For many years now, protests against the U.S. government's policies have been fruitless. No one was listening and no one cared.
September 28th changes everything.
Every American instinct and feeling must cry out against what has happened.
It is time for the people to rise up and express their outrage. We've been angry for so long - now is the time to unleash our fury.
But in this instance, we must be very, very thoughtful and deliberate about how we protest. This is no time for nonsense. Here are some thoughts for protesters who want their opinions to be taken seriously:
Rhyming chants, music, effigies, costumes... they are all great fun, but they also make you look like you aren't serious. These protesting standards make your opinions easy to discount. We are deadly serious. This is not a party. This protest is not for fun. We are standing against the loss of our beloved democracy. This is no time for fun and games.
Consider the fact that Martin Luther King rallied protesters who walked with quiet dignity in their Sunday best down the main streets of America - their serious faces and solemn demeanor shamed a nation. The footage on television was gripping because so many the families watching at home saw themselves in those brave faces. They were forced to confront the savagery of their collective bigotry and they shrunk from the image.
The extent to which protesters on October 5th look like serious adults is the extent to which they will capture the attention of those in power. Let us forego the body paint and fright wigs, Bush Halloween masks (tempting, I know) and inflatable toys, incoherent yelling and monotonous chants. Again, that stuff may be fun, but we are in mourning, here. The rat bastard Republicans have stabbed our beloved democracy in the heart.
I suggest we march in perfect silence to represent our voicelessness. I suggest we wear the clothing we'd wear to a funeral - in solid black - to represent our loss. I suggest we treat this like the death it is, and take a funereal tone. No chants. No paiper mache. No unicyclists. Let us announce to the world that we are quite, quite serious. We are hard-working people JUST LIKE THEM. We are secretaries and carpenters, businesspeople and parents, churchgoers and atheists, the elderly and the youthful - but all heartsick and angry about September 28th.
If you bellow, they will call you hysterical or overwrought and ignore you. If you wear costumes or outlandish or sloppy clothing they will assume you are just a thoughtless partier and ignore you. If you repeat endless chants they will assume you are mindless automatons and they will ignore you. If you carry obscene or insulting signs they will roll their eyes at your message rather than hearing it and they will ignore you. If you play music they will tink you are just there for fun and they will ignore you. If you burn effigies, they will assume you are over-the-top ideologues and they will ignore you.
It's not fair and it's stupid, but it happens every time.
If you march in silence, your wordlessness functions as a counterpoint to everyone else's loudness. If your signs are pointed and serious ("Torture is Wrong" rather than "Someone Should Torture Bush"), people will pay attendion. If your announcers speak rather than yelling, their words will carry real weight. If you dress neatly and in plain, tidy black clothes, your appearance will carry the message that you are serious and seriously wounded and people will be able to identify with you.
Why should we care what people think? If we didn't care about our ability to persuade others, then what would be the point of protesting.
I'd like to reiterate. This is too serious an issue to turn into a party. We're liberals. We like to party. But now is a time for solemnity. We must show the world that we are not screwing around. We really do care, and we've been cut to the quick. We are angry and this situation is extraordinarily grim. Now we must get to work.