I think, no matter what the context, any “Bush is HItler” type signs completely destroy the message. Bush may be a terrible president, but I really can’t see any real similarities between his policies and those of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was neither a conservative nor a liberal, really, so given that it’s very hard to make any connection. I have to think it’s a bit offensive to Holocaust survivors, too. Especially those who live in America.

I like Josh’s optimism as it pertains to the democratic ideal that politicans are out of office in a short few years, but I’m fairly cynical as far as that goes. With Bush’s visit, we had both a centrist politician (Martin) and a (mostly) right-wing politician (Bush) laugh off protesters. And while it’s nice to think they will be replaced with politicians who take our views seriously, it’s been shown time and time again that when it comes to elections in Canadian and the United States, the student vote is completely irrelevant. They either don’t vote or vote for the idealistic candidate that has no chance of winning. Admittedly, part of this is due to our silly electoral system, but, still, the point remains. For all their political machinations, college students are nearly always ignored by mainstream candidates.

I liked Joe’s points, though obviously I’m not in agreement with some of his political views. I think the issue here is not the liberal/conservative divide, but rather the idealist/realist divide. It just so happens that a lot of idealists are left-wing. (I’d argue that a lot of libertarians are the idealists of the right, but that’s a discussion for antoher day). Idealism isn’t a bad thing, but I think it needs to be tempered with realism. No matter how many times they try, a bunch of people waving signs and smoking pot aren’t going to bring down the whole World Trade Organization. On the other hand, I think with a combination of smart advertisement, education *AND* public protesting, small battles could be won that would, in the end, incite changes in the WTO structure.

I’d like to see a more realist character to student activism. I think the “think globally, act locally” credo has been forgotten by many, who are attempting to act globally right out of the gate. There’s also, I think, a need for some compromise, moderation and listening to the other side. Recent issues, like, say, the Kyoto Accord, have shown some protesters to carry a remarkable ignorance to the facts.

I’m not saying we should get so realist that we become as cynical as my buddy Roger up there. I think clinging to the idealist notion that this generation CAN save the world is important. It’s just a matter of being realist in our actions when it comes to the actual saving.

Anyway, protesters are probably just as blind as the crotchety old farts who oppose them and grumble “you young kids!” and shake their canes.

As for Bush comming to Canada, it is unimportant to the whole protest thing. If he didn’t come, they would protest that too.

The fact that I, myself, am a conservative probably plays into this, especially since the vast, vast majority of people in my age group are liberal, so I already disagree with them just by nature. But I HAVE noticed, from as unbiased a standpoint as possible, that the select few conservatives have more well-founded beliefs than the seas of liberals. It seems to me that, whereas a conservative researches and determines WHY he is a conservative, a liberal spouts off phrases Michael Moore and those types say that really don’t even make any sense. (”Did you say ‘four more years?’ Because it sounded like ‘four more wars’!”) Also, there is a list of catchphrases that people tend to choose from when Bush-bashing (relating to economy, war, foreign and domestic policy, and so forth, despite the fact that very very few people who say “the economy sucks” can explain WHY it sucks, beyond “I heard it on TV”).

There is a reason for this that makes sense, and it’s NOT that all liberals are idiots. It’s just that, as there are significantly more liberals around, there is a significantly higher probability that there will be idiots in that demographic. Also, since they DO use every opportunity to spout anti-Bush propaganda (and that’s what it is, really), the idiots are much, much more exposed to those phrases and are able to follow suit more easily. I know (and am friends with) a lot of truly brilliant, insightful, persuasive liberals; however, the idiots, as with anything, make the whole lot of them look bad in my eyes.

And hey, check it out: the fact that Canadian students’ anti-Bush sentiments are more well-founded overall than Americans’ says a lot.

So yeah.

they wont do anything. because someone really bad will be slick enough to make people think that his/her administration is doing the right thing, whereas this leader is bad because he believes hes doing the right thing but clearly isnt.

people – college students, especially – have completely lost their voice by being so loud

i love that line