Reporter: Do you support the Viet Cong?
Newton: Of course we support the Vietnamese people. Matter of fact–
Reporter: *Viet Cong
Newton: Oh. The Vietnamese people don't know what the word means and they've never used the word, so I don't know what it means.
Not going to speak for anyone else, but this exchange reflects how I view the issue of our "violent protests". It's a distractive tactic that attempt to keep violence at the centre of the conversation around the protests as opposed to what the protesters are saying. Discussing how we should address the scenario only entrenches the idea that these are not peaceful protests and concedes that they are a problem that needs to be "solved".
It's a variation of stupid playground trolling where you ask your friend something like "out of all of the guys you kissed, how many of them were gay?" to which they'll quickly respond "none of them!" and you're like lol so you've kissed dudes?
P.s. Property damage is not violence so burn it all down indeed.
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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.
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