Protest

Cargo Cults and Fun

In the 1940s villagers of the small island of Tana in the south pacific began a ritual cult around a mythical War World I service man: John Frum. This mythical man flew a plane delivering provisions and luxuries the likes of which the island’s inhabitants had never seen. A Myth grew around him. His purpose was to deliver the people of Tana from want, from work, he would bring them material and spiritual abundance. He was a white man who could fly, invisible to the white colonists, and to women. The people of Tana rejected the missionary’s churches and engaged in cult like drinking around the fire. They built idols to their new god in the shape of the magical device that he rode on: an airplane. Throughout World War I and World War II, hundreds of planes would fly over remote areas like the south pacific or over remote sections of Africa. Isolated from the technological magic of flying, these cults started across the world. Now referred to as cargo cults, many built idols out of the airplanes they saw. Some hoped the planes would fly as they had seen the white man’s do, others just saw them as an idol to be prayed to. They didn’t understand the concepts of aircraft or of physics, they thought the shape would be enough.

While difficult to accurately measure, there were some 11,000 BLM protests in 2020 across the United States. This includes handful of protestors waving flags at their local coffee shop and the violent riots that burned through cities like Minneapolis. Some occupied malls or grocery stores. Some did sit-ins at their university’s campus. Some protestors stood on highways blocking traffic for hours.  Their tactics were to disrupt daily life until the perceived injustices against black lives at the hands of law enforcement could be stopped.

The United States has a long history of protest movements. The civil rights movement achieved its legislative successes by peaceful demonstrations throughout the country. The civil disobedience in the Civil Rights movement were to demonstrate the unjust laws being applied to black citizens. The breaking of these laws highlighted them and forced a national conversation. Showing segregated shops and towns were wrong, by simply existing peacefully until the cops arrested them; while camera men captured the event. The civil disobedience was directed towards the laws or policies the activists wished to change. It was not breaking the law for the sake of breaking the law.

The protests of the Civil Rights movement worked because deep down most Americans knew segregation was wrong. It played off the underlying value system that was already present. It did not need to change the minds of Americans, simply force them to confront a status quo they usually swept under the rug. Mass arrests of well-dressed men and women sitting in diners or hotels made the issue front and center for all. The success of these demonstrations became the model by which all modern protest movements emulate.

BLM’s primary concerns were the unfair treatment of black Americans by police officers. They chose to protest for a number of high-profile black suspects killed during arrests. The movement emulated the Civil Rights playbook, performing sit-ins and trying to capture media attention as much as they could, but the civil disobedience was unconnected to the issues they were protesting. Stopping cars on the highway, baring shoppers from picking up diner, shutting down classes were not addressing police violence. They were simply a way to get the media to show up and take their picture. Often these peaceful protests would turn violent. Random acts of vandalism, arson, even murder plagued American cities throughout these demonstrations. In 2020, estimates from property damage alone range in the billions. The riots also claimed dozens of lives including retired officer David Dorn who was protecting his friend’s business from looters.

The bigger problem was the cases BLM chose to protest. Each one was highly controversial, often showing suspects resist arrest, sometimes even brandishing or firing weapons. Jacob Blake was seen on camera brandishing a box cutter as police attempted to stop him from entering a vehicle and kidnapping the children inside. Activists both online and in the media said he was shot in the back for no reason. These claims caused a multi-day riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Each of these cases caused intense arguments in the media and online. Millions poured over bodycam footage, frame by frame looking to justify or condemn police. Even in cases like Vonderrit Myers from St. Louis, who shot a gun at police, activists would fall back on the refrain, “Police should never kill a citizen.”

This was the biggest disconnect between the movement and the average citizen. Most people understand if a suspect poses a mortal danger to the police or others, that it is justified to use deadly force against them. There was no underlying principle being violated in these cases. Activists went as far as saying we should abolish the police and prisons. This fringe opinion is not even held by the black community they pretended to be a voice for. Only a handful of municipalities implemented these extreme ideas, they promptly reversed course when crime rates predicably spiked.

So, the protests were annoying at best and deadly at worst. They didn’t draw attention to the actual laws they wished to change. There was no underlying principle that resonated with America at large. What small political victories they did get were quickly reversed. So, it would stand to reason these progressive activists would change tactics, but they haven’t.

The last seven months since the elected government of Gaza launched an attack onto Israeli citizens killing some 1,200. Israel has been waging a war against the perpetrators ever since. This is a highly dense urban environment. The Hamas militants hide among their fellow countrymen, wearing no uniform, ensuring every fighting age man is looked at with suspicion, ensuring mosques, hospitals, and schools become battle grounds. Gazan civilians are being caught in the crossfire. A large number have been killed or maimed. Videos and photographs of these tragedies are plastered across social media. Progressives are demanding a ceasefire; some go further demanding Israel be abolished. They have led protests across the country, in the same manner they always have.

A viral video showed a handful of protesters wearing the Hamas kufiyahs, walking into a Starbucks in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They waved Palestinian flags and shouted over the megaphone “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free!” to a handful of mildly annoyed patrons and the usual looking Starbucks baristas. Ann Arbor’s last republican mayor left office in 2000. A survey of Starbucks employees found over 87% of political contributions go towards left wing causes. So why would protestors disrupt the day of people who almost certainly agree with her cause?

During the Furgeson riots I was working in a mall. Protestors came to do a “die-in” where they would lie on the ground motionless blocking the path to stores. The mall management decided they would close early. After a few hours the protesters got tired of laying in an empty mall and left. A friend of mine was one of the organizers of the protest. I asked him what he thought he was accomplishing by this. He said it was to make the rich feel financial pain for ignoring the problem of police violence. I told him that the chain stores in the mall probably won’t feel any impact of losing a day of business but all of the workers, including myself, just lost a shift of pay. He said this was necessary to send the message. We had reached his capacity for critical thought.

Some on the progressive side are beginning to realize their tactics don’t seem to be changing any minds. One post on X with over 50k likes said, “Shutting down traffic won’t make anyone sympathize with you cause… Bitch if 15,000 murdered children doesn’t make you “sympathize” with the “cause” nothing I do is going to make you.” If protests aren’t meant to change minds, then what are they for?

One user said, “If you’re talking about it, it worked.” Perhaps a sound tactic if the issue is niche or not well-known, but the Gaza conflict has been plastered across every headline for the last seven months. It feels very reminiscent of the very false phrase “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Seemingly never considering what being stuck in traffic would do for support of your cause.

Like the BLM riots, the pro-Palestine movement is largely unpopular with the American people. Most view Hamas as the aggressors, even if they wish the war to come to an end, and even if they think the Israeli army has gone too far. The protests are by their own activists’ descriptions are unpersuasive, poorly directed, and do not resonate with the American people at large, so why are the happening?

First and foremost, it’s fun. It’s fun to break the rules, it’s fun to get into a crowd with your peers and shout, it’s fun to destroy things, to paint graffiti, it’s fun to say “fuck you” to the man, it’s even fun to throw a punch at a police officer. A viral video of a young girl being asked to explain the protest of NYU fumbles for an answer, ultimately saying “I don’t know I should get more educated…” The irony of protesting a university and saying that aside, it shows she doesn’t have a very strong ideological commitment to the cause. She may say, “From the river to the sea,” but she doesn’t know the name of that river or sea. She’s there because her friends are. She’s there because she’s having fun. Maybe they’ll block a road, maybe they’ll occupy a building, either way she’s with her friends and everyone is giving her so much attention.

Narcissism or “main character syndrome” runs rampant among these protestors. The very act of demanding strangers prioritize your personal political issues of the day is deeply self-centered. The protests bring attention, cameras, international news crews that show you on tv across the world. Theatrics abound, as some wear their graduation robes, or a fine dress. Each trying to be immortalized in the history books as “one of the good guys.” One user on X wrote how she thought she was being harassed and possibly targeted for assassination for her heroic activism. How important she must be to warrant such high-level discussions. Behind many of the chants you can hear the unmistakable plea, “Pay attention to me.”

Finally, there are the true believers. The ones who adhere to the progressive religion (PoV) and are protesting the patron devil: Colonialism. Their hatred of Israel is incidental. Their true ire is for the West and her people. It’s a hatred of any country perceived to be white. They’re called oppressive, imperial, colonial. They support land back movements in the United States (what they call Turtle Island due to some very dodgy anthropology). When they say from the river to the sea, they truly mean it, and they desire all of the violence and ethnic cleansing that would entail.

Many in this group would call themselves feminists and atheists, but video has shown them participating in Islamic prayers; women with head covered and behind the men. Islam is not of the West, and therefore it is good. All other values, peace, prohibition of killing innocents, women’s and gay rights, anti-religion, anti-genocide, anti-nationalism are thrown out the door if it’s in-service to being anti-western. De-colonization, revolution, intifada these are calls for the utmost racial violence. They protest because they want to harm those who oppose them. They want to ruin your day for being. Had they the power to do more than be an annoyance they would use it. You will find them at all of the progressive protests, BLM, occupy, Palestine, they are the agitators who call for revolution. They will be there for next year’s cause, and the next, and the next using the same tactics.

Modern progressives look to the Civil Rights victories with a sense of nostalgia and envy. They try to emulate the movement for whichever cause is in vogue, but like the tribesman of Tana they are a cargo cult. They try to copy the shape of things without the function. They think these movements will bring them spiritual and material riches. They are just as foolish as the Tana people, but a great deal more destructive.