some jackass into a murderous rage because they will be late for work, because you are blocking the road IS a proper protest. You have identified the injustice and are protesting it. Someone’s road rage is not a proper response. No matter how far removed from being human we have become, and claim “well, so and so has to get to work”. That’s bullshit, at no time is someone else’s life equal to, or even less than you being on time for the big meeting. Most of what people are protesting is another form of this exact problem. That people believe they have the right to determine who is worthy or not of life, of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness (‘Mericanized it there!). By evoking that reaction, they are showing exactly what the problem is and exactly why they need to protest. So yes, It’s dangerous, yes you can go to jail. No you’re not supposed to make friends, and everyone sees the error of their ways because you were so nice. What happens in, the observers, the people on the sideline see, “OK, so and so was protesting this problem, I maybe didn’t see it as a problem, but then this person reacted like this, holy crap, there’s something wrong here.” Protest isn’t about winning over the people who are already invested in consciously promulgating the problem. It’s about exposing the problem, and those who keep it going, to those who either through ignorance or incompetence keep that problem going. The people who have no real opinion on it, but when they see the hyperbolic result in a situation like a protest, recognize the absurdity of the status quo’s position. I hope that’s clear enough
On the other side of things, as I said above, you are not judges, you are not juries, you are not executioners. If you have factual evidence to support your position, by all means produce it. If you do not, then shut up and sit down. Honestly. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, it’s true, but when the facts fly in the face of your opinion you have to be willing to change it. No, I do not care that “science” said eggs are bad for you, then they said eggs are good, then they said, only the egg whites, then they said…” Shut up. 40% of Americans believe the world is only 6,000-10,000 years old. I want to repeat that 4 out of every 10 Americans believe that the Earth is only 6,000-10,000 years old. I am not going to bother you with Carbon-dating. I had students, the other day, marvel that an NBA basketball player honestly asserted that the Earth was flat. My point in this is: If you cannot properly adjudicate very basic scientific facts like the Earth being over 4 billion years old, with the dearth of evidence, if you cannot look through a telescope and see other spherical planets and planetoids, and accept the Earth as being the same, how can you judge anything about anyone else? What gives you the right, at that point, to try and assert that you know what’s best in any manner? If you believe the Great Pyramids at Giza were used as grain silos not tombs, why should I entertain your other opinions?
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil Can Run then so can you!
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