TBT #19: Doth Protest
This past week I almost started a site about politics. This is a monumentally stupid idea, of course, as I barely have the energy to update this site once a week. Faced with having to update TWO sites regularly, I’m not sure what I’d do. Not update either of them, probably. And then blame the lack of updates on server problems. That always works.
Server problems are just one of the Best Things Ever for December 3, 2004.
Bush in Halifax
So George W. Bush came to my little city this past week, and so the campus was ablaze with people hoping that he would be arrested and tried for war crimes and maybe even set on fire and dumped into a ditch and peed on. These things did not happen.
I usually don’t like the National Post because — even though it’s owned by CanWest Global now — it’s a right wing paper. And as the only label I’d ever consider giving to myself right now would be (small-l) liberal, I’m not a big fan of their slant. Or, to put it another way, I hate their goddamned bullshit. There was, however, a pretty funny article in the Post this week about the Bush protests. It talked about all the groups that were planning to demonstrate in front of Bush, and then talked about how very few of them were planning to actually protest anywhere near the President himself. There was a great bit about one group that was going to protest “three streets over, behind some trees, and a building” from where the President would actually be. Then there was another guy quoted who was using the protests as a chance to get a bunch of people high on a 13-inch joint.
It’s so Canadian, really. We’ll protest, absolutely, but we won’t be mean about it. We don’t really want to hurt feelings, as much as we just want to let people know — if they choose to see it — that we’re not entirely happy. Also, we like to smoke marijuana. A lot.
Clarification
Because I’m sort of harsh on campus protesting, I think people have started to assume I just find the whole idea of protesting stupid. It’s an easy thing to assume, considering I myself never even consider the idea of making a sign and going downtown and also that I make fun of protesters a lot. For being stupid. And kind of ugly. But I’m not against protesting. Not at all.
As a good friend of mine pointed out once, protesting drove some developments in the 1960s and 1970s — and even earlier — that had a hugely positive effect on the world. Without protesting, where would civil rights be? How would the Vietnam War have gone? I don’t feel it’s a stretch to say that protesting has been categorically a good thing for the world we live in, considering how it pushed our culture and our society in certain ways that benefitted minorities, creative and artistic works and the human race as a whole.
My beef with protesters today comes from what I see as a nearly complete lack of temperence and logic to their protests. Let’s look at the Bush visit: George W. Bush is, in my opinion, a bad president. His foreign policy is in shambles. The war on terror is a joke. Iraq will probably never be democratic, much less free. And his domestic policy isn’t much better. All that said, however, I think there have been worse presidents. More important than that, however, it’s undoubteldy true that there have been worse world leaders. My point, I guess, which may be driven by an assload of cynicism, is this: Bush is bad, but it could get a whole lot worse.
The point
So when I see people out there, waving their upside down American flags, carrying their “Bush is Hitler” signs and burning effigies of the president, I start to wonder what in the living fuck they are going to do when someone REALLY bad comes along? If the voice of the people is at the same volume, saying the same things, no matter what action the government takes, why should the government pay any attention to that voice?
It scares me, honestly. Maybe I’m just not seeing the other side of this, but the idea that people — college students, especially — have completely lost their voice by being so loud worries me. It came clear, especially, when I saw not only George W. Bush but also Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin making reference to those who protested — and then making jokes about them.
This whole issue is something I’ve turned over in my head a lot this year. It’s difficult, because I abhor the thought of their being no voice of dissent in politics — it’s an absolute necessity in order to limit the amount of corruption in government — but it makes me sad, and even angry sometimes, that the voice of the young people in this country has become not only something to be ignored, but also openly laughed at?
We’re doing something wrong.
I’m interested in anybody and everybody’s thoughts on this, so comment if you have ANY sort of opinion.
Tags:blog bush politics protesting the best things- Posted by Matt at 04:54 am
- Permalink for this entry
- Filed under: blog
- RSS comments feed of this entry
- TrackBack URI
I’ll leave a better opinion later, but for now I’m just going to say that every time I read about politics or get involved in a political discussion, I die a little inside.
what in the living fuck they are going to do when someone REALLY bad comes along?
they wont do anything. because someone really bad will be slick enough to make people think that his/her administration is doing the right thing, whereas this leader is bad because he believes hes doing the right thing but clearly isnt.
people â college students, especially â have completely lost their voice by being so loud
i love that line
They make signs that say “Bush is Hitler” because signs that say “The Bush administration is pursuing a foreign policy that is eroding civil liberties and promoting a militarism not unlike the kind of philosophy driving the Nazi party in Germany in the early part of the century” would be slightly less effective. As you know, that is the extent of my opinion on the issue
I voted for Kerry.
Matt, those are good points. But I don’t think we have to worry too much about losing our voice by being so loud. I think there are two separate issues here: showing a disproportionate amount of anger when things could be worse, and sending the wrong damn message. People with signs that say “Bush is Hitler” are sending a stupid message, but in the Halifax anti-Bush protests, they were drowned out by more reasonable messages, besides which the character of the whole protest was peaceful and symbolic. 4,000 people, no arrests. Don’t worry, if things get worse, there will be more people out protesting, and we can pull out more stops. And the leaders we’re protesting might laugh, but that’s why it’s a good thing terms of office only last a few years around here.
Personally I get sick of students having opinions. I mean, you see what it’s like in Halifax, CANADA when the AMERICAN President visits. Just imagine what an American campus must be like when he (or any political or quasi-political figure, really) visits. A few months ago Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) came to speak and was heralded as a god, and John Edwards came to speak and got much the same positive feedback. However, when Cheney and Bush came (separate occasions) the campus was rife with protests and anti-Bush graffiti.
The fact that I, myself, am a conservative probably plays into this, especially since the vast, vast majority of people in my age group are liberal, so I already disagree with them just by nature. But I HAVE noticed, from as unbiased a standpoint as possible, that the select few conservatives have more well-founded beliefs than the seas of liberals. It seems to me that, whereas a conservative researches and determines WHY he is a conservative, a liberal spouts off phrases Michael Moore and those types say that really don’t even make any sense. (”Did you say ‘four more years?’ Because it sounded like ‘four more wars’!”) Also, there is a list of catchphrases that people tend to choose from when Bush-bashing (relating to economy, war, foreign and domestic policy, and so forth, despite the fact that very very few people who say “the economy sucks” can explain WHY it sucks, beyond “I heard it on TV”).
There is a reason for this that makes sense, and it’s NOT that all liberals are idiots. It’s just that, as there are significantly more liberals around, there is a significantly higher probability that there will be idiots in that demographic. Also, since they DO use every opportunity to spout anti-Bush propaganda (and that’s what it is, really), the idiots are much, much more exposed to those phrases and are able to follow suit more easily. I know (and am friends with) a lot of truly brilliant, insightful, persuasive liberals; however, the idiots, as with anything, make the whole lot of them look bad in my eyes.
And hey, check it out: the fact that Canadian students’ anti-Bush sentiments are more well-founded overall than Americans’ says a lot.
So yeah.
I take it as a general rule that everyone is an idiot. That includes liberal, conservative, and those who can’t make up their mind too. Most people seem to not actualy think for themselves, critically. They only follow others, who follow others and so on. The blind leading the blind, but everyone thinks they see. The few people who do see are rare. I don’t even know if I see. I hope so.
Anyway, protesters are probably just as blind as the crotchety old farts who oppose them and grumble “you young kids!” and shake their canes.
As for Bush comming to Canada, it is unimportant to the whole protest thing. If he didn’t come, they would protest that too.
I’m voting for Roger
You guys are all great.
I think, no matter what the context, any “Bush is HItler” type signs completely destroy the message. Bush may be a terrible president, but I really can’t see any real similarities between his policies and those of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was neither a conservative nor a liberal, really, so given that it’s very hard to make any connection. I have to think it’s a bit offensive to Holocaust survivors, too. Especially those who live in America.
I like Josh’s optimism as it pertains to the democratic ideal that politicans are out of office in a short few years, but I’m fairly cynical as far as that goes. With Bush’s visit, we had both a centrist politician (Martin) and a (mostly) right-wing politician (Bush) laugh off protesters. And while it’s nice to think they will be replaced with politicians who take our views seriously, it’s been shown time and time again that when it comes to elections in Canadian and the United States, the student vote is completely irrelevant. They either don’t vote or vote for the idealistic candidate that has no chance of winning. Admittedly, part of this is due to our silly electoral system, but, still, the point remains. For all their political machinations, college students are nearly always ignored by mainstream candidates.
I liked Joe’s points, though obviously I’m not in agreement with some of his political views. I think the issue here is not the liberal/conservative divide, but rather the idealist/realist divide. It just so happens that a lot of idealists are left-wing. (I’d argue that a lot of libertarians are the idealists of the right, but that’s a discussion for antoher day). Idealism isn’t a bad thing, but I think it needs to be tempered with realism. No matter how many times they try, a bunch of people waving signs and smoking pot aren’t going to bring down the whole World Trade Organization. On the other hand, I think with a combination of smart advertisement, education *AND* public protesting, small battles could be won that would, in the end, incite changes in the WTO structure.
I’d like to see a more realist character to student activism. I think the “think globally, act locally” credo has been forgotten by many, who are attempting to act globally right out of the gate. There’s also, I think, a need for some compromise, moderation and listening to the other side. Recent issues, like, say, the Kyoto Accord, have shown some protesters to carry a remarkable ignorance to the facts.
I’m not saying we should get so realist that we become as cynical as my buddy Roger up there. I think clinging to the idealist notion that this generation CAN save the world is important. It’s just a matter of being realist in our actions when it comes to the actual saving.
i think a lot of us like to speak just for the chance to hear ourselves