I have searched far and wide across the vast stretches of media sources that have covered the G20 summit, the protest, and the riots that ensued. In my search I have not found a single bias-less article on the matter. Second hand accounts from a few twittering, angry, uninformed leftist or heavey worded, quick to generalize conservatives,
I mean wheres the straight up middle ground in all of this. It doesn’t matter what side of the wall your on people, there’s always someone with an alternative agenda. —Patron of the News
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2010.
Problem is, there’s no good news story here, nor is there a middle ground. You talk to the protesters, all you hear is that same old, tired, revolutionary talk, and the news just shows them being arrested.
This isn’t like the Iran elections. Everyone knew what the hell was going on there. There was a clear cut bad guy. These protesters are their own worst enemy. They came out saying there would essentially be war in the streets, and that’s what they got. The message gets lost, no matter how noble it is.
Ah, to be politically idealistic, and not so cynical.
that’s why i tend to stay away frm this type of shit, no good ever flows from it.
…but then there were 25,000 peaceful protestors whose message got lost by the hoopla. Not like peaceful protests change things, but still kind of sad.
Protests rarely change anything, ralmn. Both peaceful and violent. However, it’s all about voicing your opinion. The violent protesters have allowed the violence to become the message, not the actual opinion.
These protests accomplish nothing. No doubt the only reason they are there is in hopes all hell breaks loose so they can loot stores and score an iPhone or netbook.
I agree totally Dr. Fever. Which means the peaceful opinions got lost last week. It just became a violent shit show. And now those asshats will be high fiving each other saying what a great job they did hijacking the G20… Too bad they don’t see that public opion is mostly totally against them and the only thing they succeeded in doing was justify the gazillion dollars spent on security. Hopefully they’ll try the same in South Korea and maybe we’ll never see them again after they’re arrested there.
Hard to say who invented the concept of “The Big Lie” Some say Hitler; some say Stalin. Personally I think it’s been around for a long, long time. Zog probably used it to justify slamming Nog over the head with a tapir’s leg bone in order to steal his baby-back ribs and his women.
(Hybrid Kubrick/Flintstones reference – thank you liberal arts degree).
Either way, we saw it in spades this weekend and we’ll see it for a long time to come. I’m certainly no fan of the G-8/20 or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I’ve no great faith in their ability to radically improve my life. But compared to the howling mob of Hitler Youth, I have no doubts about who can fuck up society the least. Really – Help the Third World by lowering ourselves to their level? What a great plan. Are you cribbing from the George W. Bush translation of Sun Tzu?
And my sympathy for the terminally sincere, painfully earnest “Give Peace A Chance” warbling so-called non-violent protestors declines every time they stage an event, knowing full well that the spoiled brats in masks will show up. And still they blame the authorities for inciting violence. That dog just don’t hunt anymore.
ralmn— that’s the problem with most modern protesters today. It’s not about the message, it’s about getting arrested, and getting a picture taken of you by a news service. Then you go onto your revolutionary blog, and post how the oppressive sheeple hindered your rights to free speech. People within the community read the blog, the rest of the world just goes on with their lives. What I don’t get is that they prepare for “war”, yet they’re surprised when the police give them war. Sadly, the event is self-serving.
Ivan— At least the G8/20 is more effective than what the UN has devolved into: a pit of Howler Monkeys.
I prefer to see it as a cut-rate travel agency for Kalashnikov Kleptocrats. Slag off the Great Satan, enjoy some primo shopping in Manhattan. Go clubbing and get lucky – all with diplomatic immunity. Go home with a big fat cheque, straight into the President for Life’s Swiss bank account. I’ve shit ’em.