I hate those
stupid puppets.
I've always opposed the war in Iraq.
I think that the current corporatist free trade model is an unmitigated disaster, leading to greater poverty, inequality, and a retrenchment of democracy as profits trump the public good.
I think that the World Bank and the IMF, with the connivance of the current commercial banking system have effectively recolonized the third world, placing the poor, (and usually dark) societies of the world under debt peonage.
That being said, I'm sick to death of the self absorbed and self indulgent poseurs (Puppetistas) who seem to think that any protest can be made better by the addition of a lame piece of paper mache.
.
All it does is make people who are serious about this issue look like fools.
It also makes people who might otherwise be supportive less inclined to support us because we look like a lame circus freak show.
It's basic human nature. People do not want to be associated with the left wing equivalent of frat boys at Spring break.
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Tens, if not hundreds of thousands have died in Iraq, America has gulags, and Christo-fascists have seized the reigns of power in the US, and the Puppetistas treat this as an opportunity to engage in bad performance art.
They sacrifice the credibility of the opposition so that they can get a two second clip of the "look at those weirdos" variety.
Let's be clear: I'm not saying that we can't have fun at protests.
If you look at successful protests over the years, you see rousing speakers, talented musicians playing good songs, and an enormous amount of camaraderie.
There are a lot of people who still smile, even 40 years later, when they remember these events, and even more claim to have been there when they weren't
The Puppetistas are screaming, "look at me" without regard to the harm that they do to their (and my) cause.
The confirm the Club for Growth "latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving freaks" stereotype.
I don't drink latte, drive Volvos, pierce, or love Hollywood, and I only occasionally read The Times, but I want my country back, and these guys are part of the problem.