Massive Violent Anti-Milo Protests at UC Berkeley

[RI]

...and cut off federal funding.

Is this "i think the administration was involved in the violence" or "i don't like Berkeley so cut their funding anyway"?

How about "the administration is complicit in fostering and promoting the environment where something like this is seen as acceptable and goes unpunished."

I don't know how the administration is responsible for hunting down anarchist cells in Oakland and arresting their members.

Perhaps not, but anyone involved affiliated with the university (student, staff, faculty, etc.) should face consequences but likely won't.

[Crumpets]

CW: effortpost

Everyone loves to climb on their high horse to say that somehow Berkeley students and other students at generally liberal universities are somehow inherently predisposed to violence when their views are challenged. This is obviously crazy, and anybody who has ever been to these kinds of protest can attest to the fact that the vast majority at them are always peaceful in their tactics even when things get rowdy and there's direct confrontation between opposing groups. The violence tends to be perpetrated by a small group that eagerly await major, controversial protests simply to cause destruction. It was this way during our WTO riots in 1999 just as it was in the riots after a super bowl win - something completely apolitical.

The people who engage in violence are very rarely loyal Democrats or Republicans. At least in Seattle, the only political allegiance they may have is to some fringe left-wing movements. But I can pretty much guarantee you practically none of them actually went into a voting booth in November to make their voice be heard because this is their modus operandi.

And sure, you can say "but then why don't we see this on the right as well." And again, I think that comes down to the distribution of voters in the country. Major protests are more likely on the left of the political spectrum simply because it's much easier to get a lot of people together in a high-profile manner. Nobody in rural West Virginia wanted to get a march of 100 people to picket in front of the courthouse in a ruby red county with a population of a few thousand. And even if they did, it's not like anarchists are going to all hop on a bus to meet in some tiny town. Plus, there's really no right-wing equivalent to a place like Berkeley University. Sure, Liberty is conservative, but it's not an "activist" conservative place. Maybe some megachurch in Texas? Breitbart HQ? There's no way to test what would happen if some leftist equivalent of Milo came to give a speech at a major hub of right-wing thought.

So, suppose we took politics out of this entirely. Let's say some figure as controversial as Milo, but not really anywhere on the political spectrum was going to give a presentation in some politically neutral area. Maybe, for the sake of example, some suburban theatre wants to make a name for itself by hosting a "celebration of the works of Bill Cosby." You can pretty much guarantee you'd have huge blowback from everyone around - liberals, conservatives, nobody would want their town or their neighborhood associated with something like that. Once the crowd gets big enough, you'd inevitably get the aforementioned "attention seekers" who want to cause destruction just because they're testosterony males (and it is inevitably men) and they just want to get on TV. It's not a political message. And then suppose this happened in every town Cosby was going to as part of some tour, no matter the politics of the area he was visiting.

But the next morning, we would not be blaming the "anti-Bill Cosby" movement for the destruction. We'd be blaming three groups: the rioters, the places that chose to let Bill Cosby in and (probably to a lesser extent) Bill Cosby himself. I think there's a really big need to put some more heat on these University administrations who clearly don't understand crowd control or their own campuses. Why not host Milo, but in a different part of town? Why not give him an interview with questions submitted by students and publish it in the local paper? It's like they're deliberately putting an endangered fish in a shark tank, and then getting mad at the shark when it eats it. There's just so many massively better ways of doing what they're trying to do, but I think the school administrations, like the rioters, are really just attention-seeking. I don't think that's what the majority peaceful protesters are doing.

[publicunofficial]

Remember: This is how Berkeley responds to peaceful protestors:

[Devout Centrist]

Remember: This is how Berkeley responds to peaceful protestors:

That's Davis

[dead0man]

crickets

I'm confused by the suggestion that anyone who didn't bother to post hearty "I agree" in your tedious thread must be pro-violence.

Any person who pretends that there are not prominent anti-violence voices both on this forum and elsewhere among "the left" is either a dishonest shill or an idiot.

You're right to be confused because I'm not suggesting that.  Not sure why you would think that would be aimed at anti-violence lefties, it's not. The thread and the post are aimed at the pro-violence assclowns.

And of course there are still anti-violence lefties around, I sympathize with them.

[ApatheticAustrian]

i don't think klartext is a nazi but he seems to have kind of a narrow definition who should fall into that category.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Looking forward to it. Outnumbered 9:1 in my neighborhood, but I guess that makes it all the more fun.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Wow, Milo, Farage, Piers Moron, Cowell - my country does seem to have a habit of exporting our most annoying citizens stateside. Sorry yanks.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It bothers me how whenever you have a protest the black bloc shows up to smash stuff. Makes it hard for people to actually peacefully protest anything.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

When they go low we go high, right lefties?

When they go low, only part of me goes high.

In all seriousness, this protest is ridiculous to put it mildly and there are so many other, more urgent things happening in this world these protestors could be investing their energy in.  These kinds of scenes don't deter Milo or make him want to rethink what he does.  You kidding?  You don't think he gets a massive hard-on every time he's able to rile up so many people at once, especially at this level?  Read the stuff he writes on Breitbart.  Listen to the talks he gives on YouTube.  It's plainly obvious he deliberately tries to be as offensive as possible for views and attention.  And he succeeds!  If you don't like Milo Yiannopolous, then don't listen to him.  Don't even acknowledge his existence.  Because were it not for juvenile displays like this, the man would be out of a job.

This is why politics sucks in this country.  This is how political discourse has reduced itself to a huge dickwaving contest.  Want to stop "normalizing" fascism or whatever?  Quit giving these idiots the attention they desire.  They're not worth your time and they're especially not worth the ensuing damage that's inflicted and that we all have pay the price for.

[ApatheticAustrian]

after this election, it is clear, that being a gentleman like obama isn't worth shoot.

america is proud of its history of voting for lacking candidates and it should be in some way. it should only also be able to live with the consequences.

[JJC]

When they go low we go high, right lefties?

When they go low, only part of me goes high.

In all seriousness, this protest is ridiculous to put it mildly and there are so many other, more urgent things happening in this world these protestors could be investing their energy in.  These kinds of scenes don't deter Milo or make him want to rethink what he does.  You kidding?  You don't think he gets a massive hard-on every time he's able to rile up so many people at once, especially at this level?  Read the stuff he writes on Breitbart.  Listen to the talks he gives on YouTube.  It's plainly obvious he deliberately tries to be as offensive as possible for views and attention.  And he succeeds!  If you don't like Milo Yiannopolous, then don't listen to him.  Don't even acknowledge his existence.  Because were it not for juvenile displays like this, the man would be out of a job.

This is why politics sucks in this country.  This is how political discourse has reduced itself to a huge dickwaving contest.  Want to stop "normalizing" fascism or whatever?  Quit giving these idiots the attention they desire.  They're not worth your time and they're especially not worth the ensuing damage that's inflicted and that we all have pay the price for.

The only people 'normalizing' fascism are the people - you know - threatening and carrying out violence against those they don't agree with or like. There's only one group of people doing this right now.

[Chief Justice Keef]

[Sumner 1868]

Quit giving these idiots the attention they desire.  They're not worth your time and they're especially not worth the ensuing damage that's inflicted and that we all have pay the price for.

See, it wasn't the left that gave these people attention initially. The right gave them attention. If you ignore they are still there. There is no solution.

[publicunofficial]

Are the liberals who are saying "Just let him speak, what's the big deal?" aware that Milo was planning on reading off a list of students that were undocumented immigrants?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Are the liberals who are saying "Just let him speak, what's the big deal?" aware that Milo was planning on reading off a list of students that were undocumented immigrants?

He was?  How could he even have accessed that information?

[ApatheticAustrian]

He was?  How could he even have accessed that information?

could be a false information but he was doing so before at another campus and it could be given to him by the local groups who invited him.

on a personal level i detest such behaviour - can't comment on it on a more capable level but i think this should violate the "code of conduct" of an university.

[pbrower2a]

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?"
--@realDonaldTrump
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827112633224544256

Wow, hope that happens!

Amen, Brother David! My wildest dreams keep coming true every day!

I expect federal funds for any scientific research to be cut back for any college, the only increases in grants being issued to 'scientists' willing to prostitute science for the aid of the Trump agenda. If you think 'prostitute' as a verb too harsh a judgment, scientific research whose objective is the justification of some politicized end at the expense of needful independence of researchers is a travesty of science as a violation of the core values within the scientific method. .    

[ApatheticAustrian]

it's either militarizing science or the wish to make scientists go silent.

is going to work anyway.

[Chief Justice Keef]

Are the liberals who are saying "Just let him speak, what's the big deal?" aware that Milo was planning on reading off a list of students that were undocumented immigrants?

It's true.



What an awful human being.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Are the liberals who are saying "Just let him speak, what's the big deal?" aware that Milo was planning on reading off a list of students that were undocumented immigrants?

It's true.



What an awful human being.

Okay.  Yeah.  Fck him.  Students can do whatever they want with him and I won't shed a tear.  Little Milo doesn't need a safe space.

[Crumpets]

Aaaand his book is back to #1 on Amazon.

Seriously, if you want to protest Milo, just say "who?" whenever someone talks about him, and then move on.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Aaaand his book is back to #1 on Amazon.

Seriously, if you want to protest Milo, just say "who?" whenever someone talks about him, and then move on.

It wasn't about Milo and it never was. It was about making clear that "inappropriate" opinions will not be tolerated and will be met by violence.

What meets the threshold for such opinions will be determined by Black Bloc on any given day. Notification of changes will be made via brick to the head, likely.

[ApatheticAustrian]

and how should anyone control the black bloc, death of each demonstration since ever?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

and how should anyone control the black bloc, death of each demonstration since ever?

No one is saying they can. That's why Trump's comments this morning were so dumb. Berkeley is sort of a victim of these radicals, although they were oddly mealy-mouthed about this attack on their grounds.

The only way to deal with Black Bloc is to up security and be ready to fight.