Violence in the Media, Rebellion in the Air

Ok, so I stole the title. I would happily give credit where it's due but it's verse from a cd called "Even if Your Voice Shakes #1" and I lost the nifty little sleeve that tells me the names of artists and songs on it. So sorry whoever you are. Anyhow on to the rant...

I apparently am a coward. Yeah really, so says many bloggers and opinion writers out there in pro-war, pro-bush, pro-ignorance world. So I am going to site some example of what I have faced being an anti-war demonstrator...

I have been: verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, threatened with death, threatened with a dog, threatened with a gun, tear gassed, pepper sprayed, shot with rubber bullets, shot with pepper spray balls, and that was all in one night.

I have been: Called a coward, called a traitor, called a commi, called a hippy, called an asshole, also all in one night.

One of the things I have noticed is that these morons seem to enjoy using every term they can think of at every protest. So I would like to clear some things up.

I am not a coward, or a traitor. I do what I do for my brothers and sisters who still serve so that they can be used to risk there lives for the greater good and not for money.

I am not a communist or a hippy. I'm an anarchist. I would love to go into a discussion about what that is since few people actually seem to know, but to sum it up I'll go with, it is not a lack of order in the world merely a lack of leaders. All decisions are made the groups of people that they affect rather then for them by elected assholes or by large groups of people that have nothing to do with it.

Lastly, I am an asshole. So at least that they got right. I have no problems being an asshole. Sometimes it comes in great handy. I'm not always an asshole, but in general, I would certainly qualify.

So pro-war folks, you have my permission to call me an asshole. When I laugh at you directly after, now you know why.

To tackle the second problem, that was actually noted first but hey what do you want from me? Violence against protesters is not cool. It's also very illegal. The first five things I mentioned up there were done by counter protesters. The remaining was the police. I wasn't breaking the law, or even yelling when they happened. I was taking pictures. Yet for some reason people thought that this was plenty good reason to assault me in a myriad of ways. Maybe it was the cap and bandanna I wore to minimize the effects of chemical agents should any be used against me (and of course they were) either way, what the fuck? I'll leave this one on that note.

The rebellion in the air part is just what is right now. Food prices are rising, gas prices are rising, and there is no way in hell this going to continue unabated unless we do something to slow it down and stop it. So please... raise hell and let them know we won't sit quietly while they steal our livelihood again.