You don't deserve no respect.
posted by Katie
A Constrained Vision
Anya Kamenetz is upset that today's young political activists aren't getting any respect even though they're turning out in force to protest globalization and the war in Iraq:
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[T]oday's youth movement is like Evel Knievel's son, Robbie -- he's outdone all his father's stunts, yet never managed to win the same fame. During New York's Republican National Convention last year, surrounding protests saw more than 1,800 arrests to Chicago's 600-odd in 1968; and the main march on Sunday drew an estimated 500,000, to Chicago's peak of 10,000 to 15,000. Yet the largely peaceful New York protesters struggled to capture more than brief segments of airtime on the major news networks.
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Here's a hint for Ms. Kamenetz--it's because of statements like this that you're getting no respect from me:
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My main inspirations, these days, are the actions of a handful of high school and college students across the country, from Seattle to the Bronx. They have been organizing at the grass roots to kick military recruiters off their campuses, because they don't want their friends to have to fight and die in this war.
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The thing you're most excited about is kids denying their friends information about an important life choice. Rather than offer information about your alternative viewpoint, you want to simply shut down the other side. You want to dictate to your friends which people are acceptable for them to talk to. Dozens of organizations come recruiting on college campuses--should we limit it to only the ones that these vaunted student activists approve of?
Essentially, you don't want people to make choices for themselves. You don't want anyone to choose to join the military, so you want to take that choice away from them; people should only choose what you want them to choose.
That condescending, self-important attitude will get no respect from me, no matter how many people join your protest.
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