War Protestors, My Dears, How Are You? Uh, Huh. Uh, Huh. Uh, Huh. Listen, Shut Up For a Second
Do you want to know why the war protest movement failed so miserably? Let me tell you why. It failed because it consistently succeeded in making a complete and total ass of itself.
Hey, I'm all for freedom of speech, and the right to protest, and the right of the American people to peacefully assemble. And, really, had the anti-war people been able to articulate a better position beyond "give peace a chance" without all the theatrical nonsense, they may have been able to attain some semblance of credibility.
First and foremost, the peace movement was hobbled due to a simple lack of focus, and, more specifically, alternatives. Fine, they wanted peace, but they could never articulate a viable alternative. They would acquiesce that, yes, Saddam Hussein is (was) a murderous oppressive dictator, but their response was, more or less, to allow him to stay in power just to preserve peace. That's like acknowledging a cancerous lesion but refusing to see a doctor for fear of what you might find out. The only other "option" was to allow inspections to continue (again, like 12 years wasn't enough), but even Hans Blix admits that coalition forces will probably get better results finding the goods.
Second, the very fact that war protestors were willing to align themselves with such unsavory elements as International A.N.S.W.E.R., a group whose core socialistic foundation is built around undermining all things Democratic and capitalistic, exposed them as the unwary sheep they were. Perhaps if they had been able to organize on their own, and perhaps if A.N.S.W.E.R.'s role hadn't been discovered, the peace movement would have gained a little more footing. As it was, they were willing to lie down with dogs, and stand up with fleas.
Finally, it was the theater that ultimately doomed the peace movement. I mean, come on. . .human shields?! I mean, come on. . .The Lysistrata Project!? These were the types of moronic exercises that made average, rational, common sense people roll their eyes and wonder if peace activist ranks were filled with rejects from the collective DNA pool. If your cherished peace movement routinely becomes the butt of jokes on every late night talk show from Leno to The Daily Show With John Stewart, chances are you're doing something wrong.
Other, unintended, acts of protest "theater" included the desecration of 9/11 memorials and random acts of violence that totally flew in the face of their "peaceful" agendas. It's hard to gain credibility when a peace movement turns into a looting frenzy. Their hypocrisy knew no bounds (said in best Val Kilmer Tombstone voice).
We stand now on uncertain footing, with the promise of a drastically different world theater. The status quo of Middle Eastern politics is being thrown out the door and a new chapter is about to be written. It's going to occur fast, and at the barrel of a gun, and it's going to be scary, and it's going to be "interesting."
And it's about time.
UPDATE: Okay, at least SOME human shields figured things out on their own. (found via Instapundit)
A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."
Posted by Ryan at March 22, 2003 09:28 AM
Stumble It!
