Protests seldom about “object of the protest” but about the protestors?

Protests seldom about “object of the protest” but about the protestors?

Protestors shut down a speaker at an event that is local to where I live. I am not familiar with the speaker or the protestors and their issues but I found this description of interest:

Protests are seldom really about the object of the protest. They are about the protesters, who seek attention for their organizations, their causes, their ideologies, and themselves. And they are about achieving a certain kind of emotional release, bordering on frenzy. The scheduled talk by Christina Hoff Sommers merely provided an opportunity for the protesters to show-off. The protesters showed no interest in disputing her ideas or opinions, except to snatch phrases to fuel their own chants.

Source: Another Incoherent Protest This Time by Law Students | Minding The Campus
I had to look this up – Christina Hoff Sommers is a former professor of philosophy and registered Democrat, who has written critiques of modern feminism. She was invited to speak at Lewis & Clark Law School, in Portland, Oregon. Protesters labeled her a “fascist” and shut down her planned speech.
The comment, above, that “Protests …. are about the protesters, who seek attention for their organizations, their causes, their ideologies, and themselves” speaks to the observation that a lot of what people share on social media is virtue signaling.
Much of what is shared on social media are angry screeds protesting against something yet these posts accomplish nothing other than to signal friends that we are part of a group.
From their posts on social media to their angry outbursts at protests, these actions accomplish little other than virtue signaling to similarly minded friends – while often disrupting enormous numbers of people (7 protestors blocked intersections, shutting down transportation in Seattle and causing miles long traffic backups lasting 6 hours – Seattle Police said they could nothing about it because the rights of the 7 were greater than the rights of tens of thousands of people.)
The entire point today is to be perpetually outraged! It no longer matters what you are outraged at – it is only important that you virtue signal! And be sure to post your outrage on your personal social media time line!
Further, consider the effect this has on the drive by victims of one’s personal outrage. Most of us cannot live our lives in a state of perpetual emotional anger – yet that is a side effect of the perpetual outrage culture.

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