There are cool-headed, reasonable liberals and conservatives out there (if those terms even apply anymore in a globalism/nationalism world). Then you've got the rabid folks—the ones who can't control their mouths or their actions. With Donald Trump's electoral victory and ascension to the presidency (we're barely two weeks into the Trumpian Era), it's the liberal side that's been embarrassing itself this time with one long, drawn-out, nationwide tantrum involving riots and the destruction of property. Latest case in point: Berkeley University, where gay rightie Milo Yiannopoulos had been scheduled to speak.
'No borders, no nations, fuck deportations!'
Student protesters upset over a speech by writer Milo Yiannopoulos are setting fires and destroying property at Berkeley University Wednesday night.
Shouting "Shut It Down," the protesters are removing barricades, toppling a light pole, and throwing projectiles -- including fences and firebombs -- at the building where the speech is being held.
Here, protesters are trying to firebomb the building where the speech was scheduled to be held: [PICTURE]
9:15 PM ET update: The event has been canceled. Police are attempting to disperse the crowd.
9:30 PM update: Police have given the protesters 10 minutes to disperse or face arrest.
9:45 PM UPDATE: Milo Yiannopoulos just called in to Fox News's Tucker Carlson show. Here's a clip, in which he says "the left cannot tolerate anyone ... who does not subscribe to their own crazy views."
10:25 PM UPDATE: Protesters are leaving campus en route for the town of Berkeley, chanting along the way, "No borders, no nations! Fuck deportations!"
10:39 PM UPDATE: After a female Trump supporter concludes an interview with a local reporter, anti-Milo protesters pepper-spray her.
Hooray, academe!
As Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has noted (here and here, for example): "You want more Trump? Because this is how you get more Trump."
I'm trying to recall similar mass rioting and destruction perpetrated by angry righties in 2009, after Obama was elected. In searching online, I found this blog post, which lists a slew of rightie-perpetrated crimes in the wake of Obama's election—late 2008 and early 2009. Makes for interesting reading, as do some of the comments in response to that post. My impression is that the post in question lists many small, isolated incidents whereas what's happening now involves huge crowds of people, not just the marginals. But I don't know: I haven't taken a serious tally. Maybe my impression is wrong; maybe I'm misremembering; I've been mistaken many times before. And then there's the meta-question about which is better: unfocused mass hysteria/hatred or focused violence and mayhem in isolated pockets.
Scott Adams darkly notes that rampaging lefties are in danger of engendering a self-fulfilling prophecy. The longer the tantrum goes on, the more likely the crybabies will get the draconian, rights-depriving treatment they've been screaming about all along.
UC Berkeley alum here myself. Among many profs in the humanities at the time, a common theme was a relentless attack on the Enlightenment and "instrumental reason." Somehow it was all terribly "oppressive" and even "fascist," leading right to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
ReplyDeleteLooks like their "long march through the institutions" has finally paid off. "Reasoned debate" is no longer a thing at one of our country's greatest universities. Indeed, the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement has now become its graveyard. Great job, assholes!
Scott,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering whether "Berkeley University" (as it's written in the linked article) is, in fact, UC Berkeley. Is it?
The demo happened at UCB. The official name is University of California at Berkeley, although even in the 1980s many often referred to it as simply "Bezerkeley."
ReplyDeleteSomehow this quote by the Irish philosopher Bishop Berkeley is apropos: "Others indeed may talk, and write, and fight about liberty, and make an outward pretence to it; but the free-thinker alone is truly free."
Anti-Milo Yiannopoulos Rioters Burn UC Berkeley
ReplyDeleteWhat Color Will the American Color Revolution be? Pink or Black?
There are 10 campuses in the University of California (UC):
ReplyDeleteUC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCLA (i.e., UC Los Angeles)
UC Merced
UC Riverside
UC San Diego
UC San Francisco
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Cruz
UC Berkeley is the elite of the bunch. UC Merced is the newest campus, located in (wait for it) Merced, California. Incidentally, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is managed by UC, albeit "owned" by the Department of Energy (DOE). So I am technically a retiree of the UC system.
Henry,
ReplyDeleteThanks. I was a bit circumspect about nomenclature because, in my home state (or commonwealth) of Virginia, we have the University of Virginia (Charlottesville) as well as a Virginia University (Lynchburg)—two completely different animals. I guess it goes to show that a good scholar should check multiple sources. I think "Berkeley University" is a misnomer, given that the incident took place at UC Berkeley. Sloppy reporting.
Berkeley Students Unhappy With Protest Violence
ReplyDeleteEven young liberals are turned off. That's something.
Bad things are bad regardless of who is doing the bad things. Additionally, not everyone on the left supports violence or the destruction of property in the furtherance of their ideals.
ReplyDeleteMuch in the way some folks are assuming, in the wake of the multitude of bomb threats which have been phoned into synagogues and Jewish Community Centers nation wide, that perhaps it's the Jews who are perpetrating this ruse to make those on the other side of the aisle look poorly--so too, it is possible, that there are people out there who would commit acts of violence and destroy property JUST BECAUSE and are merely using these organized protests as the means or opportunity (not to mention the resulting LARGE AUDIENCE) to do so.
I look upon it all with extreme suspicion.