A guy I know participated in a London protest recently against Israel's incursion into the Gaza strip and wrote about the experience, saying that he won't be doing it again owing to the amount of anti-Semitism and radical Islamic sentiment he encountered. Those are good reasons to avoid future such protests, but I also wonder why he bothered attending in the first place.
Protests as a general rule aren't about accomplishing anything. Really. Their impact on the public discourse is minimal. Does anyone think for a second that Israel -- a country whose citizens are being killed in rocket attacks and which believes it is in a perpetual struggle for its very existence -- is going to allow its actions to be dictated by some protesters in the UK? Did prior protests in London halt the UK's participation in the Iraq War? Meanwhile, the largest anti-war/pro-surrender protests held in Washington in September 2005 (which I attended) were actually followed by Bush's decision to do the opposite -- increase the number of US troops in Iraq via the surge.
The real purpose of attending protests is to engage in conspicuous acts of social consciousness since much of leftism (and leftists love to protest waaaaay more than right wingers) revolves around demonstrating how much you care about various causes:
You show up, fight the power, feel righteous, maybe get a phone number from a fellow protester and then go home and congratulate yourself about how you made a difference. What a waste of time.
1 comment:
What did he think was going to happen? He went there to protest actions taken by Israel in defense of her citizens in response to attacks perpetrated by those who seek nothing more or less than to kill Jews and destroy Israel.
How then can he be surprised that people showed up wanting an end to Israel.
He even states that he was at a protest "against Israel's actions in Palestine." The situation is tragic. There are innocent children in Gaza but their suffering is the fault of Hamas and in many cases their parents who have supported an ideology of hatred and an acceptance of martyrdom.
It is one thing to rally for a final peaceful resolution. It is quite another to naively believe that Israel's actions are the source of this tragedy and that yet another "ceasefire" will work while Hamas continues its attacks but Israel pulls back.
Individuals like this gentleman need to realize that in real life there are consequences to our action. A desire for peace is noble. A desire to spare the many innocent residents of Gaza further suffering is noble as well. However calling for an end to Israel's actions in Gaza or for a ceasefire is a call for Israel to pull back and allow the attacks on her citizens and the murder of her citizens to continue. That is what will happen, that is what has happened. That is what people were protesting for. Whether protesters openly called for the destruction of Israel or simply called for an end to Israel's actions in Gaza, both are a call for Israel to allow the murder of her citizens to go unanswered.
At this point, ignorance of this is beyond naive. It is reckless. And people are responsible for the results of their reckless behavior whether they want what results, or not.
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