I don't really pay attention to protesting news anymore

I have kind of "checked out" as far as staying on top of politics is concerned because it just gets to be too overwhelming. No matter what anyone does some other group has a problem with it and at this point I don't think that the people who are protesting are really even sure why they are protesting: I think they are just there to cause mayhem and are kind of doing what they are told by whatever social media and / or news that they follow.

The videos I have seen of people harassing the hell out of various law enforcement individuals are hard on the ears and someone, somewhere, decided that these things need to be as loud as possible.

One thing I don't like is that when the officers start to use force it seems that everyone involved wants to play the victim even though in most of these cases if you see the unedited version of what went down, the police were a lot nicer to them than I am sure they wanted to be.

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I have been involved in a protest exactly one time in my life and I was something like 5 or 6 years old. It was a pro-life rally and me and my siblings had no choice but to go along. My parents weren't using us as shields against pepper spray and police batons because the protest was genuinely peaceful. It was just a large group of people marching with signs to the capital building and then there was a few speeches by some important people I guess... then we all went and got some donuts and coffee or chocky milk for me, and then we went home.

These days, it seems like protests turn violent by default and when I see that, I lose almost all sense of sympathy for the people that end up getting hurt.

I just don't understand what they think they are going to accomplish and the various levels of government seem to be actively trying to mess up the other one as well. I don't feel like the United States is very "united" right now and honestly, I don't think it really ever will be again. Politics has become so dirty that the manipulation of the masses is far more effective and easy than actually attempting to do what is best for the greatest number of people.

I do know that we don't have any violent protest where I live and the closest thing we get to it is near college campuses in Raleigh or Charlotte, and those are very sedate compared to what we are seeing in a lot of places such as LA right now.

I really can't understand the whole wrecking of your own city as a form of protest though either. At some point and in an indirect way, the people who are wrecking this stuff are going to have to end up paying for it.

Where I live is predominantly conservative so maybe I am just a bit out of touch. But we are all very aware of the liberals who live in our neighborhoods and work with us and shop with us and we aren't at ends with them: We aren't slashing their tires or trying to get them fired for having a different world view than we do and they aren't trying to do the opposite in return either.

I recall the LA riots over Rodney King all those years ago and how Rodney himself said "can't we all just get along?"

I'd really like to see that. The violence isn't going to solve anything and is only going to invite more violence especially when we are dealing with someone like Trump who definitely isn't going to back down.

I get sick and tired of seeing all the talking heads lie and try to justify what is going on and am reminded of the "fiery, but mostly peaceful" protest that became a meme so fast and deservedly so.

In the meantime I watch very little of this and am just happy that I don't live in a place like that. It must be an absolute nightmare to be in a place where a bunch of people are just going to take over a highway and the police don't do anything about it.

To the people out there protesting: I really don't understand what you are hoping to accomplish, but I also can't imagine any scenario where the current tactics are actually going to work.