As a neophyte graduate student in history in the late 1990s, I once asked a veteran professor how he managed to focus on grad school during the campus protests of the Vietnam Era. “Easy,” he replied. “You went to the library.” In other words, the protesters might take themselves seriously, but that does not oblige you to do the same. Without wishing them harm, in fact, you might even quietly chuckle when they receive what looks like a mild comeuppance. At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, a Georgia state trooper took down a protester with a linebacker-style form tackle that dr…
