It's not the protesters so much I'm comparing. It's the way the actions of some of them get used to damage the issue about which they are protesting.

There's often tribalism creeps into issues like this. "If those people are for it, I have to be against it. If these people are against it, I'm obviously with them." Not all issues fall into neat packages like that. I never expect to find many people, or even any, with whom I'd be on the same side about every issue.