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But wait, there's more.

There's just no polite way to say "Buy me things", is there?

Join codebastards, I dare you. Remember, codebastards are us.

I'm baded and jitter. So are these people. (And why not follow the previous, next, or random links?)

Need a band name?

Doug vs. Japanese Snack Foods: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

rant is where the heart is

diaryland: sirilyan.diaryland.com: entry for 2001-04-21 (07:00:00)
In which our plucky young hero isn't very radical at all.

Today isn't particularly comical. My apologies to those who read for amusement. I just can't feel amusing right now.


This is what they want you to do.

Yes, it certainly was. The networks spent a lot of time analyzing the fence being penetrated. Interviewed former policemen, economics professors, random guys from the lunchroom. That's time that could have been filled with, gosh, maybe discussion of why the FTAA's allegedly so dang bad. Could've interviewed some of the union people who were there, or someone from Oxfam.

Instead, the public got themselves some truly gripping television. Excellent stuff. The anarchists, and by that I mean the people who on live television were waving red flags and scrawling anarchy symbols all over the street, so maybe if you want to write me and complain they're not real anarchists you need to go out and do something about that brand dilution, sure know how to put on a show!

Of course, maybe the point of protesting the FTAA isn't to put on an entertaining show called Anarchists Kick Ass, hmm? Maybe the point is showing broad-based citizen opposition to the new free trade zone.

Doesn't make as good television that way, though.

I remember how boring it was watching the bridge crossing Thursday. No tear gas, no rock-throwing. Almost as if there were thousands of people who thought it was more important to show, peacefully but vehemently, how they felt than to tear down fences and throw tear gas back at police. There were plenty of those people out yesterday, singing and being joyous in the face of faceless opposition.

But did we, the television audience, see the peaceful protest, the songs and puppet shows? Did we talk with people who have first-hand experience with what globalization does to the poor?

No, the cameras were too busy with people tearing up the sidewalks to have rocks to throw at the police. Large rocks, too, the size that tears skin open when they hit. Good thing those helmets and riot shields were in place, or the prevailing image on the news would have been a blood-drenched policeman.

(By the way, I just have to applaud your rhetorical skills, guys. You're throwing rocks at police. You've achieved a level of dialogue that Palestinian kindergarteners achieved ten years ago.)

Congratulations, anarchists. Now I know what the FTAA protests are all about: if you support the FTAA, someone will try to split your head open with a rock. There's no question of income inequality, or transnational corporate rule, or the death of the nation-state: there's just your head, and the rock, and a red flag waving over it all.

You know, just like you showed the world on live television.

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