Journal TPFH's Journal: Don't these people have jobs? 1
Last August our fair city of Little Beruit was visited by our Fearless Leader. As is tradtion here in PDX, we gave him the appropriate welcome he deserves. After he left the vicinity the crowd of a couple thousand people returned to the realtively nearby park to regroup, eat lunch, and go home respectively. There was an altercation with a bus containing campaign contributors, but it was minor, the bus was on its way within 10 minutes I think, but the police persisted in blocking traffic and giving orders to disperse for probably over an hour. (I could check the vidio I took to see. It was mostly boring.)
To get to the point of this discussion, on my way home afterwards I was listening to Victor Boc on talk radio and he was describing the events after the incident mentioned above, and how long it took for people to leave exclaimed "Don't these people have jobs?" It is very much an Ad Hominem attack, and thus it shouldn't even warrent arguing in the first place, but just the same it is one that is often heard at political demonstrations: "Get a job!" "Get a life!"
I haven't listened to Victor Boc a whole lot but from what I had listened to before I had thought of him as more of a real conservative, rather than a reactionary who mostly resorts to Ad Hominem attacks. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should listen to him more. The thing is, his radio station is owned by a fundamentalist christian who also owns the Portland Tribune, which is actually better than the Oregonian. That's not saying much but they do regularly have commentary from those in the radical political community instead of just reactionary "conservatives" vs. wimpy "liberals" like most of the mainstream media.
Yesterday I saw The Matrix Revolutions, on its first day, at a 1pm showing. I'm still unemployed, and I went with my now platonic girlfriend who is self employed. I'm not going to discuss what I thought of the movie at this time, but when the movie was over we continued to sit and listen to the music and watch the credits roll by. I often watch the credits and part of why I watched the credits is that previous Matrix movies have had stuff after the credits.
(Side note: I was going to after the first movie because my mom told me to wait, but when Marilyn Manson came on I left the theature forgetting to wait for the credits because I just cannot stand Marilyn Manson.)
um.... anyway, as I was watching the credits and listen to the music which I was enjoying, and talking to my girlfriend about the movie I thought of the statement "Don't these people have jobs?" in the context of someone seeing a movie durring work hours to see a high profile movie on the first day. After the movie was over there were people that remained in their seats watching the movie. "Don't these people have jobs?" Why are they wasting their time watching credits when they should be at work like "normal" Americans?
It struck me that criticizing political demonstraitors with this argument is rather like criticizing a movie with the same argument. Again, I'm not going to to discuss here what I thought of Revolutions. For sake of argument, The Phantom Menace was crap. (Go ahead and sue me George Lucas but your movie was Crap!) There were however people who took the day off from work to see this movie. Some of these people probably waited for the credits to finish before leaving. They took the day off from work, it really doesn't matter how soon they leave the theature. Some of them were unemployed, it doesn't matter how quickly they leave the theature.
What's the point? The point is that this has no bearing on how good the movie is. Are these people wasting their time? Maybe, but I saw The Phantom Menace after work and that doesn't make it a better movie. Now that I'm unemployed that doesn't mean that The Phantom Menace was a better movie than The Matrix Revolutions because I was employed when I saw The Phantom Menace.
Those that took the time to come out personally to criticize George W. Bush had their reasons. In the past I have taken a vacation day to participate in a political demonstration. Many that participated were colledge students who have much more flexable scheduales than those in the "real world", especially considering it was the summer. Many that were there were older people who are retired. There was a significant participation from the anarcho-punk community. Now that I am unemployed is my voice or my pressence at a political demonstration any less valid than when I was employed?
(I'm thinking this might be an appropriate way to end this essay but I would like to explain a little about political demonstrations here.)
After the Bush Protest this year as I already said, a lot of people had packed lunches and were eating in the park after the protest. It was a nice sunny day and a picnic in the park is something that political activists and non-political-activists alike might enjoy. (It is freezing in Oregon right now and I sure miss the hot summer of August.)
There is something that those that do not participate in political demonstrations might not understand: It is dangerous to leave alone after a demonstration when there is a large police presence. In Portland the police have a history of taking pot shots at random protestors after a protest is over and people are already going home. For this reason it has become not only custom but highly recommended to wait until the police disperse before the protestors disperse, or to at least leave in a group.
You can think of it as safety in numbers. As far as witnesses go, the police in Portland pretty much get away with just about any use of excessive force, even beating up little old ladies. However, being in a crowd with witnesses, cameras, video cameras and alternative media presence might make the difference between being beaten up and arrested, and being hospitalized or worse.
On this particular occation the police, while they did a reatively better job than the year before, repeatedly excalated the situation just as people were settling down. They blocked traffic and gave orders to disperse when nothing at all was going on. People wanted to leave but did not feel save doing so. And I with my video camera was not going to leave until the police had dispersed and I was sure that most of the crowd was going to be able to safely leave the area.
(I might revise this tomorrow or at least add some hyperlinks. I'm considering sending a note to Victor Boc as well. I wonder if he would respond here in my own journal forum.)
(It is rather ironic that I am not discussing here why I am critical of George W. Bush, but then the issue that I am discussing is the Ad Hominem attack of "get a job." It is an obvious fallacy. These days Ad Hominem attacks saturate political debate. It is idiotic but there is so much of it. I don't expect this essay to dispell the fallacy but it seemed like an interesting way to explain this.)
(I'll probably write a couple more essays dancing around my politics before I get into anything really deep. For the record I have a conservative background. I was actually registered as a Republican at one time. I have never been registered as a democrat but I might this year if I think it can help prevent Liberman from getting the Democratic Nomination. I loath Al Gore with a passion. My politics are complicated and are somewhere between Libertarian, Green and Anarchism. Make of that what you will. I think for myself rather than let myself be dominated by ideology or political parties. Strangely enough my father who is a life long Replublican and was a Marine Corps officer agrees with most of my politics, but he voted for Al Gore. Sigh.)
Hi (Score:1)
Eerily similar. Did you steal my childhood experiences?