CCBS

A comment over at Glamocracy on the article about Code Pink I blogged recently:

I believe the most important fact is this: love them or hate them-You've seen and heard them. Now, with all the corruption and scandal after scandal, I ask this: Why haven't Americans ALL become outraged enough to demand this madness STOP? This can't be my own country, the same that originated the Geneva Conventions! How do we now "discuss" TORTURE? The thought of secret prisons and the death of Habeas Corpus-these things aren't of a civilized society, they are dark ages of lords and serfs! Join Codepink or start another dissent group, but DO something, remember this: All it takes for evil to triumph is that good men (or women) do nothing. [emph mine]

mkdalton | Aug 14, 2008 11:50:43 PM

Amen.  I was going to blog something a while back about that Einstein quote I highlighted and never got around to it, but it's been floating around in my head for quite some time.

Of course, my point in Paxcasts and just in general has often been: don't just sit there, do SOMETHING.  Anything.  And be vocal about it.  It doesn't really help matters to wish fervently, silently and privately that things will change.  What's required now is acting loudly, aggressively and publicly.

A common refrain from people who are "uncomfortable" and "cringe" at Code Pink's tactics is that somehow their antics give ammunition to the war enablers and rightwing commentators, and this will harm our ability to end the war.  NEWSFLASH: even when trying "reasonable dialog" Rush Limbaugh still claims that Democrats, the left and anti-war folks want to surrender to Islamofascists and enact Sharia law.

The point is not to win over the unwinnable people, nor is it even to convince the alleged fence-sitters who would've come over to our side if only we'd not worn fucking pink spandex and tiaras.  The point is to use one or more of the 198 different goddamned methods of resistance, some of which are mere protest and others that escalate to interventions meant to disrupt the status quo and operations of government, economic and financial systems, etc.  If you don't like what Code Pink is doing, fine: do your own thing.  Just do it and stop bitching about people who are stepping it up.

And yeah, lots of people have been doing things, but clearly we collectively have not done enough.  So I've been asking, repetitively, annoyingly--to the point that people call me condescending, self-righteous, boring--what's something else you can try?  Go beyond the usual writing letters every once in a while or "lighting up the switchboard" at the Senate or whatever.  Those are still rather passive actions that don't have much psychological or physical impact on our elected employees or the citizenry at large.  Go beyond your comfort zone a little just once, do one new thing, then something else, and another thing, then again, and again and again and again...it will get easier and you'll find you have more courage and power than you thought before.

Not all of this stuff will work all the time.  What ever does?  What's necessary now is we get out of our chairs, out of our homes and into the streets, trying new things instead of reliving college bull sessions, intellectualizing and agonizing about the perfect solution and refusing to engage until we find it.

If I might indulge in some space geekery here for a moment, lemme call on my buddy Deke Slayton speaking on how important the space program was in the Right Stuff:

We're not saying anything new here. We're just saying the same things that need to be said again and again with fierce conviction.

Code Pink does that.  The question is not how they should be doing it, but how are you going to join them in doing so?  And not just as a one-off but on a consistent, persistent basis.

Borrowing from Samuel Adams now:

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

As mkdalton observed above, love them or hate them Code Pink really does set brush fires in people's minds.  I'll note we also have the MAJORITY with us in terms of wanting to end the war, yet it continues because people are not IRATE and tirelessly trying to set brush fires whereever they can.

So grab some matches and get in the game.  Just remember to close cover before striking...

ntodd

PS--Apropos of nothing, I just noticed the author of that article, Fernanda Diaz, is now following Code Pink on Twitter!