That might be true, but I don't think Palestine weighs on most Americans minds. Barring some major regional blow-up, I don't think it ever will.
You're probably right.
I was responding to the comments earlier that they were "doing it wrong" and wouldn't be remembered positively like the earlier protesters.
I wanted to point out that if these protests
do end up linked to some shift in policy and are viewed as having accomplished something, then the memory of them will be edited to be positive - just like happened in the past.
I believe polling picked up that people were growingly concerned about the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement even if they had not formulated positive opinions of the protests themselves.
True.
But those things weren't separate.
Opinion changed over time and the protests started long before the population's opinion shifted.
It was all part of many things going on and feeding into each other.
Just look at US opinion towards Israel and Palestine. It isn't where it was 20 years ago.
The protests are part of this back and forth of public opinion.
During the late 1960s, you had politicians promising to end the war soon without losing face. That of course was palatable to many voters, but totally unrealistic. Add to that, most Americans had no understanding of the history of Vietnam. The U.S. govt. and military was also feeding the public a steady diet of misinformation.
Not very different than what is going on now.
There are people promising to end the war, there are people promising it would never happen, and there is a wild amount of misinformation about what is going on there.
The Civil Rights movement saw victories in many court actions and Congressional legislation throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It wasn't one big slam dunk, but a long battle with White reactionaries.
Exactly my point.
Then I could add that MLK had to be very careful dealing with the issue of Vietnam. He did not come out against the war until 1967. LBJ publicly fell on the sword for his Administration's failings a year later. And yet, I have older relatives who still think to this day we should have bombed more and invaded Hanoi. Yikes!
Again - very much like now.
MLK, of course, started to lose popularity after the Civil Rights Act was passed, even before he came out against Vietnam.
The main point is I don't think Palestine will ever reach America's collective consciousness like the above-mentioned protests.
I think it is very possible you are right.
