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[–] Gracchi 1 point 0 points (+1|-1) ago 

When we're talking about the individual "right" to use your power over others to manipulate them? Yeah, I'm not exactly interested in that right. Maybe my opinion here would change if we hadn't created permanent records for everyone that follow them around the rest of their lives and we hadn't made college stupidly expensive and almost a requirement to even get your foot in the door in any job area with an opportunity to grow, but that's the fucked up world these kid's predecessors have allowed to happen. So when I see quotes in articles like this it kinda pisses me off:

guess whatever they were protesting wasn’t worth getting expelled and arrested. Must not have actually been that important

Oh yeah, so for something to be important a kid has to throw away tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of work in a system they had no say whatsoever in creating and get a permanent black mark that anyone looking to hire them can pull up and use to discriminate against them for the rest of their lives. That's not fair. That's not the world I want to live in.

Do I agree with what these people are protesting for? No. But I'll defend them so that when some stupid fucking administrators actually imposes rules I think are worth standing up against that the kids affected can try to correct it without the university being able to just silence them and harm their future livelihoods.

Do you think a mob of people is the best form of governance?

I think that's a bit of a leap from a group of students with no power whatsoever. They don't rule shit. But though neither are optimal, I'll take decentralized mob rule over centralized authoritarian governance.

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[–] tomlinas ago 

I guess that's where we differ, then. I don't believe anyone had the right to use intimidation and threats as a platform to voice their grievances, and these students obviously do. When their threatening actions were met with consequences instead of the sackless "tolerance" offered at other schools, they decided (probably wisely) to go back to legal methods of protest.

But if you'd prefer decisions be made by whomever has the bigger, angrier mob, I suppose the students were the good guys who got screwed here.

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[–] Gracchi ago  (edited ago)

The people using real intimidation and threats here are the administrators of the school. They threatened the police and expulsion and I explained in my prior comment how serious those threats are. In this case the students aren't anywhere close to as threatening. They hold no power. They can't cause the administratoes to lose their education and get a pemanent black mark on their records that will last forever. They can just protest and cause minor inconveniences.