public protest

^{Bruce Chapman
June 26, 2019
Citizen Leadership}

We Need to Bring Back Real Debates in America

_{Bruce Chapman
June 26, 2019
Citizen Leadership}

The televised Democratic presidential sound byte pageants will not be true debates by any realistic standard. They are reminiscent of the 2016 Republican primaries that started with 16 candidates preening on a platform and enduring “gotcha” questions by reporters/moderators trying to get themselves into the news story. Until the nominee field narrows, these shows are almost a parody of real debates in the Lincoln-Douglas or Oxford Union manner. That’s too bad. We need to bring back real debates in America, and not just among candidates. Name the issue (climate change, foreign interference in our elections, abortion, immigration, tariffs, privacy online, the future of artificial intelligence, the meaning of “free speech,” whatever): Americans are badly divided. Since media and politicians often operate in inward-looking communities, they tend to ignore or distort views that differ from their own. In this environment, mere calls for greater civility don’t work. What can work is facing issues straight on and together. Read More ›

About 300 Stanford students converged on downtown Palo Alto today and briefly shut down University Avenue with a die-in, to protest the unjust decision in Ferguson.

^{Wesley J. Smith
December 12, 2014
Human Exceptionalism}

Protesting for Disruption’s Sake

_{Wesley J. Smith
December 12, 2014
Human Exceptionalism}

Disruption can be an effective protest tactic if limited and carefully targeted. But disruption seems to have been the ultimate purpose of the recent “Ferguson” eruptions — and I am referring not to the rioters but to the nonviolent marchers who closed down bridges, stopped trains, and blocked traffic. We all know why the protesters are upset. Grand juries refused Read More ›