Posted on 02/17/2003 10:43:40 AM PST by johnqueuepublic
It was late on a rain threatened Sunday morning and protesters boarded the sleek BART trains streaming towards San Francisco.
From all over the Bay Area a festive mix of aging grays, sincere looking 20 somethings and the usual freakazoid component readied for the rally, anxiously discussed in hushed tones.
As observed in innumerable previous demonstrations, the lefty crowd dynamic seemed to hold true – the crowd was really composed of “affinity” groups - one mouthy ideologue lecturing and guiding his or her assemblage of converts.
The Einstein closest to me on the train said to his supplicants something - in a very thick German accent - to the effect of “Man if it gets any crazier here, I am going to have to return to Berlin.”
Most likely to sup there at that great cradle of pacifism followed by a quick trip to those celebrated factories of tolerance - Bergen Belsen, Triblinka or Dachau.
Actually, if the ride got any crazier we would have never made it to SF, these people seemingly unfamiliar with the concept that high speed trains don’t move until the door are completely closed and that assorted arms, legs, babies and protest materials are quite good at preventing that.
These revelers were almost all white and middle class - the morning after fluff pieces in the Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury and the Contra Costa Times claims to the contrary - notwithstanding.
Truth be told, this crowd was whiter and more upscale than that of a typical US Open golf tournament, but then to outright Marxists and their enablers, the truth has always been more conceptual than real.
The word “crowd” itself is a relative term.
Over at UPI the headline writers, apparently high on glue, incipient revolution or something, got really carried away claiming over 200,000 at the demonstration – few local sources could bring themselves to allege more than 100,000 and from our perspective by 2:30PM the crowd couldn’t have been more than 25,000 tops.
Oh well, more grist for the taking head shows.
The affair had a definite County Fair flavor, with food and beverage concessions outnumbering the political by a fair margin – merely proving that even a collectivist army marches on its stomach.
There were few outstanding pieces of revolutionary arte – the “Weeping Mothers” being notable - but on the whole it was a rather boring event.
What passed for speakers, ranted, screamed, sang and chanted the same message.
Death to capitalism, death to the patriarchy, no war for oil, Bush is Hitler, free Mumia, empty the prisons.
Take the link for the rest of the story, these images are copyrighted.
Hiya to the Freepers I saw yesterday, boy are you all clean cut!
these people are antichrists.
Despite the fact that maybe some of them might actually deserve it, it would come as a rude awakening to most and - fortunately for them - that capitalist oil-baron patriarch, that cowboy from Texas, ain’t going to let it happen.
Naw. Author Tom Wolfe nailed it dead-to-right when he labeled this type of people as "radical chic".
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