Guest Post by Joe Messina

Let me start by saying, the 1st Amendment is a wonderful thing. It allows us to publicly protest against things our government or companies do that we feel are against our laws or hurt people who can’t stand up for themselves or that we simply feel are just plain wrong. You get the right to do that because of a group of men who protested the way the colonies were being treated by the King of England (the short explanation). The First Amendment says we have the right to free speech but not the right to riot when we don’t get what we want.

We have seen protests all through the years. My first memories were of the Vietnam War protests. I remember actually seeing mostly young people in the streets walking and chanting against the war. Very cool! And quite legal. I remember seeing videos about the Martin Luther King, Jr. marches for true black equality. In these I did see violence, mostly against protesters by the authorities. Very wrong. The protesters did not riot.

Over the years, the only real protests we have seen is when the union feels they aren’t getting paid enough and protest a business. These are usually peaceful with few violent outbreaks.

But now we have taken protesting to a whole new height. “PRIOTING” That’s what I call it now. You see these people now who feel that they can riot under the guise of a protest. A protest is defined as;

the act of objecting or a gesture of disapproval <resigned in protest>; especially: a usually organized public demonstration of disapproval,  a complaint, objection, or display of unwillingness usually to an idea or a course of action <went under protest> or  an objection made to an official or a governing body of a sport.

That’s pretty simple to understand. And not easily confused with a riot which is defined as:

a situation in which a large group of people behave in a violent and uncontrolled way.

Based on what I’ve seen, most of these protests are really riots. We have watched over the recent years many “protests” break out because a conservative speaker comes to a school campus to speak to students, a display for the sanctity of life is presented on a campus, supporters of illegal immigrants decide authorities should ignore the law, and now… the constitutionally elected president is not the one they want.

Every one of these protests turns into a PRIOT because most of these people missed their anger management class and decided if they don’t get what they want that gives them the right to be violent. And please don’t give me the liberal BS that these people are frustrated and feel the system didn’t work for them. BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Guess what? Both times Barack Obama was elected it didn’t work for me either. NONE of us went to the streets to protest the election. There were some protests for recounts based on perceived voter fraud, but it was an actual protest. People weren’t beaten because of who they voted for. Police cars weren’t vandalized and CVS pharmacies weren’t burn down. It was simply a sign-carrying, bullhorn-screaming protest.

The generation you see out there PRIOTing is a generation of, “it’s all about me, I didn’t get mine, Mommy come save me, spoiled brats.” These were the kids you saw throwing a tantrum in the supermarket until their parent gave them the candy bar or cereal or doll they were pitching a fit about.

These are the kids whose parents pressured sports groups and school boards to stop taking scores, no outs in baseball, everyone gets a trophy, everyone gets a turn at bat, football coaches shouldn’t raise their voices at the kids, and dodgeball is too nasty of a sport, and not because the ball hurts when it hits you, but because it singles out a certain child to be hit with the ball. Those kids are now referred to as “snowflakes.” These are the kids who require a trigger warning before they take a class or safe rooms with stuffed animals and puppies so they can avoid any kind of negativity on campus.

These are the “snowflakes” who asked Harvard Law to remove references of rape from one of the criminal classes because it made some of the females feel uncomfortable. Imagine the court proceeding “I’m sorry your Honor, I would love to help my client, but I was in the safe room when the rape statutes were taught.”

You / We / Me (not really me) have raised a group of young people who can’t handle any adversity. If it’s too hard then stop and let Mommy fix it. These young ones feel like nothing should make them or anyone around them feel bad. Not only is that impossible to achieve here on planet earth (unless you’re under the influence of acid), BUT you parents have set your kids up for a life of disappointment. Teach them not to riot every time they don’t get their way.

They will NOT always be “The One.” Someone else in school will get a higher mark. Someone else will beat them in the 100 meter race. Someone else will score more points than them. Someone else will get the internship to the prestigious law school. Someone else will do it better. Someone else will become King or Queen of the prom. Someone else will be stronger, be faster than your little “snowflake” and that’s OK!

It’s OK for them to lose. It’s OK for them to feel bad. Life will be OK! And they will be the better for it.

America pay attention… do the right thing!

Joe Messina’s radio show The Real Side can be heard daily across the airwaves and over the internet on several stations. He has loyal listeners in 42 states and 38 countries, and the list keeps growing (you can listen live M-F between 9PM and 12AM Eastern by Clicking Here). Joe also runs The Real Side website where you can read conservative commentary from him and his engaging contributors.