U.S.: The Antiwar Movement -- Where Have All The Protests Gone?

Radio Free Europe/Czech Republic ^ | 5/25/04 | Andrew Tully

[Damocles]

THEY SAW WHAT HAPPENED ON 9-11

You nailed it here. This is why it is different. I will never forget this and it will shape my view of geopolitics forever.

[RGSpincich]

Uh, gee not one word about the Towers being attacked or Iraq's ties to Al Qaeda.

Protesting against the war would entail putting oneself out into the open for all to see. DUers and the like can ride their keyboards in the privacy of their Democrat lit caves. The neighbors will never know that they are undermining our homeland security.

[sandbar]

I think that there are no protests because for one, this is a voluntary military. Young people aren't seeing thier best friends being yanked to a foreign country with damn good odds they wouldn't be coming back. The casualty rate is also not as high as in that era.

And beyond that, there was no 09/11 before Vietnam so that people couldn't actually SEE the bogeyman.

Plus alot of the protests and hippie movement was about an "in your face" attitude and thumbing thier nose at authority and the shackles of society. It was far less about the actual war, but it was a good excuse to flip off thier parents.

[MagnumRancid]

>>
Missing from much of the 60's anti-war discussion is the fact that a great many who demonstrated were out to PARTY. They were there to flaunt their "sexual liberation" and drug use.
<<
You make a very valid point. I remember. I was about two years too young (18 in 72) to actually be a part of the so-called "Woodstock generation". I was basically conservative, even then and believed in the need to stop the spread of communisim, which is what I thought the war was about.

However, I did join in the anti-war, peace, love, and dope crowd because it was fun and exciting to challange authority and a lot of hippie chicks were easy.

[BushisTheMan]

Another reason: something besides the MSM is out there. We have talk radio, convervative news programs, the internet, and other means of hearing the truth. We don't have to rely on Walter Cronkite and his ilk anymore.

[Socratic]

"THAT scene will NEVER EVER be erased in that young person's mind! AND THIS FOLKS PISSES THE HECK OUTTA THE LIBERAL BASTARDS!!"

Well, RoseofTexas, there's nothing Yellow about you! I like your passion.

[Socratic]

"However, I did join in the anti-war, peace, love, and dope crowd because it was fun and exciting to challange authority and a lot of hippie chicks were easy."

LOL. I was 18 in '72 also. In '67 (7th grade) a few of us in Boy Scouts burned our Scout cards in the parking lot of the Presbyterian Church after a monthly Troop meeting. War protestors? No. Having fun? You bet!

[CWOJackson]

"We have United States Senators, United States Congressmen and women, United States elites; Kerry, the network media in NY,DC, and of course Hollywood, saddling up to the Islamic Cults."

And don't forget our own merry band of FR anti-war protesters...they're very noisy these days.

[petercooper]

[weegee]

Everybody admits that Saddam was a hoodlum. And no matter how peaceful your inclinations are, you've got to be grateful he's gone

Wanna bet? The new liberal talking point is that Saddam Hussein at least kept the terrorism down in Iraq.

They like Saddam because he was a socialist who idolized Joe Stalin. The French liked him because they had lucrative business dealings with him.

Then again, I wouldn't characterize the leftists as having "peaceful" inclinations. The antiwar movement is an AntiAmericanWar movement, they support the Palestinian war against Israel.

[weegee]

But Ribuffo -- a professor of American history at George Washington University in Washington -- disagrees with Frenzel about the anger felt by those who oppose the U.S. military presence in Iraq. He tells RFE/RL that the anger over Iraq The Bush Family/the 2000 Election is intense, but is being channeled into a more conventional form of protest than demonstrations.

[weegee]

But, like Frenzel, he says these differences over war protests could narrow if the United States does not disengage from Iraq soon, and if the killing escalates.

If they are going to start the clock on the Vietnam War in 1954 then I will start the clock on the Iraq war in 1991. Saddam Hussein repeatedly broke the peace. War could have been avoided if he would have stepped down.

[weegee]

I've read enough accounts from those who were there (bands, not just crowd members) that quite often a "free concert in the park" would get hijacked by some anti-war wacko who would rant for awhile (and drive the crowd away).

The speakers thought that since a lot of people were there that they had gathered to hear them.

Some admit that it was easy picking up on girls at the protests. I'll bet that the guys picked up a little something to remember the one night stands by. VD - the gift that keeps on giving.

[Billthedrill]

Wow, how condescending of him.

Yeah, no kidding. "The kids these days aren't noble and idealistic like we were back in the 70's." You betcha. Mind you, he's right, and by the way, have I ever told you about how I had to walk 10 miles through the snow to and from school with no shoes, and it was uphill both ways? You betcha. ;-)

The absence of a draft is a huge difference, of course. And the Cold War is over, and the lushly-funded Soviet propaganda campaign has been taken over by a few feeble Euro media goose-steppers. But the biggest reason my antiwar friends (and I have a few) aren't in the streets is because deep down, however much they hate Bush (and they do) the honest ones have to admit that Saddam really was a monster the world is better off without. Uncle Ho wasn't seen as a repressive monster until after 1975, and most of the fervent antiwar types resolutely turned their eyes from it. Those who didn't, Joan Baez being one, were just as resolutely ostracized. Saddam had a track record and a huge number of inconvenient witnesses, including many of the antiwar folks's good guys: Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, etc.

One additional factor in my opinion was the backlash that took place in the 80's and beyond toward the unbelievably unjust treatment accorded returning Vietnam veterans by a "victorious" left. We won't be making that mistake again for at least a generation, although Lord knows they're trying.

[weegee]

BUMP

[weegee]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East, funded by the United States Congress.

Can anyone explain to me why US Taxpayers are funding this antiAmerican commie crap?

[weegee]

Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING list

[dufekin]

These students not only witnessed the awful terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 on live television--in which almost 3000 of their dearest fellow countrymen (and women) perished but also have not forgotten and never will forget all the people killed. In contrast to Amherst and San Francisco, the people, the leaders, and the students in Baton Rouge have seen their own country under fire and her people blown away--and they have not forgotten. The President rarely speaks to hostile crowds, and he likely will carry Louisiana in November.

Many of these students will join the military and go away to war, and they do so willingly and voluntarily. They know that although freedom is God's gift to humanity, we must defend our freedom against our enemies and the enemies of all humanity. Dictators, tyrants, monarch, sheiks, and ayatollahs repress their people and harbor the same type of terrorists that killed our countrymen. These Louisiana students understand this reality and would pay any price or bear any burden to keep the terrorists from killing their friends, family, society, compatriots--or even some peace-loving strangers on the opposite side of the world.

We would live in daily fear of the terrorists were it not for the victory of our soldiers against the terrorists. We cannot know what might have happened if Bush were less resolute and we did not commit ourselves to victory over the terrorists, but we definitely do not want to com template all of the terrorist attacks that might have been. Even pacifists realize that we suffered a tremendous attack, and they must revere the President's unwavering strength and determination even if they disagree with his tactics. And almost no self-respecting Louisianian supports the terrorists.

[dufekin]

These students not only witnessed the awful terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 on live television--in which almost 3000 of their dearest fellow countrymen (and women) perished but also have not forgotten and never will forget all the people killed. In contrast to Amherst and San Francisco, the people, the leaders, and the students in Baton Rouge have seen their own country under fire and her people blown away--and they have not forgotten. The President rarely speaks to hostile crowds, and he likely will carry Louisiana in November.

Many of these students will join the military and go away to war, and they do so willingly and voluntarily. They know that although freedom is God's gift to humanity, we must defend our freedom against our enemies and the enemies of all humanity. Dictators, tyrants, monarch, sheiks, and ayatollahs repress their people and harbor the same type of terrorists that killed our countrymen. These Louisiana students understand this reality and would pay any price or bear any burden to keep the terrorists from killing their friends, family, society, compatriots--or even some peace-loving strangers on the opposite side of the world.

We would live in daily fear of the terrorists were it not for the victory of our soldiers against the terrorists. We cannot know what might have happened if Bush were less resolute and we did not commit ourselves to victory over the terrorists, but we definitely do not want to contemplate all of the terrorist attacks that might have been. Even pacifists realize that we suffered a tremendous attack, and they must revere the President's unwavering strength and determination even if they disagree with his tactics. And almost no self-respecting Louisianian supports the terrorists.

[Grampa Dave]

All of the protestors are pretending to be reporters for the left wing media.

They are too busy trying to electronically lynch GW, and they have no time for street protests.