ok. i am not saying usians couldn’t learn a thing or two from the french example, or that we have anything approaching a robust culture of protest and anti-authoritarianism.
but.
if an analysis of why french protests Get Shit Done compared to the us ends at “they’re just more serious about protesting, americans are complacent” and doesn’t incorporate, for example, police, police funding, and police violence per capita; then the analysis is either lazy or dishonest.
like we can do better and we absolutely need to do better. but we’re also like six times more likely to be executed in the street by a cop than someone in france. and that cop is also more likely to be carrying a machine gun or driving a fucking tank
that feels relevant