Hit 12 different protest signs in one afternoon on campus

Last Tuesday I was walking across the quad at Arizona State and decided to count how many different causes had people tabling or yelling that day. By the time I got to the student union I was at 12. There was the usual stuff like climate action and abortion rights, but also a guy with a sign about banning homework and another group handing out flyers about a debate on whether AI should grade papers. The funny part was two tables right next to each other arguing the opposite sides of a campus carry gun policy, and neither group even looked at each other. I stopped to grab a free sticker from the free speech club and the guy running it told me they got approval for 15 spots that day but only 12 showed up. Has anyone else tried keeping a tally of how many protests you can spot in a single walk?

2 comments

2 Comments

max_hernandez272d ago

Ngl the free speech club tracking no-shows is the real story here. That says more about performative activism than any of the actual signs do. If you can't even bother to show up to your own protest slot, the cause can't be that urgent.

kaigibson1d ago

Hmm, I get the cynicism but people drop out for a million boring reasons though and that doesn't really change the message they were trying to get out there. Isn't showing up just one small part of the bigger picture of what actually gets done?