Opinion | Four key areas where Hong Kong’s protest movement has come up short

First, violent attacks on symbols of governmental authority have only occurred during revolutions in modern history, especially when extreme economic depression hits or a majority is literally starving. This is because revolutions are a last resort for political change, since they heavily damage the authority of the government thereafter. The siege of Hong Kong’s legislature is a strategy disproportionate to the issue at hand – one bill – and potentially lays the foundation for a tyranny of the masses down the road: when a large group exerts force for any issue, the government will capitulate to their demands. This sets a precedent for potentially passing bills that disfavour minorities in the future, as with President Donald Trump’s move to ban Muslims from entering the US in 2017.

Second, the protests have enlisted minors, who were even permitted to skip classes by the Professional Teachers’ Union. As a colleague told me, her son was urged to attend the protest by his teachers at a New Territories school, being permitted to skip a test and automatically assigned a passing grade – all of which was done without parental consent or even notification.

Decades of social science research warns that abandoning education mortgages away our future. Minors are too vulnerable in every way and not knowledgeable enough of how political processes work to be enlisted into contentious issues.

Allowing minors to join the protests is telling of a steadfast commitment to ideology, which will ultimately create rifts in families and weaken the intellectual rigour and political moderation that define a strong public sphere.