PPI - Radically Pragmatic
  • Donate
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Locations
    • Careers
  • People
  • Projects
  • Our Work
  • Events
  • Donate

Our Work

Johnson for American Purpose: Caring Isn’t Enough

  • May 17, 2024
  • Jeremiah Johnson

By Jeremiah Johnson

Over the past few weeks, campus protests focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have received an inordinate amount of media attention. Images of the protests, news of university actions (or lack of action) against the protests, and debates about their legitimacy have been front-page news. And yet for all the breathless coverage, one thing seems to be missing: an explanation why any of this matters at all.

You may say that these events matter to the colleges impacted or to America’s domestic politics. But the protests are nominally about what’s happening in Gaza. And there’s very little reporting on how any of the protestors plan to make a difference there.

The truth is that they’re not going to make any difference to those enduring the conflict whatsoever. Furthermore, it’s not even clear whether the protestors realize that is supposed to be the goal. Helping Palestinians in Gaza no longer seems to be the point. It’s certainly worthwhile for college students to care about injustice in the world. But caring isn’t enough.

Read more in American Purpose.

Related Work

Feature  |  May 20, 2025

Ainsley for Re:State: The Case for Remaking the State

  • Claire Ainsley
Feature  |  May 14, 2025

Jacoby for Washington Monthly: Zelensky’s Big Istanbul Gamble

  • Tamar Jacoby
Feature  |  May 7, 2025

Jacoby for Washington Monthly: Poland’s Trump Conundrum—and Vice Versa

  • Tamar Jacoby
In the News  |  May 4, 2025

Ainsley in The New York Times: After 100 Years, Britain’s Two-Party Political System May Be Crumbling

  • Claire Ainsley
Press Release  |  April 29, 2025

New PPI Report Slams Trump’s First 100 Days of Foreign Policy as Most Disastrous in Modern History

  • Peter Juul
Publication  |  April 29, 2025

Donald Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad First Hundred Days On Foreign Policy

  • Peter Juul
  • Never miss an update:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
PPI Logo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Donate
  • Careers
  • © 2025 Progressive Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved.
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • |
  • Privacy Settings