Now, I have my own personal take on "The War" which really doesn't have much of a place here. Maybe I'll start a political blog for those kinds of rants. That said, one little tiny thing that I do believe is that as absolutely horrible a tragedy these deaths are, there would likely be serious hell to pay if we just packed up and came home. Who knows, though. Well, these guys think they know.
I departed at about 1:15 to ride to my KC PHP User Group meeting, which is actually more like a (L)AMP fanboy club. On my way there, I found a stickered-up Nintendo DS in the gutter. It still works. It includes a positively horrifying game, and the only personalization it's got aside from the stickers is the first name of the kid who owns it, programmed into the user information profile. I put up a Craigslist Lost & Found posting for it. If some parent can tell me the color, the kid's name, and the other unique things about it, I'll hand it over. Otherwise, it looks like I go shopping for a power cable and some games. Go me!
The meeting was... the PHP meeting. Nothing exciting worth mentioning. On my way home, I saw the hippies. I stopped to take a few pictures and laugh at them. People were honking and they would all beat their chests, raise their signs up and cheer loudly. There were megaphones in use. Chanting. All that good stuff. I particularly enjoyed the irony of the guy with the "Peace takes brains" sign.
Oh well, not my fault that they wasted an absolutely beautiful evening making fools of themselves, I suppose. Far be it from me to tell people what to do. They provided me with at least 30 seconds of enjoyment on an otherwise dull slogfest towards home after my KCPUG meeting.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Stop and smell the hippies.
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11 comments:
Man, Godwin's Law hit early with that crowd.
At least they were standing up for something they believe in, rather than simply being joyful for happening upon some material thing that they came across at the expense of another....
Or being anonymous armchair quarterbacks on someone's blog comments ;)
If you look closely at that picture of the 'hippies,' you'll notice that there is a MIX of people there.. young anarchists, old people, mothers with children. And I can say for sure that the Seattle protests have the same mix!
Noah, does 'hippie' just mean not going along with the system?! Please tell us what's hippie about them..
What the mix of people protesting says is that the war is so screwed up is that it's uniting people that normally wouldn't talk. Which means they aren't crazy, they aren't hippies on drugs, they are normal people that actually use logic..
Wake up Amer'ca!! The Man is real, and Big Oil runs the fucking world.. now if we could all switch to bikes we wouldn't be discussing this war at all (since we wouldn't need as much oil)..
- written from the bleeding-heart capitol of the world, Seattle.
Spongbob Squarepants and Barney the Dinosaur must die!
Matt: ThERE WE GO! That's the spirit, and what I was hoping to stir up.
"hippie: noun. someone who rejects the established culture; advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle "
Call me crazy, but rallying on busy street corner with life-sized naked Bushes, goofy signs, hitler references and whatnot pretty much reeks of extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle to me. That would make them so-called hippies by the definition of the word. I never said any of them were crazy or on drugs. No, I call those people "madmen" and "drug addicts" respectively.
You can be a young anarchist, old person, mother, child, or even a dog breeder for all I care -- and still have an extreme liberal bias.
Is there anything particularly wrong with being a hippy? No. I'm simply not one. Is there anything wrong with me getting a chuckle from their little display? Certainly not. And I wouldn't do anything to stop them from practicing their right to assemble peaceably.
Sure, this war's messed up. Sure, I'd rather have someone other than Bush running things right now.
While I'm on my soapbox, I should address the anonymous naysayer:
I wasn't overjoyed finding the Nintendo DS. I don't play games, ever. I put a posting on craigslist (perhaps you missed that part) and I fully intend on returning it to its rightful owner. When there's nothing other than a child's first name on it to help me find whose it is, there's a good chance that this will never find its way home. If that's the case, It'll probably find its way into my wife's hands to keep her entertained while she works her graveyard shifts. The last game I got seriously into was GT2 on the original Playstation, which aside from this DS, is the newest piece of video gaming equipment I own.
Hi Noah,
You know the fun thing. Those people probably all drove. You riding does more to fight the war with one pedal stroke at a time. Your 4k miles is helping more than their signs.
It is kind of funny, since I'm pretty much indifferent about the environment, peak oil, and all that, and while I'm not "pro-war", I'm certainly not as anti-war as these folks. :)
I haven't been keeping track of the miles on my car, but I do think that I've ridden more miles than I've driven this year. I've also taken a lot of public transportation, probably more miles on the bus than by bike and car combined, from earlier this year.
Wow, all those miles on a bike and Peaceniks to boot. But your probably still just a fat man on a bike. But don't worry I am too.
Iowa Bob
Why should I try to get a nice six-pack, when I've already got a keg?!
Is it not great you live in a country where a crowd like that is free to assemble so that you can exercise your right to laugh at them?
I would love to say that protecting their rights and yours was the reason our president used to start that damn war, but he had his own agenda. Just be grateful people can still congregate with a modicum of freedom.
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