Opinion

WALSH: The Confused And Pointless Rage Of An Entitled Generation

   DailyWire.com
People walk past a store thats been looted during a riot following a peaceful rally expressing outrage over the death of George Floyd on May 30, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. Protests have erupted nationwide after Floyd died while in the custody of police in Minneapolis. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
Karen Ducey/Getty Images

What happens when you take a generation of people, carefully instill in them an overriding sense of entitlement, give them lives of immeasurable comfort and ease, grant them every right and liberty known to man, but then at the same time tell them, somehow, incredibly, that they are oppressed — and then finally, after decades of this sort of schizophrenic conditioning, grant them free reign to express their confused and unearned rage in whatever way they desire, including felony vandalism and assault? Well, we are now seeing the results of that social experiment, and they are as ugly as expected — the country witnessing an eruption in rioting and mayhem by members of what the Feds generally describe as “violent anarchist” groups.

Indeed, the entitlement of these left-wing “protesters” — many of whom are white and by the Left’s own terms “privileged” — is the most striking and inescapable thing about them. These are people who believe they actually have the God-given — or whoever-given — right to shut down roads, stop traffic, intimidate, harass, assault, burn, loot, and pillage, without consequence. They really believe they have this right. 

For example, DC activist Julia Clark posted a lengthy Twitter thread over the weekend complaining about cars that kept driving down roads that she and her comrades had decided to close. Of course they had no authority to close any roads at all, but that is a minor detail in Julia Clark’s mind. If Julia Clark decides that a road is closed, well then, damn it, it’s closed. And that’s all there is to it.

In the thread she says, “Tonight @concernedofDC led a siren/noise pollution protest where we blocked off streets in Georgetown. The police presence was heavy. As we blocked off streets we demanded that people turn around. This was a minor inconvenience for this affluent white neighborhood.”

The thought never entered Clark’s head that she has no right to do any of what she just described. She doesn’t seem to realize, or care, that other humans actually exist on the planet, and that just because she feels like it would be fun and worthwhile to shut down part of the city, that arrangement may not work for everyone else. By imposing herself on the public in this way, she makes herself into the aggressor and bad guy. None of this seems to occur to Clark or her friends.

She continues:

“As we blocked streets, certain drivers got annoyed and attempted to maneuver their way around us. This particular white woman tried to cut through a gas station. Me and a couple other protestors stood in front of her car and demanded she turn around. Instead she steps on the gas.”

The footage that Clark proudly shares shows the protesters laying on top of the car while the older woman inside appears terrified and confused. The woman tried to go around them, but the protesters were incensed that anyone — especially a white woman — would defy their instructions. They then jump on top of the moving vehicle while claiming that the vehicle they are climbing on is “running them over.”

The thread finally ends with Clark whining that the police didn’t come to her aid, while also insisting that the police are evil and should be defunded. She’s mad that they weren’t there for her, but she doesn’t want them to exist at all. This kind of thought process makes sense only in the mind of someone driven mad by their own sense of entitlement.

Episodes like this played out in cities across the country all weekend, just as they have for the past two months. The scene in Austin, Texas, began in a similar way but led to a tragically fatal conclusion. BLM protester Garrett Foster came out to demonstrate while carrying an AK-47. He can be seen on camera earlier in the evening gloating that the opposition “are too big of p*ssies to stop and do anything.” Shortly after speaking those words, he would be dead. It is still not clear exactly what happened. Video captures the mob of protesters marching through the street and then stopping to run towards and swarm a vehicle that tried to continue driving. Foster approached with the mob and soon shots rang out. The driver says he fired because Foster pointed the AK-47 at him. Foster’s fellow protesters dispute that claim.

Whether he pointed the weapon or not, approaching a vehicle in the middle of the road along with an angry mob, blocking it and not letting the driver leave the situation, is an act of aggression and not something that anyone has the right to do. Apparently this point needs to be stated, though it should be obvious: You have no right to block traffic, you have no right to swarm a vehicle, and if you do that with an AK-47 strapped to your body, you have given the driver of the car reason to fear for his life.

In a moment captured on video from earlier in the night, Foster states explicitly that he isn’t carrying the weapon out of any concern for his physical safety. According to him, the opposition are a bunch of wimps who “won’t do anything.” His statement suggests he felt he was invincible, untouchable. Tragically, he learned otherwise too late. I fear the stage is set now and there will be many more tragedies ahead. The mob is emboldened, the public is weary, and people are tired of being held hostage. It only gets uglier from here.

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