Peace marches? War protests? Anti-bombing demonstrations? What's the right term?

vanity | February 16, 2002 | southernnorthcarolina

[Betty Jane]

How about French wannabees? Everybody hates the French. We should start tying these hate filled anti american pro terrorist maggots and the Dems with the French. Show the American people that these weasels stand with French against the United States.

[Eala]

They do not even deserve the term 'peacenik'....nothing about their rallies/activities suggests this...

"Peacenik" was invented as a derogatory term at the latest in the early 60s, and possibly sooner. The "-nik" ending is in Russian, I am told, similar to our "-er" ending meaning: "One who...". (Think "farm" & "farmer", "program" & "programmer".)

The "-nik" ending was intended to label the "peaceniks" as Soviet fools/tools, with all the heavy irony that went with the term. Sadly, that aspect has been lost over the years to where the word now stands on its own, shorn of its roots.

Now if there were only an Arabic modification to the English word "peace" that could be applied to update the term... (but studying http://www.madrasaprogram.org/lesson_2.pdf it doesn't seem likely...)

[weegee]

They are antiAmerican rallies.
They are antiAmericanWar rallies.
They are antiBush rallies.
They are antiSemite rallies.
They are anticapitalism rallies.

They are not antiPalestinian war rallies.

They do not press for removing the dictator Saddam Hussein (who is "unopposed" in elections) from power. A man who has used chemical attacks against Iraqi citizens. The leftists would rather still beat the drum at their rallies that George W. Bush was not elected or should be "impeached".

Whatever their motivations, THIS IS NOT A PEACE MOVEMENT.

[weegee]

I like that term "appeasenicks."

VISUALIZE WORLD APPEASEMENT

"Peace in our lifetime"

[outpost44]

Treasonous encounters

[knarf]

Traitors!

[dalebert]

Great thought. Sorry I did not think of it myself.

[finnman69]

Saddam Hussein Fan Club Rally

[dfwgator]

They were anti-Bush, anti-Republican rallies. Where were these people when Clinton was bombing innocent Serb civilians and trying to forcefully remove an elected leader?

[Betty Jane]

I think we should just make French the worst insult you can call somebody.

Just say, oh, you're so French!

That was the Frenchest thing I ever heard!

How could you be so French!

Frenchman! Even though it would be odd at first everybody would know exactly what you mean.

[Southack]

They are APPEASERS, at best, since they ask only that the U.S. appease Iraq, not that Iraq disarm (in their protests)...

[smaturin]

I was there today, in San Francisco, and here are a few facts you might want to consider. First, only about one person in 15 on average carried a sign. Second, there were tens of thousands of people and just a few relatively "organized" groups marching: people who had cooperated to create a large banner, or carried signs obviously made together with similar materials and messages. This includes some groups from labor, specific universities, and of course the perennial Grim Leftist Marching Grudge, whom I hooted as I stood on the sidewalk. (My companion, a venerable Lefty, made a few snide comments too.)

So it would be tricky to generalize people's reasons for marching beyond the obvious shared decision to spend the day dissenting from government policy on Iraq. There were a lot of people and a lot of reasons for being there. My own? I love my country and fear my government, and felt that if I didn't go out and express my opinion, I didn't deserve my cherished right to vote.

[InvisibleChurch]

Iraqi Pro-Torture Rallies

[Steel Wolf]

"I'm getting in touch with my inner Frenchman" has become military slang for "I want to surrender"

[Mr. Mojo]

No question about. Every last protester is an anti-American SOB. And if any of you pricks are lurking on this thread....yeah, I'm talking directly to you.

[Betty Jane]

Excellent. I love it. I teach math to a group of sixth graders who are always saying, "I don't get it. I give up". I will now reply, "you don't want to grow up to be a Frenchman, do you?"

[Steel Wolf]

So it would be tricky to generalize people's reasons for marching beyond the obvious shared decision to spend the day dissenting from government policy on Iraq. There were a lot of people and a lot of reasons for being there. My own? I love my country and fear my government, and felt that if I didn't go out and express my opinion, I didn't deserve my cherished right to vote.

I would agree with you in that the vast majority of people who attend peace rallies are not hardcore stalinist thugs, Iraqi agents, or similiar radicals. Those people are there, of course, but they are not the majority.

Most of them are people who believe themselves to be moral, open minded, and compassionate. They are people who know that America has done wrong in the past, and are deeply skeptical of the government and its current reasons.

They are also people, who, by and large, are prone to emotional arguements, cynicism and oversimplification of the problems. I've yet to hear a liberal arguement against the war that can't be easily dismissed in a paragraph or two. Most of their arguemnts sound much more convincing than ours when reduced to soundbites, however. Liberalism, at its core, appeals to the heart, and not the head, so the imagery they invoke is more persuasive than logic.

I think that most liberals are good people who are blinded by their own ignorance and indoctrination. In their hearts, they feel they are right, and will shrug off most intellectual arguements with a 'well, you can't deny it's all about oil' or similiar one liner.

[Rome2000]

These "Peace" protests are really subversive socialist anti-semitic anti-capitalist demonstrations against the USA and Israel.

These are the same anti-American untermenschen that riot against "Globalization".

If they can get worked up over the "Group of Eight Summit", they must be frothing at the mouth at the thought the USA is going to make the world safe for capitalism.

These hypocritical creatures weren't out in the streets when the ragheads perpetrated a sneak attack in NYC and killed 3,000 Americans in cold blood.

They are intellectually and morally bankrupt and pathetic.

Thankfully they help the GOP in the polls everytime they take to the streets, and they'll find out what Americans really think about the war on Election day.

[Azzurri]

I prefer to use the term "anti-freedom" marchers. Try it, it drives the liberals batty! I love it!

[jwalburg]

Great one.