24 Comments

Excellent report! About time someone called this hypocrisy out. Thank you.

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Thanks Jasmine. I think the immediate hypocrisy is important to note, but especially if it makes us curious about the broader patterns at play.

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"College kids are supposed to be dumb and drunk. They arenโ€™t supposed to ask why imperial wars are being fought in our name, why some people are bombed or shot in order to protect other peopleโ€™s ostensible safety."

Thank you, Garrett, for taking the time and effort to locate those images and to piece together the reality of cops and campuses. I'm wearing my NO MORE POLICE shirt today and am thinking it's gonna be heavy in the rotation for the near future. :(

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Pretty good shirt to keep in the rotation :)

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Eula Biss's "Is This Kansas" juxtaposes these college parties with the media coverage of "looters" in New Orleans after Katrina: https://gel.sites.uiowa.edu/sites/gel.sites.uiowa.edu/files/wysiwyg_uploads/eula_biss_is_this_kansas.pdf

Very similar parallels to this discussion, and that was almost 20 years ago.

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I will ALWAYS welcome a classic Eula Biss essay in the comments :)

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Great analysis! The juxtaposition is infuriating and so true.

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It's both absolutely wild and of course not wild at all!

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The US has drawn clear lines as to who it supports. There is even legislation being proposed that would broaden the definition and consequences for antisemitism. I am Jewish, and I take great issue with equating Zionism with Judaism. First Amendment rights are being demolished left and right on a number of issues, so maybe we just add harsher criminal punishment for burning or defacing an Israeli flag?

I'm not a fan of TikTok, but don't agree with forcing its sale under the false narrative that China is stealing US secrets. There has been a lot of speculation that Israel is behind this move because pro-Israel lobbyist director Jonathan Greenblatt said in a leaked phone call โ€œWe really have a TikTok problemโ€ in the US because of all the Pro-Palestinian content being driven by young people.

Adding to all this is the general militarization of state and local police departments across America. When the police show up in riot gear, that's because they are counting on a riot. Meanwhile, our demented criminal ex-president is allowed to incite a real riot, and the police came so unprepared that people died, and several police officers committed suicide at a later date. So scary where this country is going, but I still have hope in the younger generations.

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appreciate the background on the Madison Method, i hadn't heard of it, and that's fascinating!

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Pretty fascinating!

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"If I was paying $67,000 a year to attend a university and a cop told me to get off the grass I would stand there even harder."

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Yep!

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This is from a tweet in an Adam Tooze substack article on the subject. It's a good article, a lot of his other stuff isn't political but def fills in the gaps

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As usual, yours was just the piece I needed to put together all the disparate (and despairing) thoughts in my own mind. Thank you. And Iโ€™m so sorry I missed you in Lynchburg! Iโ€™ve had a lot going on and missed hearing about it until today. Glad to hear it went great!

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Thank you! And it would have been wonderful to see you in Lynchburg but it's also a lot to ask anybody to come on over from RVA on a weeknight. I looooved Lynchburg so much, though. Some really wonderful organizing brewing in that town!

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This tracks with what weโ€™re seeing on NYC campuses. Thank you for this cogent piece with photos to illustrate your point!

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YES. A thousand times.

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Thanks Anna!

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https://x.com/macklemore/status/1787616471738368099

The people won't be silent ๐Ÿ’œ

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I am not criticizing anything you said. But I want to point out two things. First, the police should not hit bald men on college campuses. They are likely to be faculty and get their pictures taken. Second, no one seems to offer the Israelis any other option for fighting Hamas. If Hamas would stop hiding among ordinary people, the Israelis would stop bombing Palestinians, but no one has come up with any other option.

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Hi Norma. Thanks for reading. I have a sense that we might have a different vision of what might bring peace and safety for all in the region. I generally find that it's hard to have that discussion in comment threads, but if you'd like to talk more I'm at garrett@barnraisersproject.org

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This is so brilliantly put, Garrett.

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