Weird to think I went to UCLA for undergrad. I knew the type to participate in protests, though, and they do get pretty passionate. Back then, it was the dreamers act support and the level of extreme was mostly occupying a few very busy streets and ultimate just ruining people’s day with terrible traffic.
But that was 2008 (I think) pre-TikTok and pretty early into social media. I think there are actors that stoke the fires on both sides with either misinformation and/or more persuasive material because so much more is recorded (e.g. most people get fired up when seeing video of people fucking dying). It’s one thing to know people are dying, it’s another to see first hand accounts.
For instance, in 2008 we were informed of fucked up things the US did in Iraq, but footage was scarce and the most we really had to get pissed off about were pictures of that one lady who posed prisoners in weird fucked up ways. If it was today, we’d have been given a lot more civilian death stats along with videos of people getting shot, bombed (plus again, lots of false info too). I’m pretty sure students would have been a lot more disruptive than just holding up traffic.
Weird to think I went to UCLA for undergrad. I knew the type to participate in protests, though, and they do get pretty passionate. Back then, it was the dreamers act support and the level of extreme was mostly occupying a few very busy streets and ultimate just ruining people’s day with terrible traffic.
But that was 2008 (I think) pre-TikTok and pretty early into social media. I think there are actors that stoke the fires on both sides with either misinformation and/or more persuasive material because so much more is recorded (e.g. most people get fired up when seeing video of people fucking dying). It’s one thing to know people are dying, it’s another to see first hand accounts.
For instance, in 2008 we were informed of fucked up things the US did in Iraq, but footage was scarce and the most we really had to get pissed off about were pictures of that one lady who posed prisoners in weird fucked up ways. If it was today, we’d have been given a lot more civilian death stats along with videos of people getting shot, bombed (plus again, lots of false info too). I’m pretty sure students would have been a lot more disruptive than just holding up traffic.