The Watcher’s Council Forum question this week was about who’s to blame for the violent protests that took place in San Jose last week. The gist of my answer is that it’s hard to know where to stop in assigning blame. Among the culprits I’d list the large number of “protesters” who obviously intended to exceed the bounds of legitimate protest (unless they typically carry eggs and water balloons with them), the handful of Trump supporters who came prepared for trouble armed with pepper spray, Donald Trump, the police, city officials in San Jose, and American politicians who’ve been reacting to illegal immigration with a wink and a nod for generations.
The forum post at the Watcher’s site is here.
…the handful of Trump supporters who came prepared for trouble armed with pepper spray …
It looks like they should have brought baseball bats, axe handles, chains, and rolls of quarters.
I am going to put my money on the gun rights crowd. While the illegal immigrants probably know how to handle the tools of violence, I am going to guess that the under 30 crowd who does not feel 100% masculine will have a little problem with the more physical aspects of violent protests when the intended victims do not give a crap about safe spaces or micro aggressions.
Pajama boy is going to learn that macro aggressions hurt a hell of a lot more than chalk on a sidewalk.
That’s actually my greatest concern. If Trump supporters arrive at the conclusion that the police are on the side of the “protesters”, there’s a certain number that won’t be deterred from attending events (they may even be encouraged). But they’ll come armed and shoving and punches will be met with a hail of gunfire.
Whenever I look at such events I reverse the variables involved. So, in the case of San Jose, I wonder how the violence would have been both met and media viewed if such thuggery had occurred at an HRC or Sanders rally. Would the police have stood by as people attending the event were physically attacked, verbally harassed, vehicles damaged by supposedly Trump supporters? Would the MSM have half-heartedly reported the violence? What would their head lines have been? And, importantly, would they have done a moral equivalence to earlier events where HRC or Sanders rallies had experienced protester interruptions, which had been met by a few Sanders/HRC supporters fighting back. Would this have been interpreted as “viciousness” on behalf of these relatively infrequent push-backs by provoked attendees of these dem events, laying the blame on election violence more in their court than republican-held rallies?
Somehow, I think the story, by-lines, and attachment of violent behavior more on one party than another would have been entirely different.
The stuff that makes television, meaning the stuff that has impact, is all of the stuff that occurs late in the process. Just like in basketball where a technical foul is usually called on the guy who is retaliating and they miss the initial infraction, there is plenty more going on. Most of the Trump supporters and most of the protestors are peaceful. However, there are a few testosterone laden (ok, some women also but not as many) people on both sides trying to start fights. There is a lot of name calling and threats. In some ideal world you can call people names all you want and no one starts a fight. Put a bunch of 20-25 y/o guys together and that is not how it works.
So , I would give most of the blame to those actually committing the violence, but those provoking it get a big share also. Trump also gets some blame as he has certainly egged this on. There aren’t enough police to stop it and some of the “violence” is pretty trivial stuff they should ignore anyway.
Steve
I blame Ted Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, et al. Import refuse from the Third World, and you’ll get a Third World country.
I think the police need to get out ahead of this stuff. As I say if people get the idea that they’re going to be attacked, they’ll start being prepared to defend themselves. That could lead to a tragedy.
Dave– According to reports I read the police had completely separated the two groups before the rally. After the rally a number of groups of young males left the Trump rally looking for fights. If true, I was not there and don’t know, it may just have surprised the police if the people they thought they were there to protect crossed their lines. Some o fate fights occurred well away from the site of the speech.
Steve