Radical Left Should Take Advice, Not Offense

Some preemptive thoughts for those radical activists instinctively sharpening their angry-letter-writing pencils after reading Scott Brooks’s Oct. 17 editorial [Red Ink: Fall: The season of cold temperatures and pointless student activism]:

Dismissing the editorial as crude cynicism ignores a vital point. The stereotype of the radical left – that activists’ passionate protests preach to the choir – is not only prevalent; it is fundamentally detrimental to the causes activists support. I’ve always hesitated to identify myself with the so-called radical left on account of the stereotype perpetuated by both the media and, unfortunately, activists themselves, whose rallies, marches, and sloganeering are often regarded by the majority as the ineffective, juvenile “disorganized shouting and insipid rhetoric” Brooks describes. For a group of people who take themselves pretty seriously, radical activists ought to do more to eradicate this stereotype if they want others to take them seriously too.

Although Brooks credits activists for their good intentions, he offers no prescription to remedy the ill effects of the radical left’s misdirected energy other than to “take the campus protest away from the radicals and bring it back to the student body” because “the only issues worth fighting for at BU are about BU.” I agree we ought to reserve campus protest for campus issues; however, that does not mean people can or should isolate themselves from city-wide, national, and international issues. As misguided, ineffective, and embarrassing as activists sometimes are, many are loud because they are honestly, intensely concerned with bigger issues, knowing full well that immediate change is sorely unrealistic. Protests regarding these issues may have “never had a chance of making an impact,” but does that mean that concern for major issues is entirely futile? Is there an appropriate avenue for their fervent determination or does the radical left just need to shut up?

I’m hoping it’s the former. Had I an adequate solution to the dilemma, I’d be drafting that right now instead of this letter. The most I can suggest is to start by fighting the stereotype of activists’ misdirected energy. I don’t believe Brooks intends to entirely discredit radical activism; indirectly, he is offering some fair advice to the radical left, a crash course in what not to do. Rather than discouraging activism, I hope this advice inspires people, especially the radical left, to reassess, with self-awareness, their goals as activists and whether or not they are actually making progress. The radical left needs to break through their stereotype and prove the media and the cynics wrong.

Marissa Brookes CAS 2005 617/352-2056 [email protected]