The REAL problem with A.N.S.W.E.R. is the U.S. public.

Zhade

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Sun Sep-25-05 07:45 PM
Original message

The REAL problem with A.N.S.W.E.R. is the U.S. public.

Edited on Sun Sep-25-05 07:46 PM by Zhade

I've read multiple threads on yesterday's march in D.C. full of sound and fury, signifying something - and that something is, I think, very telling.

Over and over, the same complaints arose. "This is supposed to be about the war!" and "ANSWER always hijacks these things!" Quite a few comments (some perhaps not surprisingly from brand-new posters) centered on the "fringe" issues being "allowed" at the rally.

I won't argue that a scattershot approach is a good thing. In many ways, I agree that having a laundry list of (legitimate) issues diffuses the impact of the event. When posters insisted that the focus remain on holding this administration accountable for all its lies and corruption surrounding the war, I found myself nodding in agreement.

But I want to point out something that may help explain the 'A.N.S.W.E.R. Effect' - an explanation that doesn't rely on unproven assumptions about the organization's alleged rightwing funding or other assorted nonsense. No, the explanation is, I think, much less complicated: people are desperate to make their voices heard, desperate to the point of sacrificing effectiveness for access to a soapbox.

Some of these issues have remained largely unresolved for decades - the U.S. militaristic and, yes, imperialistic interference in other countries' internal affairs to the detriment of those countries' civilian populations, for example. Or the injustices done to the Palestinian people by the Israeli government, or the concerns about political prisoners, some held for crimes that strong evidence suggests they did not commit.

I submit that A.N.S.W.E.R. may be a symptom of the illness that is American myopia and denial.

How many people would show up to a rally that discussed, say, the brutality of the U.S.-backed coup in Haiti? Would the assumed low turnout say something about the worthiness of the topic, or would it underline the problem of a propagandized American public that does not view reality the way the rest of the world does?

I would suggest the latter.

In my mind, the driving factor behind the A.N.S.W.E.R. Effect is quite possibly the fact that, as a result of decades of lies and manipulations of the public on the part of our government and corporate interests, Americans don't understand these issues. Yet to many Americans, and many more non-Americans, they remain important issues that need to be addressed if we are to move toward a future where we live up to the ideals we claim to hold dear.

That groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. glom onto a major march, or even that they arrange one with a loud acknowledgment of the issue of the day and a quiet announcement of other peripheral issues, should surprise no one when the above is considered.

As long as injustice goes unaddressed, desperate groups will try desperate approaches, and those may hurt more than they help. If you want to alleviate this kind of situation, dealing with these peripheral issues is the, well, answer.