posted
Some friends got in touch with me a few days ago and asked me to come to a protest with them today.
So, after school today, I piled three of my buddies (one of whom is a staunch Bush-supporting Republican in the NJROTC) down to Atlanta to stand in front of the CNN center and protest the War in Iraq.
I support the War in Iraq, which made it all the more interesting...
I was issued a styrofoam coffin draped in black cloth with the sign, "Bush lied / GIs died" on it, and began heading up the march down Peachtree Street through the notorious Atlanta rush-hour traffic chanting such catch tunes as:
"No War! No Way! No more fascist USA!"
"Occupation is a crime / From Iraq to Palestine!"
"No more blood for Oil / US off Iraqi Soil!"
Meanwhile, my dear Republican friend was carrying a sign which read "War: The ignorant against the Innocent" and was busily dodging AP News photographers and reporters lest her face wind up plastered all over the AJC.
Public opinion was the most interesting bit...lots of thumb's ups, one-finger salutes, horn honking in support, and even one old lady with her fingers in her ears, saying (and I quote): "Neener neener nah nah...I can't hear you, la la la la..." and another fellow in Hooter's with both middle fingers plastered to the window.
We marched down to the Sheraton Hotel, where a few Halliburton honchos were staying and yelled outside of their for about a half hour, and then turned around and walked back, where we heard a few speakers mumble on about Iraq.
My vote for all time hilarious:
The Protest Warriors marching in front of us, with signs saying, "End the Hippie Invasion of Atlanta" and "You're only a Democrat as long as your single, childless, and reliant on your parents."
They got in a protest contest with a few of the anti-war fellows; they stood about three feet from each other and simply stared silenly. I felt like I was watching the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
The ultimate result for a me was the realization of the absolute futility of small-scale protest. Unless you're pulling a Gandhi, protest does nothing but make people aware that your cause exists. It does nothing to sway people to your cause, and, unless you repeat it every week or so, they easily forget that it ever occurred.
Posts: 515 | Registered: Mar 2004
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But if you were there, there could have concievably only a few real supporters in key positions, the rest just Republicans out for the experience. That's actually kind of funny.
...It's an interesting idea. The look of support without faith. Experimental investigation of the other side, dipping your toes in the enemy's bathwater. Very interesting.
I'm torn between it being a good thing and it being a bad thing. If you give the appearance of supporting something, when actually you don't it's like an atheist going to church every Sunday and praying alongside the faithful. An interesting ethical dilemma:
Is it good that you are open to investigating the otherside, or bad that you are decieving the others?
posted
If I was there to mock, degrade, and somehow hinder their efforts, I would consider it wrong.
But I understand their position and reasoning, and wondered what it was like to stand out there on the cold street corner defending your view. I wanted to know what kind of people they were, and what people went through to announce their views.
It was rather what I expected -- some utter loonies, some vary rational people, and everything in-between: a cross-section of America.
And I was open to changing my mind, but I didn't hear anything to convincing. Then again, most protests generally are style over substance...a sound bite rather than a well-supported lecture.
Posts: 515 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I know you were there to be a rational explorer into uncharted territory. That's what makes it so interesting.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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