Where are the mass anti-war protests?

[High Plains]

And why isn't anyone here talking about doing them?

Sitting around and posting "Bush is bad" or "the Iraq war sucks" messages is good, clean fun, but we have a majority of the population on our side and we can't seem to remove ourselves from our keyboards.

Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Did a 100,000 people march in New York last weekend and the media didn't cover it?

Or are we past the age of mass protests?

[Blue_In_AK]

1. D-R-A-F-T

Once they institute a draft, the protests will follow ... guaranteed.

[aquart]

4. Yup. Let's encourage them in this ambition.

Right now, our young think this won't touch them. Even as more and more are forced to consider a military option because of no jobs at home.

Institute a draft, George. Give a lottery number to a Congressman's son and daughter.

[babsbunny]

10. We have to do something before the draft begins!!

My Son is 17! We need help!!!

[AnnInLa]

13. Two thoughts

1. Canada

2. Sept. 24, Washington DC, noon, 100,000 to surround White House calling for an end to the Iraq Occupation www.unitedforpeace.org

[Blue_In_AK]

14. I agree.

I have a 19-year-old daughter who probably isn't safe either. My guess is if a draft is instituted, they'll go for everybody this time. Obviously, they don't have any issues about women being killed in combat since it's apparently up to 300 and some now. Grrr...

[POAS]

21. You beat me to the punch

That is the biggest difference between Nam and now.

During Nam everyone had a stake (except for the "Bushes" of the world of course). Today it is someone else's suffering and risk.

[RandomKoolzip]

2. Who has the time?

Most people are working two jobs or more just trying to get their bills paid.

[pox americana]

3. very big D.C. anti-war march scheduled for Sept. 24

in many other cities too.

And no, the media won't cover it, or they'll undercover it, like the RNC protests last summer.

[cosmik debris]

5. Maybe, I'm not sure

This keyboard stuff might be the same as the hitting the streets stuff. The msm doesn't cover dissent anyway. And we have significantly improved our networking. I'd like to think that we don't have to get arrested to change the world. Just look what the blogsphere did for DSM.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. The absence of a draft is the main reason you don't see ongoing mass

demonstrations.

[EVDebs]

7. Hmmmm. Either surrounding the WashPost offices or the Pentagon

That's some hobbesian choice. They picked the Pentagon in the Vietnam era; these days to get coverage you'll probably have to surround the WashPost or NYT offices in protest to get ANY coverage.

[justinsb]

8. This might be more effective

not necessarily just talking amoungst ourselves, but moving the online polls, pushing stories up the charts at places like yahoo, shooting down conservative arguments in various forums, contacting the media, blitzing elected leaders with email and phone calls, writing op eds and blogs, I think that (unless and until you can get very large numbers) street protests have lost their effectiveness, people are too used to it, even if it does make the news. There are people outside the WH nearly every day protesting something, not one notices them.

[acmavm]

9. I'm afraid that in this country we're not only past the age, we're also

20 I.Q. points nationally behind the realization that we'd better do it now or we may never have the chance to protest again.

Believe me, I know this from personal experience. I can assure you that the demonstrators against the war (prior to Shock and Awe) here in Omaha (otherwise known as the Big 'O'rifice), were abused and framed in a lot of cases by the police department. People aren't like they used to be, and neither is this country. Once upon a time patriotic Americans weren't afraid of a black mark on their police record because they protested a crooked government and illegal war. Now they know for a fact that it will be used against them in the work place and in other instances.

I keep saying just wait for the inevitable draft. Also, if people could only be faced to look at the death and devastation this war has caused. If they had to see the dead children and old people. Our own dead Americans. But the American media is stocked with traitors and liars who are complicit with this administration and are helping them to hide the reality of war. This has been a pretty antiseptic operation, at least that's the perception for most people. Because the poor and lower classes, mercenaries, and green card soldiers have been doing the fighting. You can bet that not one family member of that horrible old harridan with the purple bandaid that had her picture all over the media last year has one frigging family member over there dodging bullets or worrying about car bombers who are ready, willing, and able to fight back in the name of their dead mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, etc.

[mitchtv]

11. Our Dem "leaders" need to be leading

demonstrations in the street- get some Star power into the streets, Where are the joan Baez's of this generation? John Kerry... Please lead a giant march on Mitt's residence. While we have been giving Groper a bad time out here; can you imagine if our congressional deleegation led a march in LA complete with Strisand , Beatty, et al ? Out of the suv's and into the streets!

[Double T]

12. As Soon As The DRAFT Starts, The HUGE PROTESTS Will Begin!!!!

[Warpy]

15. There are small protests happening all the time

Two weeks ago here in central NM, I saw a protest of people with large signs on one of the main streets in this town, a person with an antiwar sign every 100 yards or so. It was a very effective demo, I think, and people were reading those signs. I suspect the same people pick a different main street every week. The local snooze has had no reports of it, OF COURSE, since their bias is 100% pro Fuckwit.

I strongly suspect that most places are having informative protests and that the word is getting out, one person to the next, that this war was a mistake founded on lies and is in big trouble.

Big demonstrations in big cities are flashy as hell and they do have their uses. However, what's happening now is being reflected in poll numbers. It's happening, folks, only without cameras and blowdried bimbos of both sexes yapping on the nightly news, you'll never see it.

But don't kid yourself. It's happening.

[Totally Committed]

16. Personally...

as a veteran of the protests of the 60's and 70's, I can't understand why there hasn't been full-scale rioting in the streets yet.

TC

[Opusnone]

18. Thanks for protesting in the pre-net days

You are still protesting and sharing ideas just in a new way. What would the 60's have been like if you had the Internet?

It is the duty of all dems, libs and progs to stay on message and the people will wake up.

Fear the GOP
Impeach *
War on Error
No to the Neocons

[Totally Committed]

19. The 60's and 70's would have been pretty different,

and probably even more effective if we'd had the internet.

For one thing, we could have been more organized. For another, news of the war would have stread faster and probably more truthfully, leading to an earlier end to Vietnam. I think Johnson would have been driven from office even before he decided not to run again, and I think the riots at the Chicago Convention would have been less violent, because we could have coordinated ourselves better.

The information-sharing would have made everything better.

TC

[CANDO]

17. Everyone go to DC in Sep.

I will be there. We need bus loads of people by the hundreds of thousands descending on our nation's capitol in late September. We will shut that city down! The media will have no choice but to cover it. Start networking with friends and family now so they can plan for this event. If we make this big enough, people from around the world will march with us in solidarity. www.unitedforpeace.org

[FluxRostrum]

20. Have I seen any of you at a protest?

I've videoed about 40 local and national protest events in the last year an a half.

If you're looking for officially sponsored by the DNC protests lead by Kerry the Conceder.. you're going to be waiting forever.

http://fluxview.com/v/Fluxview-News-Video-2005.htm">I was there, where were you?

See you in DC.