because of a long established undercurrent of competition within departments (and even between professors) for recognition and advancement. That and there are some people that have very large but very fragile egos that can’t allow another person or discipline to grab more sunlight than them.

You know if you just use a sharpie to draw the line going up instead of down there isn’t a problem anymore.

It’s true that politicians don’t usually lead, they look to the voting base to see what they can do. I think the issue right now is that there isn’t (yet) a unifying leader that can mobilize a big enough population of people to make it impossible for the media to ignore. while I think smaller protests have their place they are useless if they don’t move to something bigger. And something bigger - that being millions of people filling the streets of multiple cities - won’t happen without a big charismatic leader like Martin Luther King, jr.

Yet the middle of the road, center right democrats that hold power see this as a challenge to their control. They only have to look to how the GOP was hollowed out by a big charismatic leader in trump. The more “moderate” republicans lost control to the more extreme right - the moderate democrats don’t want that and will do what they can to hold down that yet unknown person from gaining a voice for the left.

"You know the best strategy to counter this is to do nothing, it will burn itself out after awhile. If a few people die or get imprisoned well that’s okay as long as I don’t have to do anything difficult or will affect my portfolio and control. "

obviously I made this quote up but it is how I feel about the people in power that say they are against this administration but really are doing jack shit to support or engage the population. Sure there are some that are doing somethings and I appreciate that, but fuck man do most of the “opposition” party really not have a spine? Like what the fuck, there are millions of citizens that are genuinely scared for their life and freedom and all we are getting is crickets…

Must be nice to be in such a comfortable and privileged position in life that you can advocate for the “lets do nothing” strategy.

Neville Chamberland James Carville is fucking wrong on this. While protest may not change the course America is on right now it will at least continue to give a voice to those that feel voice-less. Action, even small action, can have a big impact if it is consistent. Sticking your head in the sand and hoping that the freight train wrecks is a shit strategy.

Edit: Fuck you, James!

This reminds me a time I passed this 20-something man on a trail in Utah. He was only wearing shorts, no water, no shoes and had a look on his face that I can only describe as “holier than thou enlightenment”

My first reaction when I saw him was to roll my eyes and judge the fuck out of him, then it occurred to me that my reaction was just another version of what I saw in him. So thank you random stranger for allowing me to see the bullshit that I carry in me. But seriously if you are hiking in Utah, wear shoes and take water with you!