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April 18, 2010
My Day as a Political Provocateur: GOP Convention, 2004
Last week's threats of infiltration by leftist poseurs attempting to disrupt Tea Party Tax Day meetings showed there's nothing new under the sun. That's been tried before -- by conservatives. I know, because I did that, once.
A group called Protest Warriors crashed the anti-war parade held in August 2004 during the Republican National Convention in New York. PW had been working its shtick at events that political season, and garnering attention. Ever eager to get close to New York street theater, I joined the group for several counter-protests at the convention (I would later check out Union Square events held by the brilliant Communists for Kerry). The following essay, which I wrote shortly after the convention, describes what went down and my thoughts at the time. I'll leave it to readers to decide whether the long-defunct Protest Warrior activities rivaled those of anti-Tea Party types.
Looking back, PW's tactics bordered on suicidal. A well-done, stationary and protected counter-protest, at least in the midst of hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters, made more sense. And as I remember the day, we got people just as riled by standing around as we did by infiltrating their ranks, and we faced a lot fewer physical threats. But, we had to give it a try and we had a memorable time. Six years later, the Tea Party movement is harnessing PW's pro-liberty ideas and in-the-streets tactics to a mass movement that's having political impact. Will it become a political juggernaut? We'll see in November.
In the Belly of the Anti-War Beast: NYC 8-29-2004
On August 29, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to denounce the war in Iraq, shriek about Bushitler and exercise their cherished First Amendment right to free speech. On August 29, I also went to New York to express my right to free speech, as a member of the New York chapter of the group Protest Warrior. I learned, however, that among some members of the Left, free speech only applies to their speech.
Some background: since early 2003, Protest Warrior has confronted leftists with witty subversions of their own slogans and truisms. The group’s very first sign set the tone: “Except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism and communism, war has never solved anything.” Through counter-demonstrations and peaceful infiltrations of anti-war marches, PW drives leftists batty with its brand of daring tactics and intellectually challenging posters (another favorite shows a woman in a head-to-toe “burkha” with a male fist holding a chain tight around her neck. The poster says, “Protect Islamic property rights against western imperialism! Say no to war!” With 7,000 members in chapters nationwide, the group is getting traction as an alternative voice in the marketplace of protest on matters of war and peace. And some people don’t hate that kind of intellectual diversity.
Politically, I’ve always been a maverick. Childhood friends in Texas think I’m a commie hippie pinko tree-hugger. East Coast friends suspect I’m a crypto-fascist Texas gun nut. The reality lies somewhere in the middle. PW tracked my foreign-policy views, and so August 29’s “Operation Liberty Rising” marked a great chance to express a real maverick position in the belly of the anti-war beast. I had read reports on the unhinged reactions of leftists to PW, but now I could see for myself.
Getting ready to stir things up.
Continue reading "My Day as a Political Provocateur: GOP Convention, 2004"
Van | 04/18/10 at 10:52 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - GOTV '04
April 04, 2010
Not-Quite-Guilty Pleasure: The Ivy League Christian Observer
This being Easter, I'll share some thoughts on a magazine that faithfully arrives, unbidden, in my mail box: The Ivy League Christian Observer. Being Jewish, I have no idea how I got on its mailing list, other than some cross-over (!) drift of names from Princeton University to the Observer, which is published in Princeton but unaffiliated with the University.
However I got on its list, I scan the Observer when it arrives. I get a completely different take on Princeton and the Ivy League than I do from the mainstream press and the Princeton Alumni Weekly (truth in blogging: I'm a long-time contributor to PAW). The Observer rounds up Christian-themed news from around the Ivies, and the Winter issue featured the Chastity Center Petition at Princeton on the cover. A group called the Anscombe Society has been lobbying to get a Center for Abstinence and Chastity on campus. That effort has been rejected, but the society keeps up the fight (when I was an undergrad in the 1970s, abstinence and chastity was wildly easy to sustain given the lopsided gender ratio).
The same issue had an intriguing article about Harvard's "MBA Oath," written by members of the Class of 2009 there. The oath starts, "As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can create alone" and closes with "This oath I make freely, and upon my honor." More details can be found here.
The Observer's tone and content is clear and unapologetic. I may not follow its spiritual path, but the publication shows a very different side of the Ivy League, and not a bad side, either.
Van | 04/04/10 at 04:49 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Life and how to live it
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