NYCO's diary entry got me thinking. My response there was too long-winded and rambling, and so I am putting it here...right where long-winded, rambling things belong.
NYCO said:
The peace marches of 2002 and 2003 were impressive, but perhaps I'm not alone in feeling that they lacked a soul (at least here in America).
The Left has lost its sense of outrage. It has been replaced with an impotent longing for the days when we could make a difference. We try to recapture those days by organizing and taking part in the marches and protests that NYCO referred to, but...it just ain't the same.
Why not?
In the 60's, you had a group of people who were morally opposed to the war and the administration, and they were willing to
risk it all to put a stop to it. This was a moment when the outrage of individuals was harnessed and turned into something bigger. It brought about huge changes in our politics, our culture, and our society in general.
The outrage was so great and so real that there was nothing that could contain it. There were wonderful, outraged leaders that made wonderful, raging speeches that inspired people to make use of the liberties they were blessed with in order to express their own outrage, and to make a difference. They understood that if they didn't excercise these rights they would atrophy and die.
So far in this century, we seem all too willing to shirk our duty as citizens. As long as the government pretends to protect us, we're willing to give up our right to kick its butt. The faraway threat of a Communist Viet Nam was apparently not enough to make the most powerful citizens in the world forget their sense of duty, but when the crows came home to roost on September 11th, we huddled together and closed our eyes, waiting for the day when our leaders would tell us it was safe to come out again...a day that would never come...a day that will never come.
And so, we take our longing for days gone by and try to make something happen with it. This'll be just like the 60s! Well, it ain't gonna happen. Back then, we were motivated by moral outrage and sense of duty above all else. What motivates us today?
In a day when everything is someone else's fault, Outrage seems to have been reduced to throwing down the newspaper in disgust. After all, we've got other things to worry about now.
Who has time for moral outrage when there are so many credit card bills to pay? We all refinanced our homes, and now we've got to keep our shit together long enough to do it again before that variable rate kicks in. All of our kids are on anti-depressants. Hell, my friggin' dog started taking them yesterday. That's so depressing that I may start dipping into her prescription myself.
But these are all symptoms of the same problem. We've assumed the position of the powerless, and we get a sickening comfort in the blamelessness that this position affords us. I have no power, so I couldn't possibly be responsible for ______. Well, it's past time to remember that we are responsible. We are to blame. We've been miserable failures for thirty years because we've lost our outrage.
And so, back to NYCO's comment. The American peace marches of this century have lacked soul. What took place in Great Britain and elsewhere on the planet made our efforts look pretty lame. Living in a society that does not take its liberties for granted (or has no liberties) must bring out the best in people when the chips are down.
The chips are down.
Find your outrage.