The far left staged a protest march today in Denver in front of the state capitol. The march included figures like Cindy Sheehan and Ward Churchill (he who called 9/11 victims “little Eichmanns). Churchill called on the United States to end its occupation of Hawaii. Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins tried to talk to some of the protesters to give them a chance to make their message clear, but all he got was blind, stupid rage from people who could not come up with a coherent message. The video from the event gives an idea of the tenor of the affair, and what kind of people it attracted. The irony of the situation was summed up nicely by Caleb Howe of Political Machine:
Throughout the event, these men and women exercising their freedom of speech lamented, in dramatic and ominous terms, their lack of free speech. Then in the middle of the event they decided to silence the Fox News crew.
[…] got was blind, stupid rage from people who could not come up with a coherent message. The video frhttp://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/08/24/the-stupid-rage-of-the-far-left/Ward Churchill: Information and Much More from Answers.comWard churchill Genre: Miscellaneous […]
Pingback by ward churchill — August 25, 2008 @ 7:04 am
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Pingback by griff jenkins — August 25, 2008 @ 11:38 am
I don’t recall who first pointed this out, but most of those who show up for these events are not actual protesters. They are “recreators”. They are like the Civil War buffs, medievalists, and others who dress up to role-play some historical period they are attracted to. It’s normally a period with some sort of romantic cachet.
In this case it is “the Sixties”. The political element is part of the romance. (Similarly, there is an unfortunate confluence between “Confederate” recreators and the white-supremacist fringe.)
Comment by Rich Rostrom — August 25, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
I’m usually unsympathetic to the protest-puppet crowd. When I was an undergraduate, I spoke to an acquaintance who had just gotten back from the anti-World Bank and IMF riots in Washington DC (this was ‘98 or ‘99) and was talking about what a rush it had been. I asked him if he had any idea what those organizations actually did, and he had no concrete ideas beyond the slogans that had been fed him from the local alt-weekly newspaper and leftist bookstore. “Actionism” at its most degenerate.
Notwithstanding, I also loathe Fox News, who’ve contributed even more to degeneration of political discourse in America by disseminating hard-right propaganda under the rubric of “news.”
The protestors may be clans, but they’re mostly harmless. Counterpunch Magazine, however loathsome, isn’t backed by a billion-dollar corporate empire.
Comment by n00man — August 26, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
I mean to write “The protestors may be clowns”
Comment by n00man — August 26, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
Personally, I don’t think Fox News is all that bad.
What amuses me is that the far left have designated “bad” groups, who must be opposed. All I can see from them is conspiracy theories, paranoia and middle class derangement syndrome.
Comment by Richard — August 26, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
Middle class derangement syndrome? That’s a new one for me. Explain
Comment by nooman — August 27, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
“(Similarly, there is an unfortunate confluence between “Confederate” recreators and the white-supremacist fringe.)”
Rich, you don’t have to LOVE Southeners, but we do ask that you TONE DOWN YOUR HATERED for us.
Comment by KHarn — August 30, 2008 @ 10:56 am