Where Are The Protesters Now?

While three-sided battles happen on the streets of Tehran, the seemingly well-organized ultra-liberal anti-war protesters of a few months back are nowhere to be found. As a perfect opportunity presents itself for them to do something constructive on the world stage their rhetoric has fallen silent as it would appear they have returned to their coffeehouses and cooperatives. Silent as an entire country’s youth protests for freedom while being beaten and even murdered by their oppressors. Some allies these freedom-loving slackers are!

If it were true that those who clogged the streets of major cities around the world were protesting for justice, in the pursuit of freedom and for human rights not only in Iraq but everywhere around the world then this would be a perfect outlet for them, almost tailor made. If it were true that they were expressing their dismay over the flexing of political muscle by fascist, cruel, oppressive and narcissistic governments this could serve as their golden opportunity. This could serve as their chance to make their mark on the world so that never again could they be referred to as misguided, unaware and suffering from tunnel vision. If it were true, that is. Obviously, it is not.

No, these people who carried signs condemning world oppression and the globalization of political agendas are silent. They are silent while students from Tehran University battle their oppressive law enforcement community, an institution that exists as an established arm of the secular and fanatical Islamic government there. They are silent while these students battle vigilante groups secretly sanctioned by the same fanatical and secular Islamic government to rid the country of the dissenters that would question their authority, an authority based on the bastardization of the Koran. They remain silent while their peers; their compatriots; their brethren are beaten arrested and murdered in the streets, right in the public eye. Four thousand arrests directly related to the desire for free speech and freedom, directly related to the illumination of a torturous and oppressive government and still no word from the great group so blessed with politically correct insight. No word from the coffeehouses on the Left Coast and around the world. One would have to ask why they would abandon their Iranian brothers and sisters?

This group of malcontents was never about changing the world for the better. The fact that many of them made such an important moment in history fodder for drinking in the streets is telling. All they were about was the experience, and, as long as they were in control. They are followers and want-to-be's. The most fanatical among them are jealous that the past happened without them. They look at the 1960’s with misguided longing in their hearts while we, the people who actually lived through that moment in time, know it was a time of true turmoil, change and sacrifice. This is not exposed in the movies and television shows that depict the era. These movies that glorify “the movement” seldom touch on the reality of loss, heartbreak, struggle, miscommunication and body bags. They focus our youth on the celebrated “free love/free spirit” aspect of the era that was such a small part of the reality of the 60’s. The followers follow and spout their uneducated and one-sided inexperience as if they had touched on feelings and viewpoints that had never been thought of before. It is easy to see why our parents shook their heads at us in our youth and simply smiled. “You’ll get it someday,” was the thought that probably went through their minds as they looked at us, righteous and narcissistic.

The second part of the answer incorporates the idea of the lemming that was touched on in the first part. These fanatical coffeehouse intellectuals are so far from being intelligent it is frightening. The fact that they fell prey to the organizational skills of the Communist Party during their human rights event prior to the Iraqi conflict is proof positive of that. The lemmings were sold a bill of goods that painted the picture of George W. Bush, a church going and compassionate man, being all about murder and evil. Many of these imprudent protesters, or lemmings, tried to equate our president with Hitler and Stalin. Hitler and Stalin! They preached the loving kindness of Bill Clinton, a draft-dodger, philanderer, liar and probably the one of the most worthless presidents the country has ever seen while innocents in Iraq were being escorted to mass graves. They argued over semantics while people were being beaten, raped and murdered and then they had the gall to equate our president to Hitler. (You want weapons of mass destruction? How about the Fedayeen Saddam? Are they weapons of mass destruction enough for you or are mass graves not enough?) The fact of the matter is they fell prey to the propaganda of the ultra-left. They ceased having a vision of a better world and became political pawns in a game so far over their heads that if they had any sense of what the reality of the matter actually was they would drown. They became anti-Bushites simply for the sake of the experience. They taut the ultra-liberal party line, shortsighted and narcissistic as it is.

While there is honor in standing up for what you believe in while being subjected to adversity, honor only comes to those who take responsibility for what they believe in and the actions that they must take to support their viewpoints. The fact that these coffeehouse world leaders are leaving their compatriots to the demise that is being handed to them courtesy of their fanatical Islamic leaders is proof that they don’t have what it takes to change the world.

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Frank Salvato is a political media consultant, a freelance writer from the Midwest and the Managing Editor for www.TheRant.us. He is a contributing writer to The Washington Dispatch. He has appeared as a guest panelist on The O’Reilly Factor and his pieces are featured various other websites.


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A couple of points. First, that the protestors consider themselves high-minded idealists. Second, that the ideals they espouse (human rights, universal suffrage, democracy, equality before the law, etc, etc) are not the ideals they actually pursue, which consist principally of hatred for Bush and class warfare on conservatives.

That said, I know of some very principled persons of the left who probably would be protesting were there not a nearly total media blackout regarding the Iranian crisis. The latter is a bit of a mystery to me - certainly this has all the elements of a very sensational story - righteous youth rising against the oppression of religious zealots and the machinery of a police state - you'd figure somebody not disposed to publicize this out of ideological solidarity would be at least willing to publicize it out of the more prosaic pursuit of a journalistic buck. But not so.

Well, nobody much cared when a few thousand Kurds were poison-gassed in Iraq, either, so it make take a little more than blood in the streets to make the likes of the Times and the Post wake up and smell the napalm. Journalistic integrity is a fool's bet these days.

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