Ignorance is glib

Ever since American Sniper was first published, people have come out of the woodwork to use it to push their own agendas and garner their own fifteen seconds of fame. The latest are a tiny group of University of Michigan students who protested the movie's showing on campus, claiming all manner of things that don't happen in the movie. (One story on the controversy is here.)

But why should we expect college students to act any differently than others out to promote themselves rather than truly understand the world?

It's more productive to reason with a two-year-old throwing a tantrum in the supermarket candy aisle than reason with most of the people who see Sniper as their ticket to imagined power or at least publicity. I would, however, suggest that people who want to protest war actually take the time to study what they are protesting. If they want to change minds, they have to make arguments that cannot be easily dismissed or scoffed at.

But then again, that assumes they are genuinely interested in the issue, as opposed to their own self-aggrandizement.