The Crystal Ball is getting scary...

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

Liz, its the same with all of us. We are in a war at the moment that I help pay for. However, I am not opposed to it. I may think it is not being handled well, but I support the concept.
If I lived in the United States, I would have been on the streets years ago. I am not sure what happened to the American spirit, but the war in Viet Nam was ended by a country that was not prepared to continue and made that opinion clear. But that was only because they were drafting white kids.
This time around, the protests were large, but short. The party in power lulled you into submission with money. They gave the illusion of prosperity and you all bought into it. But it was an illusion and this is the result. It was obvious from the get go that the war in Iraq was unwinnable and unaffordable. Even to a low life, undereducated ex journalist like myself this was obvious and I banged that drum loudly on this board and was shot down by so called businessmen who knew better.
But more people should have seen through that fog of misinformation and done something about it. I really don't think that responsibility stops after you walk out of the voting booth after you have hung your chad.

While I can see how you view it that way from the outside, I strongly disagree that the haze was money and prosperity. I can't speak for others, but I know what my motivations have been - and what I have done to support my views in other forums, as I mentioned before in referencing grassroots work. Marches are stupid, and while they are visible, I fail to see the actual application - to me they look like they are a big giant waste of resources in the time and fundraising to coordinate one that results in... What? A traffic jam? A five-second co-opt of the press cycle?

For many, myself included, the haze is much more insidious: it's fear. With the continued attacks on personal liberty which opposition has recieved minimal press coverage - and a flat-out terror that organising to speak against anything will end in Bad Things.