at some point you have to take a stand.
or you get the shaft.
Or to rephrase that:
you have a job.
and maybe by the grace of being a working stiff
you did not lose a lot in material goods.
but at one point the BS hits the fan with a vengeance....
I think we are at the point right now.
Allow me to point out to the both of you that the rally was about education, not jobs. The cost of education at UC Davis is twice what it was 6 years ago, and will roughly double again in the next 6 years.
My problem with this group's reaction (other than going from a legal protest to an illegal protest needlessly) is they publicly state that education should be
free. How they figure a state government that is BILLIONS of dollars in the hole can possibly provide free education is beyond me. This group of students has a legitimate beef, I think, But they took it out of hand, and the protests are not going to help change the situation. All they do is raise protest on other side.
Now some of the problem
can be alleviated by looking for sponsors, scholarships, and looking at ways to help reduce spending in manners that won't cripple services. Ramping up their waste reduction program (which they are working on), Finding more efficient ways to do business, etc. There are many ways that can be done to reduce cost.
But it will mean some decreased services. It will still mean that tuition increases. But focused efforts could stem the tide.
All the protesting is doing is costing more, and making a bad situation worse. It is vilifying administrators and police, both of whom are also constantly trying to maximixe the use of fewer and fewer resources, finances, and personnel, and creating a situation they will be increasingly worse.
And the ***** of it is that the rates aren't set at UC Davis. They are set by the University of California Board of Regents. If they started a letter writing campaign to the office of the President of the Board of Regents, protested outside of where they meet, or better yet, flooded every board meeting (which are open to the public-I checked) to capacity and spoke repeatedly about the situation, you would likely see a more effective resolution. Not a perfect one, because perfect is unattainable, but one that might be more workable.
But here is the problem with having aligned themselves with the Occupy movement: That movement is not seeking mere change, it is seeking revolution. From the standpoint of revolution, there is no working with administrators. Only their usurpation. And we are seeing in the videos that the tactics are indeed focused on revolution, not mere change. This is a highly publicized protest,which means it is tough for either side to lie, and frankly, both have made the attempt.
In short, no matter how well the cops could have or did perform, based on the mindset of the protesters, they would have been painted negatively
regardless of the outcome.
