ETERNAL VIGILANCE SOCIETY NEEDS YOUSATURDAY MARCH 18th White Plains, NY

Eternal Vigilance Society ^ | 3.15.06 | Kieran Michael Lalor

[Eternally Vigilant]

On Saturday March 18th anti-war protesters are going to be taking to the streets to give aid and comfort to our enemies, undermine our troops and spread anti-American propaganda.

Join Eternal Vigilance Society For A Counter-Demonstration To Challenge The Anti-War Left’s Agenda of Lies that Undermine Our Troops and Embolden Terrorists.

Saturday March 18th 1:00 PM Meet at the American Legion Hall at 57 Mitchell Place White Plains, NY

[Eternally Vigilant]

"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph." - Thomas Paine, The Crisis -- December 1776

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On Saturday March 18th the anti-war hacks will be out in force to protest the three year anniversary of the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The anniversary is akin to our Fourth of July which although followed by seven years of war to secure the blessings of liberty, is the day on which we commemorate American independence. The nineteenth of March also signifies the beginning of the end of a brutal dictator and is cause for celebration. To the misguided anti-war protesters however, the emancipation of twenty-five million of their fellow human beings is something to protest.

To let our troops know that we support them and their mission, Eternal Vigilance Society will stage a counter-demonstration in White Plains, NY on Saturday March 18, 2006.

Details of Eternal Vigilance Society’s Counter Protest:

When: March 18, 2006 1:00 PM: We will meet up in the American Legion Hal in White Plains.

1:30 PM March four blocks to the corner of North Broad Way and Main Street in White Plains to stage counter demonstration.

2:30 PM March back to American Legion Hall

Where: American Legion Post 57 Mitchell Place White Plains, 10601 at 1:00 PM

Parking: There is metered street parking in White Plains as well as several parking garages including a parking garage at the Borders Books in the Westchester Pavilion which is located only about 100 yards form from the American Legion Hall.

What: Unlike our leftist counterparts, our demonstration will be a dignified affair focusing on patriotism and support for our troops and their mission. Bring your flags and appropriate pro-troops / pro-American signs and we our message will be heard.

Note: White Plains is a great city in the midst of a renaissance. If you have to travel to attend this event White Plains is a great place to spend the afternoon after we do our patriotic duty. The city is home to one of the most elegant malls in the world ( The Westchester), it has a brand new state of the art movie theater and dozens of great shops and restaurants.

Pro-Iranian Anti-War Lunacy

As if we needed more proof that the anti-war movement is opposed not to war but rather to the United States defending herself, I submit to you this new web site: StopWarOnIran.org.

The name alone tells you everything you need to know.

The United States ensuring that a rogue regime does not get the bomb, to the anti-war left, is not even a legitimate military action. Such an undertaking, to these moonbats is considered “war on Iran” implying that the Iranian terror regime is an innocent target.

The first sentence on StopWarOnIran.org’s home page is also quite telling:

“It is with grave concern that we observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war--this time against the people of Iran.”

Let’s unpack that statement.

Nukes in the hands of Iranian Mullahs makes the world exponentially less peaceful. Yet eliminating this grave threat, to the anti-war fanatics, would be “a U.S. war” on “the people of Iran.

How politicians and the media can take such people seriously is astounding.

Eternal Vigilance Society has always been of the belief that the so-called anti-war movement is merely a conglomeration of anti-American groups masquerading as peace protesters. This latest initiative by the blame America crowd serves only to strengthen that conviction and stiffen our resolve to oppose them.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Probably better not to distract them from their increasingly bitter infighting, by providing them with a common enemy at which to direct their venom.

[freema]

Were you a cheerleader in your previous life?

[GovernmentShrinker]

No. But I'll cheer things that are worth cheering. I just think that there is a huge excess of protests and counterprotests, which do nothing to stimulate meaningful discussion. If a bunch of idiotic antiwar nuts want to waste their time hollering about how unhappy they are, I say let them go right ahead, but we should spend our time more productively than hollering back at them. Frankly, if we ignore them, it'll bug them, and they'll start hollering even more outrageous things to get attention. Again, let them go right ahead and make fools of themselves, while we keep our noses to the grindstone.

[Ohioan from Florida]

I was reading this article thinking you had an entire society named after you! ;-)

[EternalVigilance]

Heh...

[freema]

Current member in good standing of the Silent Majority?

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'm hardly silent. I just prefer to communicate with sane people who are genuinely interested debating things that matter. I see no benefit to trying to communicate with mindless ideologues of any stripe, and certainly not with a whole mob of them who are in the process of hollering themselves into a frenzy. And I'm quite sure that all the sane people in White Plains can see for themselves what idiots these antiwar protesters are, without a band of counterprotesters to point it out to them. Those who can't see it for themselves are already mentally aligned with the protesters, and are certainly not going to be converted by a bunch of hollering counterprotestors with catchy picket signs.

Frankly, converting people from their way of thinking about something, towards one's own diametrically opposed way of thinking, generally involves finding common ground with them, from which to begin civil discussions that touch on the issues where you're diametrically opposed. Hollering matches between two artificially polarized camps has never been a good way to start a civil discussion.

[freema]

Then why waste space posting on this thread?

[GovernmentShrinker]

Are you suggesting that YOU are a mindless ideologue?

[trooprally]

Good Luck at White Plains from a D.C. FReeper. Please post your report with a lot of pictures.

Try contacting the Young Republicans at the local colleges. There are always energetic at the D.C. FReeps.

[Mr] T

[freema]

Are you suggesting that I AM?

[trooprally]

First, you cannot talk to the antiwar people. We've tried at Walter Reed and other places but they won't listen.

Second, it was proven during Vietnam that the antiwar groups will not go away if ignored. The Silent Majority was a disservice to our troops, me included, but I was still a teen during that time. But as an adult, I swore I'll not be part of the Silent Majority this time around. During the Vietnam War, the MSM showed their protests during prime time and they got emboldened in their efforts. By us counter protesting them and intermingling with them, the MSM doesn't not show us, which means they don't have good shots to show of the counter protesters. Hence less TV time for them, hence less participation and less impact for the antiwar protests.

Third, by us street protesters countering them, their protest have become more tame. Some of them have removed their real hateful troop signs. At Walter Reed, Code Pink had flag covered coffins and signs that read "Maimed for a lie" or oil, and signs that called the wounded troops murderers. Now tell me that doesn't bother the troops.

Fourth, they actually hurt do the war effort. From Russian archives, North Vietnam was about to give up after the TET offensive because of their huge losses. But after seeing the antiwar groups, they decided to hang in there and eventually they succeeded. The antiwar group cost many U.S. troops their lives because the North kept fighting. And they cost the lives of millions in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia after the U.S. left the area.

So some FReepers are committed to not allowing the antiwar groups free street time.

Feel free to try talking to them. We need to try all avenues, and continue with those that work. BTW, have you had any success in talking to them? Please post a Thread on it if so, so we can all learn from your example.

In case you are wondering, the D.C. Chapter did participate in a Debate last October 24 in Sandy Spring, Maryland. We had some success, but the antiwar groups have not had another. I posted a report on FR about it under "Activism/Chapters"

[Mr] T

[trooprally]

To make it easier for you to find, here is the link to the Debate. It received 1223 views. Not to shabby.

Click here: DEBATE

[GovernmentShrinker]

Feel free to try talking to them. We need to try all avenues, and continue with those that work. BTW, have you had any success in talking to them?

The wacko nutcases aren't worth talking to. However, I rent rooms to college students from my small Northeastern liberal arts alma mater. You better believe they all leave my home with a different outlook than they arrived with. Several have gotten their first shooting lesson from me. All have had every issue of the GOA newsletter appear on the coffee table, and have gotten used to the idea that the friendly landlady always has a loaded gun in her handbag. And then there's the subtle stuff, like the framed quote "No man is politically free, who relies upon the state for his sustenance" (from the late Mormon apostle J. Reuben Clark -- no, I'm not a Mormon, but he was a very clear political thinker). College students LOVE to think of themselves as completely free to choose their political alliances, and all leftists like to imagine that all the "poor" and "oppressed" can be liberated by exercising their political freedom; this line plants seeds of doubt about the paradigm they've been operating under.

Then there's the cartoon display which I regularly update outside my cubicle (thanks to FReeper Pookie's daily "Toons" thread). I'm a banker, but you'd be surprised how many hard core Democrats there are in that environment. I select the cartoons carefully, to avoid any that rudely ridicule ideas that many people hold dear. But there's plenty of material that's hysterically funny while gently poking fun at leftists. One I recently put up featured a Yale spokesman defending the school's efforts to keep military recruiters off campus due to their "gay bashing", by pointing to their recently admitted former Taliban spokesman, saying "We have him to handle that".

I think going out to counter-holler at public hollering displays just serves to lower the level of political discourse in this country, and also energizes the hollerers. They need a common enemy in order to energize themselves, and if the enemy doesn't show up, they lose energy. And if the enemy doesn't show up, it's a much smaller show from the media's viewpoint -- news segments about a few dozen people out on the street agreeing with each other aren't going to be big ratings boosters, but beef up the crowd size with some counter-protestors, and show scenes of conflict, and provide the opportunity for the journalists to pretend they're giving equal and unbiased coverage to both sides, and suddenly it's exciting enough to make the cut for the evening news.

Now there are some circumstances where protests or counterprotests are effective -- the motorcycle groups that are haunting Fred Phelps and his hate-spewing followers when they go to funerals of soldiers killed in action, are certainly doing a great service to the grieving families.

[GovernmentShrinker]

BTW the cartoons are EXCELLENT conversation starters, often leading to serious discussions.

[Coop]

Feel better about not getting off your lazy arse now that you've attempted to degrade the actions of others??

[Albion Wilde]

I see no benefit to trying to communicate with mindless ideologues .... hollering themselves into a frenzy. ....all the sane people in White Plains can see for themselves what idiots these antiwar protesters are, without a band of counterprotesters to point it out to them. Those who can't see it for themselves are already mentally aligned with the protesters, and are certainly not going to be converted by a bunch of hollering counterprotestors with catchy picket signs.

Your judgments are completely off-base. It's not the protesters whose minds the counterprotesters care about; it's the minds of undecided bystanders -- in a nation only recently willing to turn away from the selfish call of socialism to protect itself, there are still many caught up in the transition who are impressionable. We do it for our youth who are forming opinions, and certainly to reassure our troops overseas and their families here.

Having FReeped at Walter Reed for much of the past year and having seen incremental progress in removing a cancerous group of Marxist protesters from directly confronting the wounded, I can personally assure you that counterprotesting is the wave of the present and future. It has worked to introduce, if not shame in their shameless hearts, at least a relocation of their obscenities fifty yards from the entrance gates instead of directly in the faces of the wounded and their families. It took time; it took determination; and it took many offensive and counteroffensive tactics, which our FReepers, Protest Warriors and countless passersby gladly sacrificed to give.

We will not leave our defenders undefended, nor will we allow the leftists to dominate the public conversation in this war with impunity.

Post that on your cartoon space.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I am quite supportive of counterprotests where protesters are inflicting suffering on wounded troops or on the families of soldiers killed in action. There's a tangible benefit to that, both in mitigating the hurt that the protestors are causing, and in drawing very unfavorable media attention to the despicable actions of the protestors, which is fairly often successful in persuading the protestors to relocate their protests.

However, I don't see a benefit to general shout-fests on public streets. The sort of bystanders whose views are likely to be altered by the presence of counterprotestors are a pretty feeble-brained lot to begin with, and will be easily swayed to the other side, since they'll have acquired no substantive back-up for their newly acquired opinion. There are much more effective avenues for truly persuading people that the protestors are irrational and advocating courses of action that will produce awful results -- in person conversations, and online discussions in fora where one isn't preaching to the converted, are among the effective approaches.

And nobody looks more pathetic and silly than protestors who are protesting their lungs out with no attentive audience or opposition.

I really think that the growth of the politics-by-public-protest culture has had a significant negative impact on the larger political picture. We now see campaigns for national office which sound like a series of cheap sound-bites lifted from protestors picket signs -- aimed at getting a quick emotional reaction, without requiring the audience to acquire substantive knowledge or give serious thought to the range of positions on any particular issue. Little wonder that the majority of Americans have no concept of the economic disaster that Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security are barrelling us towards. They've spent so many years caught in a crossfire of emotional-appeal sound bites, that they don't even grasp what the real issue is, much less have a considered opinion on it. And busloads of college students are wasting their weekends at countless protests, convinced that they're "taking action to effect change", when really all they're doing is wasting a weekend hollering.

[Albion Wilde]

You don't get it. Your blather has wasted my time. Signing off.