Anti-war Protests
Cathartidae is one of my favorite expat-in-Korea blogs, although I often disagree with its author politically. We do agree about suits, though; he's one of the few Leftists who dresses in a civilized manner. He also recognizes North Korea for the abomination that it is and we agree in our opposition to Mr. Bush's War. In fact, if more on the Left were like him, and more on the Right less like me, political discourse might still be possible in the US.

Here's something else we agree on, from his latest post entitled Protests:

With 56% of Americans now opposed to the War in Iraq, the chance of success fading away, and increased terrorism becoming the real fruit of this war, there is a compelling case to make against our current presence in Iraq. Unfortunately, rather than make this case, the recent anti-war demonstrations in America brought out the usual motley assortment of leftist activists, each with their own pet cause (who exactly is the Cuban 5, BTW?), and each a big fat sitting duck for mockery from the right or casual chuckles from Ma and Pa America right before they change the channel.

Look, I'm all for free speech, and I would never, ever tell these people not to protest whatever it is they are angry about during any given week. But if these people are really, truly serious about bringing the disaster in Iraq to a merciful end, they really, really need to change playbooks. A disparate bunch of hippies, former hippies, communists, socialists, gays, lesbians, anarchists, environmentalists, anti-globalization groups, college kids, and "average folks," with no consistent message among them, does not make for a good visual on TV. Furthermore, the crackpots are going to attract a lion's share of the media attention ("hey is that a guy waving an old soviet flag, let's interview him") and paint the whole movement in a poor light.

I know, it sucks, but image matters. How about standardized protest signs? Or at least strong suggestions about behavior during the protest? Any sort of effort  to clean things up a bit would be a real boon.

Since extremists love conspiracy theories, how about circulating this one: These anti-war protests were actually organized by the White House in an attempt to win Middle America back to the pro-war cause.