God, comparisons like this are so lazy! Yes, of course, protests have always received some degree of criticism. Frankly, they wouldn't be protests if they didn't. That doesn't mean protests should be above criticism. Or that some protests aren't, indeed, stupid and counterproductive.

And yes, now that you mention it, students who glorify Mao, some of whom are on those campuses, are ignorant and childish and are protesting, not because they possess a moral compass and care about the Palestinian people, but because they will take any opportunity to LARP as revolutionaries and have no interest in productive dialogue. Even something as simple as changing a word in an incendiary slogan.

I support peaceful protests in general, and I support protests against the war in Gaza specifically and the U.S. role in funding it. I just want those protests to be effective. And I find it frustrating when they aren't.