What I find interesting about the Beck-inspired protests

posted by The Vidiot @ 10:00 AM Permalink

Is that when I read anything that says how many people were there, it totally reminds me of all the anti-war protests I went to where the people there, as well as the anti-war leaning blogs, were saying "1 million!" and the media (if they covered it at all) would say "50,000" and the pro-war folks would say "20,000" and there was always confusion as to how many were there.

The exact same thing is happening with these protests: the folks on the ground, as well as the pro-Beck leaning blogs, are saying "1 million" and the media (if they cover it at all) are saying "50,000" and the left-leaning folks and blogs are saying "10,000" and we'll probably never know how many were actually there.

But the fact of the matter is, whatever the protest or rally, it's all meaningless. It is merely political theater that supports the power of the State. By allowing the gathering, the State is able to say "See? See! there's free speech here!" and "See? We allow them to have their say! Look how benevolent and understanding we are." Yet, the State never changes its policies. The State concedes nothing the State hasn't already planned on conceding ahead of time.

I would like to believe that protesting and rallying makes a difference. But I'd also like to believe that I can clap three times, have fringgin' Tinkerbell show up and grant me three wishes.

That ain't gonna' happen either.

Labels: free speech, protest