I used to have this stance as well.

But my opinion on the situation changed when I noticed the ways that one class is waging war on the other classes in my country. There is real damage being done, real violence being perpetrated. Wage theft, poisoning the environment, suppressing voting and certain kinds of speech. Limited access to healthcare, limited access to education, limited access to the jobs that confer greater respect or mobility. Some people are living in a kind of hell and dying earlier because of it.

And those doing the violence are usually protected from the consequences of their actions by others in society saying just what you’ve said. “It’s okay to protest, but don’t inconvenience anyone while doing it”. “It’s theft to deny me the use of the road that you’re blocking with the protest or the building that you’re protesting in front of”.

I used to think that protests where everyone remained polite were the only ones I could respect. Other kinds of protests, where people were being disruptive were just hooligans acting out. I used to say those things.

Maybe this way of thinking helps to preserve in some small way the politeness of society. I doubt it’s effective at doing that in a meaningful way. And if there is a class of people who are oppressing another class, ending that oppression would be the most effective way of increasing the politeness of society as a whole, even if certain kinds of disruption was needed to get there.

One thing that I do know is true is that saying these things does help the bully class to continue doing what they are doing. They aren’t going to stop just because someone asked nicely. They are being protected by words like this. And that’s not okay.

This is a really interesting article. Thank you!

I’ll totally agree that the author did not do a great job of stating their thesis plainly. However, I think that the article isn’t incoherent. The author is writing about why they are surprised and disappointed that France and the Olympics gave Tom Cruise a global spotlight. They claim he’s too much in bed with Scientology to make supporting him possible without supporting them. And they claim that France and french media should know better than to support Scientology.

I think it’s a reasonable objection and I’m glad someone is objecting. Although, again, I agree that the article could have benefited from having that thesis clearly written from the start.

That is incredibly cute! Thanks

I love it!

Right?! So excited for season Two and so excited that we’ll get to see a proper (planned) ending to the series instead of a slow fading away before cancellation.

Well done! I really like the colours and the pattern. Does the bottom hem have a sawtooth kind of edge? Is it made of diamonds or did you fill in the gaps with triangles?

That is super cute! Is it green because sloths sometimes play host to algae?