No business as usual

Written by Brian Flemming
Published March 20, 2003
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I'm not being facetious. There are plenty of conservatives who just can't get on the U.S.-vs.-the-world bandwagon. The Associated Press interviewed a suburbanite who came to the L.A. Federal Building today to protest for the first time:

Arlette Chew of Glendale said she works for a defense contractor and had been supportive of the Bush administration until the last few days.

"I didn't have any trouble with Bush's decision making until he decided to ignore the U.N.," she said. "What he's doing is totally unprecedented and uncivilized."

Easily over 90% of the protesters coming out now are not "professional protesters." They're people like Arlette Chew who recognize that democracy only works when citizens use it.

If you were against the war until the shooting started, but now you feel bullied into "supporting the troops," please do come support the troops. If the Vietnam War had been stopped on the first day, we wouldn't have a Vietnam War Memorial. Support our troops by not converting them into names on a memorial--a memorial that it's quite likely we will have to look at with shame for the rest of this country's history. A memorial of the war that marked the United States' turn against the world and betrayal of the rule of law, for reasons so flimsy that history will be astonished that we fell for them. Support our troops' not ending up with that legacy. Support the future of the United States.

What can you do? You can check for demonstrations in your area:

United For Peace
Int'l ANSWER
Stop the War Coalition

(If you're in L.A., email me and we can meet up at an L.A. protest.)

Alternately, or additionally, you can do something that clearly states to your community "No business as usual." The government would like us to sit at home, watching TV, viewing the dazzling entertainment they and the networks have provided.

But the rallying cry at demonstrations to date has been, "No business as usual," and I think it's a good one. We're at war. The country needs to stop. Businesses should close. Entertainment (Oscars) should be suspended. This isn't a normal day at a normal time--it's war, and people are going to have to notice it, in the form of disruption, whether they want to or not. Yeah, it's rude. Yeah, it's confrontational. But it's not wrong. U.S. residents are not the ones being bombed, or the ones physically doing the bombing--people safe at home in the U.S. have no special right to comfort as their country goes to war. Relief is not a favor we deserve at this moment.

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No business as usual
Published: March 20, 2003
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Section: Sci/Tech
Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet
Writer: Brian Flemming
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Comments

#1 — March 20, 2003 @ 06:55AM — Rob

Does it bother anyone that Int'l A.N.S.W.E.R. is run by the Worker's World Party, a communist organization that is opposed to the US in any and every case?
Did anyone notice that these protesters didn't turn out in the streets to protest any of the dictators and murderers in power around the world, but are more the willing to show up when they can oppose the President of the U.S. ?

#2 — March 20, 2003 @ 13:41PM — Brian Flemming [URL]

Rob,

Yes, it bothers me. It bothers me when the radical left seems to have a blind obsession with hating the U.S. These folks are analogous to their counterparts on the radical right, who are similarly an embarrassment to most conservatives.

I also disagree with strictly pacifist organizations who are against war in any situation. History proves that sometimes taking up arms is the only way to achieve justice, and it is naive to believe otherwise.

However, simply because there are groups who are opposed to this war for reasons that differ from my own doesn't mean I'm going to isolate myself from the movement. That would merely be an excuse for inaction. If you've noticed, a word frequently used in the movement is "convergence." The various groups with only one agreement--this war is wrong--have banded together despite their differences.

I guess an analogy on the right would be the Log Cabin Republicans. These gays and lesbians stand side-by-side not only with Republicans who disagree with them, but also a great many who literally hate them. Their voting with and lobbying alongside conservatives doesn't mean they agree with the (usually religious) conservatives who feel they should be rounded up and killed.

I do have a feeling that "bothers" them, though.

#3 — March 20, 2003 @ 15:25PM — M. Simon

We need to block as much traffic as much as we can for as long as possible to piss off the commuters, waste gasoline, and contribute to global warming.

It is kind of like killing for peace only slower.

#4 — March 20, 2003 @ 19:34PM — Rob

Well your position is clearer in your reply than it was, to me at least, in your initial post. I think it is "convergence" that actually weakens those anti-war protesters whose motives are purely anti-war, and not anti-capitalism, anti-globalism, etc. As with any party or group affililiation you are known by the company you keep, and your Republican analogy points that out.

As for protests, anti-war Americans primarily spend time demonstrating against the U.S. actions, but never against the actions of any other country or dictator, etc. One reason for this is that we live in a country where the government is actually answerable to its citizens, so the protests might have an effect, and that makes sense. It is that so many of the protesters appear to only be involved if the US is involved This leads to the idea that the protesters are solely anti-US/gov't, and when they affiliate with A.N.S.W.E.R. and others, they weakebn their anti-war case.

Protest away, I just hope that the folks who were blocking emergency vehicles today didn't case someone's death.

#5 — March 22, 2003 @ 00:54AM — Rob

Protesters puking and defecating in public, that is somewhat unusual, and should both get their message across and rally more people to their cause.

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