Posted on 10/08/2001 5:38:36 PM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
I went to check out a “peace” rally at Palo Alto City Hall organized in haste by something called the “Peninsula Peace and Justice Center.” Wasn’t sure what I would do there whether it was as an agitator or as a stealth reporter. I ended up doing the latter.
I arrived shortly after the 6pm start time and they had just arrived evidently after marching there from some location (Stanford perhaps?). Probably split between college students and aging hippy peaceniks with only a handful of children duped by their parents. One newsbabe from Channel 7 was wrapping up her piece as the speakers began.
Signs were handed out that said “Justice, Not Vengeance” (subcaption: “Let us not become the evil that we deplore”). I decided to grab one of those souvenirs from the aging hippy freak handing them out. On the reverse of that sign was a hand-written “NO RACISM.” I soon stored the sign in my backpack and engaged a conversation with nearby officers. The officer wasn’t too concerned with the situation. I asked if burning the U.S. flag was legal and evidently it was in Palo Alto. Luckily no flags were burnt at the rally.
I wandered back to the rally and noticed a large pot of baked beans on a bench. Uh, OK. Not much of a pot luck. I did not partake in the offering.
One young skull-full of mush woman, probably college-aged, was handing out green ribbons. At a distance I though it might have been weed, but it was just ribbons. I asked her what the symbolism was and she hesitated as if she wasn’t sure. She finally offered something along the lines of non-violence and non-racism. I took the souvenir and stuffed it in my pocket next to my red, white, and blue ribbon that I had concealed so I could stealthly work the crowd.
As the speeches were spewing forth, I strolled mostly around the perimeter, looking around to see if any other from our side were out to counter the pacifists, but I didn’t see anybody else. Since the rally was far enough from the street, there were few honks in support. Only one outburst of condemnation was heard when a couple was walking by across the street and the woman shouted “Grow up.”
The speeches and chants were rather pathetic in my opinion but the crowd ate them up as usual. Overall the rhetoric was typical but the rally was rather tame. Only a few chants were offered:
Some of the quotes or paraphrases from the thought-free zone…
Mostly swiping at Reagan/Bush, but I enjoy the few quips of two DemoRATS, Dianne Feinswine and Maddy Halfbright.
As twilight fell, about 6:55pm, candles were passed out and lit. I should have probably got one as another souvenir, but oh well.
At 7:15pm, they marched down the streets of Palo Alto toward University Avenue. Not sure of the destination point, but I didn’t care as I opted to leave the loonies at that point.
Notably absent – No Free Mumia speeches. No “Give Peace A Chance” singing. No flag burning. And, of course, intelligence and rationality (self excluded, of course).
Common puke-inducing rhetoric: We are waging a racist war.
Flyer one goof handed out:
“Being a patriotic at this moment in our history means participating in decisions about the future of our world…Not just react, be engage.” -- Barbara Lee
We are a community of Stanford students, faculty, and staff who have come together in loving memory of the lives lost on Sept. 11. We are part of a state-wide student peace coalition, California Students Against War (C-SAW). We believe in three core points:
1) Build a peaceful world
2) Promote tolerance of all human beings regardless of nationality
3) Defend civil liberties and human rights
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
(SNIP)
Get informed. Read for yourself the case against bin Laden and decide how compelling the evidence is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1579000/1579043.stm
Be aware that a lot of media – mainstream or independent – can be biased. (For example, NBC is a subsidiary of GE, which is a major military contractor.) With that in mind, here are some sites we find useful:
http://indymedia.org
www.antiwar.com
www.alternet.org
www.fair.org
www.commondreams.org
www.motherjones.com
www.siliconvalley.com/news/special/attack/blog.html
http://www.teachingforchange.org/Sept11.htm
(SNIP)
From today’s San Jose Mercury News
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/local/center/bayreax1008.htm
(SNIP)
``What happened today is not justice,'' said Paul George, executive director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center. About 200 people attended a rally the group held Sunday evening outside Palo Alto City Hall. ``To decimate a country that had nothing to do with this attack on the U.S. is not justice. It is revenge, pure and simple.''
For example: "It's a racist war." Well, I guess that goes for the "other side" not ours; the hate-rhetoric seems to spew from them much more readily than from us.
Or how about "decimating a country whose people had nothing to do with this." On what proof do they base this charge? It seems to me that these attacks are VERY scaled back and concentrated solely on the bad guys. True, there are likely civilian casualties as there always are in war, but this country's BEEN at war for decades now. The case is easily made that the end of war in that country is now in sight because of us.
And so it goes. There just doesn't seem to be ANYTHING they can pin their hopes and dreams on. The "jihadists" aren't overt socialists; even to the extent that they are, they're closer to fascist than communist.
I think this "peace movement" is going to die of anemia and sheer boredom, of it's own volition.
The Arab race? Well are we bombing Saudi Arabia?
How about the "Afghan race" (if such a concept exists)? But how does attacking the despotic government which is subjugating the Afghans count as "racism against Afghans"? That's like saying that bombing Hitler's government was anti-Semitic because Jews may have died in the process.
I just don't understand what these people think they are saying by calling it a "racist war". I really don't.
You wanna talk about incoherent. Did you see Phil Donahue on ABC with O'Reilly and Diane Sawyer?
Donahue was giving the usual "Make love not war" crap and O'Reilly was b****slapping him around. Donahue hair tossled and about to cry, so Sawyer asks him, "Okay after we've stepped back and caught our breath, then what do we do?" After a pregnant pause Donahue breaks into this mansonesque soliliquoy. "We reach out to all countries and announce that WE are ready to become a part of the human svkjdfwueghoew (uncomprehendable)!"
At that point O'Reilly said, "This is pointless."
I really think we should put all these peaceniks someplace where they couldn't hurt themselves and at the same time keeps them out of our way. Maybe we could fence in South Dakota or Minnesota?
It is difficult trying to figure this stuff out. I have tried to understand it as well and the arguments don't really follow logic. In most cases I can usually "see" the other side even though I disagree but many of the peace arguments are just naive. Some are just psychotic. Even the liberals seem to be on-board with the current action but there are some that just seem so far out there isn't another way I can describe them.
I think these people see the U.S. as white and everyone else as non-white and then they jump to the belief that the U.S. engages in war because non-U.S. people are not white. It appears that those that call the war "racist" believe that any war the U.S. engages in is racist unless we were to engage in a war with Britain or maybe Germany.
It is likely that pointing to the number of non-whites citizens in the U.S. would not be convincing to them. These people likely are so filled with hatred towards whites and our system of government that any evidence would simply be discounted.
Here is an excerpt that I found on an anti war website: http://sf.indymedia.org/display.php?id=104035
"An African-American man who works on gentrification issues in West Oakland said that "we're always seeing Americans drop bombs on people. We watch the Vietnamese get bombed, Iraqis get bombed, Palestinians get bombed, now it has come home to roost." Japanese-Americans spoke about internment camps and the nuclear holocaust brought on by US militarism."
These leftists seem to see everyone as part of group first and then maybe later as an individual. I think they assume everyone else has this pattern of thinking too. It is kind of weird.
I think that green ribbon represents support for the P.L.O.T.errorists. The Arabs like the color green or green/blue-ish.
After your stealth Counter-work, you must be thirsty...enjoy...remember, though, everything's BETTER with COKE! ; )
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