Growing Up In A Decade of Uprisings

Imagine a 12 year-old in the year 2011…

They’re just beginning to notice current events and the first protest movement they see in realtime, day after day, is Occupy Wall Street (7,775 Arrests).  Televised and live images alike, show contentious illegal protests and unlawful occupations of shared public lands that go on for years, in dozens of major cities.

Then without skipping a beat, Black Lives Matter (1,509 Arrests) arrives in 2014 bringing a yearlong melee of riots, arson, and murder.  

At age17…

They see violence breakout multiple times, in an effort to stifle political campaigns.  Post Election Protests (245 Arrests) see mass violence.  Then the Inauguration (251 Arrests).

Later in 2017, multiple speaking engagements at UC Berkeley are met with violence.  One by one, the events get shutdown for fear of escalation.  Mob rule wins.       

At age 19… 

The last seven years have formed our teenager’s impression of what typical political protest looks like.  Assault, destruction, anger, and arrest all seem normal.  

In the years that follow, a stream of Portland Protests (117 Arrests) erupt into battles that see Antifa rage against police, journalists, pedestrians, rally-goers, and federal personnel.  

In the midst of an era where elected officials and cabinet officers are routinely harassed at restaurants and even at home with their families, the  Kavanaugh Hearings (300 Arrests) brought scenes of zealous Senate building takeovers and legislators literally chased down hallways by agitators.  

But at 22…

Our young adult experiences the most active year of protest violence yet.  In 2020, the George Floyd Protests (14,000 Arrests) would produce 552 riots, thousands of injuries, upwards of 47 fatalities, billions in destruction, and tens of millions in added police and military costs.  All, in the course of just a few months.  Almost nightly, throughout the summer, fire bombed police cars, hateful exchanges, savage beatings, unabated thievery, an array of explosions and blinding lasers, burning government buildings and businesses, destroyed public art, and the desecration of memorials and religious sites became commonplace.  And many in the public eye worked hard to justify the mob’s behavior because, ultimately, they were political allies—in fact, allies this whole time since before Occupy.

 

However, at age 23…

Mainstream media’s riot-apologists of years (and days) past, suddenly, became quite distraught by violent demonstrations when the Capital Protests (100+ Arrests) overtook parts of Capital Hill.  

Five died.  Scores were injured.  It was called an insurrection.  Perhaps that’s accurate, but then maybe the past decade was full of such insurrections.  

And the young adult we’ve tracked since youth?  When they and their peers have seen over 24,000 protest arrests for nine of their formative years, along with all the suffering and violence and disorder that accompanies that, does one more day of unrest even illicit a shrug from a generation so desensitized? 

After all, the media, education, big-business, and even sports signed off on this a long time ago.  So, why would young America think anything’s out of place?

Violence has become such a common fixture of progressive protest that it’s hard to say if contemporary society actually agrees its wrong.  Regardless, upcoming generations, racked with uncertainty and anxiety like never before, need expectations of healthy, civilized political expression—as opposed to the distressed protest dysfunction they’ve been raised with and encouraged to join.  Otherwise, one day we could have a citizenry that can’t properly handle any civic conflict and risks losing their democratic freedoms.