While one might be tempted to believe Freedom of Speech is still alive and well in the United States, there remains a vast ocean of uneasiness and confusion with respect to the massive anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian protests taking place across the campuses of some of America’s most elite and prestigious universities and colleges. What started as “peaceful protest” with respect to a specific issue quickly became an exercise in destruction of property, violence toward counter protestors and police, and espousing demands having little to do with the actual protest. This is a pattern which has consistently followed every major American protest from Occupy Wall Street to George Floyd.

Democracy is messy, and the right of protest is an inherent part of the democratic order. Protest is noisy and mobile, but in the current round of campus upheaval, it is evident that a number of factors are at play contributing to amping up the level of intensity connected to the disorder taking place. The college students participating in these so-called peaceful protests are well organized as evidenced by social media and zoom call communications. Their ranks, however, are seeded with professional agitators and advocates of the type of social disorganization typically advanced by promoters of today’s grievance culture. What is troubling is how the message of the protestors concerning the condemnation of Israel for its actions in Gaza is being conflated with the ever-expanding notion of America as authoritarian, evil, irredeemably racist, and unworthy of continued existence. It is hard to see the connection between the alleged atrocities of the IDF against Palestinians and the need for overthrowing white supremacist institutions, reparations for African Americans, forgiveness of student loan debt, embracing the Climate Change agenda, or supporting the aspirations of the LGBTQ+ community.

When protest denies the fundamental right of others to go about their lives in a peaceful, nonviolent manner, it is no longer protest. When protest becomes wanton destruction of property and the act of inflicting physical harm upon others, it is no longer protest. This action transcends the labels of Left or Right. Mob violence and police brutality have no place in America, but many of the protestors for Palestine are ignorant and contemptuous of the very freedoms that animate their actions. Many of the protestors are abysmally clueless with respect to the terrible price paid in blood for their right to dissent so long as it is respectful of the rights of others. What’s worse, the parental, political, and social leadership of the country seems equally as ignorant. Where are the braking forces of those in positions of moral responsibility concerning unequivocal condemnation of the widespread mayhem taking place across colleges and universities nationwide. Campus rot runs deep in America, but the young keffiyeh wrapped and face masked covered individuals making a mockery of the rights conferred upon them by dead generations will someday be the ones who are leading, shaping, developing and yes, governing. Do the images flashed nightly across news channels give any comforting reassurance that the state of American democracy is in safe hands? Humorously, the protestors implored the very institutions they are setting about destroying to provide food, water, blankets, and general provisions needed to sustain their efforts to continue the destruction. They have even gone so far as to insist on vegan products. Clearly, a highly pampered and entitled generation of students who are unwilling to show their faces while engaging in their version of protest will be no match for the harsh and unsentimental world they soon will be making their way in. God help us all.