I was watching a video today of Fox News "coverage" of protesters in Denver. It got me thinking, and there's some things I realize that I want to say to some form of an audience. Permit me a moment of indulgence as I write this diary entry.
The largest visible banner in the procession read "FISA = Fascism." While I agree with them that current "intelligence activities" border on fascistic, I was struck by the thought that what I was witnessing would do nothing to improve the situation. Thousands of smart, energetic, committed people, most of them my age (in college), working together, accomplished nothing today.
Instead of making phone calls or planning events that would help pro-civil-liberties candidates or working to convince current officials to change their policies, thousands of committed young people, some probably my friends, most of whom I agree with, alienated their parents and grandparents and, frankly, hurt their own cause.
I'm not against protesting in the least. Think back to the May protests around immigration, SOS Racisme in France in 83, marches for civil rights and against Vietnam. Mass mobilization can do great things; it just needs to be organized, to have a clear goal, to have leaders and spokesmen and some sense of purpose and order. That was the first problem I had: the group had none of these things. Anti-FISA banners, anti Iraq, anti Iran, anti torture, anti a whole bunch of things. All noble causes, none advanced today.
I'm not against protesting, I'm against selfishness. That's what the march was today: selfish. People out to "do something," to protest for its own sake, to feel good. It's difficult to find the words to do my feelings justice here: I see it as the radical's path of least resistance. It's easier to simply march than to organize, to create structure. It's so easy to scream for an hour, going home satisfied now that you've "done your part" and not notice that the status quo has not moved one iota. It's easy, and it'll kill everything you stand for; since that's also everything I stand for, I'm rather perturbed by it.
I guess my problem stems from my realism. I'd rather win and push forwards inadequate reforms than lose backing everything I want. Feel free to disagree with me on this point. I'll acknowledge that I have points where I refuse to bend, lines I will not cross. I'd still rather bend where I'm willing to and in doing so "win" than refuse to bend and be broken instead.
I'm a college kid. I protest when I feel that good can come from it. I try to work in other ways to bring about the change that simply mobilizing won't. I just get frustrated when things like this happen, when people seek to satisfy their need to "do something" than to, you know, actually work at improving things. Thanks for indulging me.