An urgent call from nature, the charges for which I had no choice but to accept, cut short my walk this morning, so after spending a good deal of time doing not much in particular, I opted to go for another walk later in the afternoon.
Shortly after I got home I decided on what I was going to make for dinner, which was a first for the week, as I’d been living on frozen leftovers for the past few days.
I had to walk over to Safeway to grab a few things for dinner, and it was while I was looking at the various kinds of food there that I found myself salivating and realized that I’d walked more than seven miles and, at that point, the contents of my stomach consisted of a protein shake, an apple, and a bowl of cereal.
Not surprisingly, I ended up buying a few more things than I’d originally intended.
As mentioned in my detailing of Saturday’s events, there was a rather large anti-war protest going on in DC. Evidently it was followed up the next day by a (much smaller) pro-war counter-protest on Sunday, which led to a counter-counter-protest on Monday, which led to Cindy Sheehan getting arrested.
Throughout the day during the Book Festival the assembled crowd was peppered with protesters. One of them, in fact, walked past the Fiction and Fantasy Pavilion during Neil Gaiman’s talk banging rather loudly on some kind of drum. Neil actually paused to make a reference to this, saying something like, “Now that’s no way to make friends. In fact, you’re likely to lose some of the support you do have.”
When we were heading into DC, Stacy commented on how she would like to run over any protesters who got in the way, not so much because of any sort of ideological opposition, but simply because they’re annoying and they get in the way.
This much is true. The drum-beating protester in particular was an annoyance.
Further, while I do believe that there is a place (and need) for acts of civil disobedience, I’m of the opinion that most protests are a waste of time, especially with this administration.
If there’s one thing that Dubya has made perfectly clear it’s that he doesn’t care, and you can’t make him care no matter how many signs with clever sayings you hold up (Though, simply for the sake of the “Simpsons” reference, I did like the one that said “Worst. President. Ever.”), or how hard you try to ruin his vacation.
Of course, whether the protests are pointless or annoying is sort of beside the point, and, quite honestly, I have difficulty faulting people who are willing to speak out on behalf of peaceful coexistence.
That isn’t to say I agree with every anti-war sentiment expressed, and I might not agree with their methods, but the basic idea, no matter how naïve it may be, is a good one.
For the most part, things really can be distilled down to “Peace, good; war, bad.”
To my mind, it doesn’t seem foolish to believe that the world is a better place when we’re not going around killing each other.
That isn’t to suggest that war is never justified, just that it’s never good.
Personally, I don’t believe that this war is justified. I think we’re pointlessly killing people and getting people killed for nothing. Do I believe this strongly enough to take to the streets in protest? No, because, as mentioned, the people behind the war don’t care if it’s justified or not.
One major complaint I do have about protesting involves the people who do fault protesters, saying that not blindly supporting our government amounts to treason, and is un-American.
Hmm…”Boston Tea Party,” anyone? Protesting is wholly American. It’s built into our national character. We’re a country that was founded on protest.
What really gets me is when soldiers find fault with the protests by saying “We fight to make sure they have the right to protest,” with the unspoken conclusion being, “so you should respect that and not protest.”
This argument is some of the worst logic I’ve ever encountered.
If you’re fighting for someone’s right to protest and he doesn’t exercise that right, what, then, are you fighting for? It seems to me that not protesting is considerably more disrespectful.
If people die for your freedom and you take that freedom for granted by blindly submitting to the will of others, then those people died for nothing.
Beyond that, soldiers need to realize that protesting a war does not equate to finding fault with them
My brother-in-law Dean is a soldier currently serving in Iraq as part of the conflict which I’ve already stated I find unjust. Does the fact that he’s working in support of what I view to be an unjust conflict mean that I think he’s a bad person? No, I think he’s a soldier doing his job.
Most reasonable people know that soldiers don’t make the decisions, and they don’t fault them for doing their jobs (and, no matter what kind of horrible things might be done to our captured soldiers, a soldier’s job does not include taking humiliating pictures of prisoners); protests are aimed at the decision-makers.
Is the grunt in the field the one who decided to go to war, or to continue the war? Of course not.
And even if some people do direct their dissatisfaction about the war against soldiers…tough.
If you can’t take a little criticism, maybe your skin isn’t quite thick enough for a job in your chosen profession. Note that it is a “chosen” profession, as service in the armed forces remains voluntary. You made an informed decision to become a soldier and should be able to bear the consequences of that decision.
Besides, if you can’t withstand having some patchouli-stinking, hackey sack-playing hippie call you a few names, how are you going to face up to an Iraqi insurgent trying to kill you?
It’s just a thought. If you’re a soldier and don’t like me exercising my right to voice my opinion…well, I guess you can just go ahead and stop fighting for it.
Anyway, in summary, protesting: irritating and mostly pointless, but a time-honored part of the American way of life.
Dubya: doesn’t care.
Soldiers: just doing their jobs.
On a much lighter and much less political note, go here. It’s a site I enjoy a great deal and visit quite frequently. Cracks me up every time.
(My favorite is at the bottom of page two, though there’s a lot to be said for the whole “Japanazi” thing.)
In any case, that’s probably going to do it for this entry.
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