Peace Protestors, Grow The Fuck Up!

The BBQ Pit
121

Well, I have to say I watched part of the protests on C-SPAN over the weekend and I had three reactions:

  1. One of the top five reasons this country is great, and maybe the number one reason, is that people can go out there and say whatever sort of lame-ass nonsense they want, and they are not molested, arrested, or attacked. Every time I heard what a piece of shit country this is, I thought “the very fact you can even say that makes a lie of your statement.” And that really kind of cheered me up.

  2. Most of what I heard being said was IMO idiocy, but it was not pernicious idiocy – the kind you have to really think about to figure out why it doesn’t make sense – it was obvious idiocy. Example: The (as-yet nonexistent) war by the U.S. is fueled by institutional racism – in other words, we want to bomb the crap out of Afghans because they’re darker than we are. Right! I couldn’t even work up much outrage over the protests because the vast majority of what was being said seemed so very, well, silly.

  3. I also was and remain pretty amused by the “let’s break shit and assault people for peace!” mentality, admittedly more evident in the WTO “protests” in Seattle but nevertheless on occasional display this weekend. I’m still not sure how that works.

Anyway, I cound’t get too upset over it. Maybe I’m just running out of outrage at this point, I don’t know.

122

You’d like this. I went all over downtown Ann Arbor last week looking for a bumper sticker with some variety of peace slogan on it. I went everywhere–to the gift shop of the buddhist temple, the crunchy bookstores, the artsy-fartsy gift stores with names like “Earth Wisdom” and “Peaceable Kingdom.” Nada. Nothing. As we stomped out of my fifth store I muttered to my friend “Jesus christ, if I don’t find a peace bumper sticker in the next store I’m going to fucking kill someone!”

Oops. Heh heh.

123

Damn good post Gobear. Glad you told me about it I might have missed it.

124

Wildest Bill approves!!!
(slaps hand to forehead)
You may say to yourself, “This is not my beautiful post”
You may say to yourself, “This is not my beautiful board.”
You may say to yourself, “Am I right, or am I wrong?”
and you may say to yourself, “My God, what have I done?”

125

gobear

Big talk coming from a liar and a hypocrite. Ready yet to admit you lied? Didn’t think so.

You must not be watching the same news broadcasts I am. Or reading the same “why haven’t we bombed anyone yet” threads here that I have. Or remembering your own “I can’t believe only one homo on these boards wants to rev up the killin’, the military is so right to keep us out” post.

Pop quiz: where are your friends and family more likely to be hurt, at their homes in the United States or deployed to Afghanistan and surrounding regions?

I don’t claim to have all the answers. I’m not that arrogant, unlike some people to whose message I’m responding right now. But I do know that war does not stop war. We’ve already had a “war to end all wars,” and how many wars have we had since then?

Or does none of this penetrate the “blind rage” you’ve cloaked yourself in?

Oh, and to whomever was babbling about running with the bulls, that’s not an act of courage. It’s an act of stupidity.

126

All wars - no. Some wars - yes. Passively sitting by does not stop wars either. It breeds them.

I’m not saying all wars require violence to end. There are many case where diplomacy does the trick. It is and should always be our first tool. But violence is often necessary where diplomacy fails. Passivism never ends wars.

I don’t belive diplomacy is going to get us anywhere with the Taliban. But you can’t claim we’re not trying. The Pakistanis are getting ready for a third trip into Afghnistan while our military patiently waits.

127

Which was my whole point. You know, how someone can think they’re doing something courageous when taking a little time to think rationally would reveal how monumentally stupid and potentially dangerous their actions really are.

128

GOBEAR, re WILDEST BILL –

Not that you asked for it, but . . . boy, can I relate! I was knee deep in an argument once and had Phaedrus – Phaedrus! – drop by to tell me how right I was, and how I was one of his favorite posters. I’ve never figured out how best to say, “Urk. Thanks. I guess.” :slight_smile:

129

Otto, go away. You are babbling to yourself, and I would think the responses in your “USA chant thread” would have convinced you that maybe, just maybe, you are wrong.

I have not lied once in this thread, or ever. Your attack on firefighters in NYC showed us where your sympathies are, and that’s not with the United States. It’s possible to want peace because one honestly believes that that is the best course to end terror. However mistaken that may be, at least I can respect it. If you’d bother to scroll up, you’d see that I agreed with Dropzone when he proposed giving more aid to Afghan refugees and having the US reconstruct Afghanistan after we capture.

All your posts have done is to show that you are the anti-US, anti-capitalism, hurrah for the enemies of the US type who sashayed down the streets of DC this past weekend.

and again, how am I a hypocrite?

Good question. We all live and work here in the Metro DC area; some of my friends are posted to the Pentagon.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re plenty arrogant. If you have no answers, then why are you posting?

Besides, we’re not at war, putz. Did we immediately retaliate against the Afghans,or have we worked through diplomatic channels and worked on building international consensus for a response to OBL? I thought that you would applaud Bush’s restraint. Isn’t a peaceful, diplomatic response what you wanted?

It’s been three weeks since the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon, and therehas not been ANY military response yet. no bombings, no reprisals, nothing. So why are you so unhappy?

and no, I did not want gay folks to “rev up the killin’” but to demonstrate loyalty to the US and to the president, even if he is a Republican.

130

OTTO, not to pile on you, but my chief beef at this point with those the U.S.'s response thus far is that far from not having “all the answers,” they largely don’t have any answer. Oh, y’all are full of what we shouldn’t do, but you seem to be a little short on what we should.

As I have said before (several times), if anyone has a non-military solution to this extremely knotty problem that does NOT represent a total abandonment of the idea of justice for the victims, I’d love to hear it.

Nobody wants to go to war; it’s just that some of us see precious few other choices that do not amount to peace at the expense of justice.

131

That should read “those who oppose the U.S.'s actions.” Sorry.

132

It isn’t just justice for the victims, but also to prevent there being future victims. If the US does nothing and lets OBL go free, as Otto and his kind want, what is to prevent OBL from launching a nerve gas attack on the Chicago El, or detonating a low-yield suitcase nuke in downtown LA? As the WTC and Pentagon attacks have shown, nothing is outside the realm of possiblity right now.

133

Question- do you think that statement also applies to Northern Ireland? I wasn’t aware that N.I. is lacking in a large middle-class; my assumption was that, like Britain and Ireland, it has a large middle-class.

Of course, I may be wrong in that assumption; if so, please educate me.

134

I guess it’s more adult to say “Nuke them all to hell” rather than trying for a peaceful solution. After all, the poor Afghanis with barely a bowl to keep their rice in were the cause of this :rolleyes:

And it’s asinine to oppose a system that pays workers in China, Viet Nam, Mexico etc. 12 cents an hour while gouging people $120 for tennis shoes. Sheesh.

The masks, drums and the puppets? Marketing, my friend. People pay a lot more attention to that than a group of people walking down the street. You should know that, being the big Capitalist you are.

You say nobody wants to kill innocent Afghans, but you don’t mind if they do get killed, do you? “It’s all OSL’s fault” absolves us of any blame.

BTW, these marches were all over the country, not just DC. When I saw these marches, I thought “Geez, this is lame. They just don’t know how to do it.” But, seeing that they get a rise out of the Right Wing Nazis like you, I may join them next time.

135

**

Considering that several thousand Americans died in their own country, vs. 0 dead in Afganistan so far, I’d say this question is a complete fucking strawman.

**

**

Then don’t claim you know better than everyone else.

So is not wiping out Bin Laden and his Holes in the Hills gang before they get their hands on nukes or anthrax.

136

Nice move, sparky. Disagree with someone by calling him a Nazi.

Real bright.

137

Err, that was addressed to Gazoo, of course. Sorry 'bout that.

138

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo *
**

Dang, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen an honest injun Godwinization of a thread. Good move slick. :rolleyes:

139

And where did I say, “Nuke them all to hell?” There is a medium between extremes, you know, or do you?

No, it’s not asinine at all to want economic justice, but capitalism is the only way to ensure raising of a nation’s GDP. Socialism sure has been a roaring failure. Sure, you need to set up legislation to protect workers, but capitalism needs to be fine-tuned, not eliminated.

If you understood marketing, you would know that you want your brand to be associated with a positive image.
Parading like a bunch of kids on holiday doesn’t make anyone want to listen to you. Why don’t you take out the noserings, cut your hair, go to grad school in economics so you’ll know what you’re talking about, and get involved in NGOs that work to protect the interests of Third-world laborers?

That is too vile to respond to.

A. I live in the DC area, I’m just reporting what I saw.
B. I’m a gay Democrat who voted for Gore. The Right-wing Nazis won’t let me in their club. :rolleyes:

140

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!

I’m sorry, you just lost the argument.

But you did get bonus points for calling a gay man a Nazi. :rolleyes: