I spent about an hour yesterday supporting a group of people that did a small protest at our local armed forces recruiting station. You can read my article about the action on Seattle Indymedia. There was also an article in the Bellingham Herald (link expires after two weeks).
While the police were talking to the three women blocking the entrance I talked with a couple of bystanders. The conversation revealed to me just how misinformed some segments of the American public are. One woman insisted that Saddam has rockets that could reach the U.S. Not even the most hawkish people in the Bush administration are making that claim! Also disturbing was her obvious ignorance of the Arabic world. She seemed to consider all of “them” to be terrorists.
The bystanders I talked to also questioned the basic tenants of what we were doing – nonviolent civil disobedience. I asked if they had read Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience. Only one of them had and she said it was “boring.” It is a same that one of the most influential documents in American political thought is either unknown or considered too boring to be of any worth.
While the police were talking to the three women blocking the entrance I talked with a couple of bystanders. The conversation revealed to me just how misinformed some segments of the American public are. One woman insisted that Saddam has rockets that could reach the U.S. Not even the most hawkish people in the Bush administration are making that claim! Also disturbing was her obvious ignorance of the Arabic world. She seemed to consider all of “them” to be terrorists.
The bystanders I talked to also questioned the basic tenants of what we were doing – nonviolent civil disobedience. I asked if they had read Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience. Only one of them had and she said it was “boring.” It is a same that one of the most influential documents in American political thought is either unknown or considered too boring to be of any worth.
Comments