Thought for Food

True, to a degree. But that ignores the fact that on Feb. 15, 2003, 3 million marched in Rome to protest the war, making it the largest demonstration in world history, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The UK saw the biggest protest in its history. In Dublin, nearly 100,000 took to the streets (I was one of them.)

That weekend, nearly 400,000 people in New York City joined in the call, declaring, “The World Says No To War.” In San Francisco and LA, 250,000 people marched. And there were significant demonstrations in every major American city and many minor ones, including Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Phoenix, Minneapolis (where my parents marched), Colorado Springs, Princeton, NJ — hell, even Butler, PA.

I believe that protesters are like Internet commenters or ornery letter-writers. For every 1 of them, there are 100 who feel the same but may not vocalize it. There were millions who disagreed with this war — but it is devastatingly clear that nothing was going to stop the Administration.

However, Squashed is right: it remains the case that we, the war’s detractors, were in the minority. What can I say? There are a lot of clueless people in this country. I mean, 31% of Americans still approve of Bush. WTF?

In many cases, I think more people would have questioned the war before it began if the media, the well-paid professionals trained to so, had bothered.

Still, I get Squashed’s aggravation. I feel it, too. Fuck it America, I’ve wanted to say this for years: I TOLD YOU SO.