I've been popping in and out of KOS and other blogs the last few days, ever since I heard the largest protest march on Washington D.C. in 35 years and the 3rd most powerful hurricane in history were both going to make landfall on Saturday. I expected cataclysm and apocalypse, or at least a fairly ripping news day. Instead, Rita failed to live up to her press (thank Almighty God!) and the protest? It failed to even
make the press (Cheney's knee surgery beat out the march on every level, from what I could tell), and it's a good thing too. Okay, okay, we're all getting damn tired of discussing A.N.S.W.E.R.'s apparent blind-siding of American social dissent but I beg you to indulge me a little further. I read, and almost cheered, Meteor Blades "Quit Your Bellyachin" diary but ultimately, I vehemently disagreed with it. Yes, I get it! I should put my money where my mouth is and get off my ass; if I don't want A.N.S.W.E.R. speaking for me, I should get my own 500K+ march going, it's a free country! Okay, I get it! But...
But, MB, I invite you to participate in the real world for a moment. First off, to suggest that it's okay for an organization to hijack a cause and replace it with their own agenda simply because they're willing to put the man-hours of effort into it is ludicrous, not to mention extremely dangerous... I'm certain there are any number of neo-nazi groups who'd be thrilled to hear they could capture the hearts and minds of the American Left just by wearing wigs until the rally gets going. Second, we're talking about making change on a national level, about appealing to, and hopefully motivating, 300+ million Americans who embrace every conceivable political concept there is to embrace and who, let's face it, are not necessarily the most well-informed populace on the planet. You
don't achieve this by mixing metaphors. You
don't achieve this by clouding the issue. You
don't achieve this by drawing tenuous-at-best connections between issues (or need I remind you of the fucked up equation that got us into this in the first place, i.e. Iraq + 911 = WMD = WWIII).
You do achieve this by issuing one very simple statement with one voice : STOP THE GODDAMN FUCKING WAR, ASSHOLES, BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!!!
Okay, say it with me, brothers and sisters : STOP THE GODDAMN FUCKING WAR, ASSHOLES, BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!!! STOP THE GODDAMN FUCKING WAR, ASSHOLES, BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!!! STOP THE GODDAMN FUCKING WAR, ASSHOLES, BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!!!
See? It's not too hard to remember after you say it to yourself a few times.
It's time to face an ugly truth : Republicans win because they stay on message and they have only have one message : it's all about me.
Me, Me, Me!, ME!, ME!!!
I want to make more money and bone Paris Hilton someday!
I want to kick Saddam's and Kim Jong's and Whoever-the-hell-is-Ayatollah-today"'s asses!!
I want to pay 15¢ for a gallon of gas!!!
And what does the Left have to offer?
Hey you, sacrifice!
Hey you, give until it hurts!
Hey you, help your neighbor!
Jesus Christ! You've heard the expression "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"?!? Is it so surprising that the Republican message appeals to so many people, even the not-totally-bat-shit-crazy-right-wing-Jesus-is-my-personal-therapist-nuts?
Hint to the American Left : stop thinking of the Red State population of the United States of America as a collection of closet gays who just need the right "girl" to set them straight. These are grown up human beings with lives they're trying to live and they're just trying to get by; they've got problems, they experience joy, they're bad and they're good and they succeed and they screw up and they believe what they believe for reasons you couldn't possibly begin to fathom. But they're your brothers and sisters too.
We share a common bond, whether you like it or not. We're all part of the same family, and while no, I can't think of too many families who don't want to murder each other, we're still family. And how do you get that bastard uncle of yours, who ruins every family reunion, to stay sober, to straighten up and fly right? Do you beat him with a baseball bat? No. Do you you make him feel stupid and ignorant and worthless? No. Do you turn a blind-eye to his behaviour and hope he just passes out? No.
You make your point, in words he can understand. You let him know you care and while you don't know everything, you do know there's something wrong and you want to help him see the light so you can both make things better. And you do it without sarcasm or condescension or elitism.
America has become everything it says it says it hates : a colonial power, a dictatorship, an empire in decline. It's time to educate our fellow brothers and sisters on why these are such terrible things, and how much better life would be without them. In ten words or less.