Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
College campuses have become the battlegrounds for the latest national spectacle—it’s like watching gladiators in the Colosseum, if the gladiators were armed with nothing but sharp tongues and cardboard signs. Let’s face it, every time there’s a college protest, it’s like someone laid out a picnic for every news outlet and detractor within a thousand-mile radius. Everyone’s invited! And like any good trap, it’s so ludicrously obvious that you’d think we’d learn. But no, we love falling right into it. Again. And again.
The recent rounds at Columbia—with the College Republicans stirring the pot—was like watching someone throw gasoline on a fire and then act surprised when things got hotter. Surprise! College kids have opinions, and they’re not afraid to shout them louder than my Aunt Rita at a family BBQ when she’s telling you how to properly grill a sausage.
Now, the new game is not just protesting, but protesting the protestors. It’s protests all the way down! This loop, this maddening spectacle, is perfect fodder for social media where the battles aren’t fought with logical arguments but with memes sharper than your grandma’s tongue at Thanksgiving.
The beauty—or horror, depending on your perspective—is that every side of the debate thinks it’s winning. The progressives think they’re defending civil liberties, the conservatives believe they’re holding down the fort of traditional values, and the media? Oh, the media is just ecstatic to have a circus that sells. The headlines practically write themselves, University Protests: Millennial Mayhem or Righteous Resistance?
Behind all this is a cadre of onlookers rubbing their hands with glee because nothing distracts from real issues like a good old fashioned shouting match at the academe. Forget about rising tuition fees, the crippling student debt, or the evaporating job market—let’s argue about whether someone’s choice of Halloween costume is an affront to civilization as we know it.
And here’s the kicker, the real irony of it all: these protests, they’re about communication, right? But who’s really listening? It seems like we’re just yelling to affirm our pre-existing beliefs, to perform our outrage in front of an audience. It’s like shouting into a hurricane and expecting the wind to apologize for messing up your hair.
Would you believe that in all this mess, there’s a lesson? Yeah, I was shocked too. It’s that if you don’t learn to navigate the trap, you’ll keep falling into it. That means understanding the other side, finding common ground (yes, it exists), and maybe, just maybe, trying to solve problems rather than just amplifying them.
So, as we gear up for the next round of protests—because let’s be honest, there’s always a next round—maybe we can all do a little better. Let’s try not to spring the trap by playing the same tired game. Let’s try something revolutionary—like having a conversation. It might just be crazy enough to work.
Or maybe, just maybe, we can all agree to skip the seminars on protest etiquette and go get a coffee instead. Discuss things like normal humans. Or is that just too rational?
Laugh, cry, or scream—it’s your choice, but remember this as you do: every time you think we’ve hit the peak of absurdity, college campuses are there to prove you wrong, raising the bar one protest sign at a time.
Source: The College Protests Were Part of a Perfect Trap. Everyone Fell Right Into It—Again.
