@SeanAloysiusOBrien Isn’t some of it simply people’s innate fairy tale sense of trying to establish order or at least sense in the middle of chaos and evil by finding a narrative with named monsters to blame?
If it is just simple monsters, it feels easier to defeat them, find a happy ending.
Even if you know it is systemic issues to eventually deal with, having monsters to scapegoat is a pressure valve isn’t it?
@SeanAloysiusOBrien There’s awful people looking to demonize the protestors themselves, pressuring protestors to be monsters; 3rd and 4th parties and “outsiders”/“professional anarchists” to blame form a pressure release valve. Even if the reality is always going to be a muddled and nuanced ugly middle, it’s probably useful to have a release valve?
(Especially when part of the protests themselves revolve around a sordid history of demonization?)