International A.N.S.W.E.R., still the favorite ally of thugs, fascists, murderers, and totalitarians anywhere.
But don’t you dare point out that marching with them in ‘peace protests’ is a horrible idea- then you are ‘stifling dissent.’
by John Cole| 15 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity
International A.N.S.W.E.R., still the favorite ally of thugs, fascists, murderers, and totalitarians anywhere.
But don’t you dare point out that marching with them in ‘peace protests’ is a horrible idea- then you are ‘stifling dissent.’
Comments are closed.
The Mighty Reason Man
Yeah, you see Cole, there comes a point where it’s not so much you marching with ANSWER, but ANSWER marching with you.
Given the size of the antiwar protests back in the day (February, if I recall correctly), I feel absolutely confident in saying that all those people weren’t marching with the Socialists, but that the Socialists were matching with all those people.
Want proof? How big are the protests going on right now?
What protests, you ask? Exactly. The vast majority (though certainly not all) of the non-Commie types are sitting the marches out these days. Which leads us to the inevitable conclusion that most of the marchers back before the war were NOT dictator-lovin’ commie sumbitches.
“Ooh ooh!” you say, “But if ANSWER is marching with you, you must be wrong!”
To which I disdainfully reply “So it is all right for me to associate the beloved Rev. Fred Phelps with anyone opposed to gay marriage? After all, according to your logic, if a bad person agrees with you, you must automatically be wrong, and must be made to answer (get it?!?) for their sins.”
John Cole
No, Mighty Reason Man. I am talking about the rallies specifically organized by International A.N.S.W.E.R.
I have no problem with people marching and some ANSWER idiots showing up, but when you go to ‘peace’ rallies sponsored by and organized by A.N.S.W.E.R., you give them legitimacy.
Quit distorting my words.
The Mighty Reason Man
Cole-
Legitimacy, hell.
If merely organizing a rally that people were going to go to anyway gave a group legitimacy, then having somewhere around a million people show up across North America on a single day would make ANSWER more than a punchline. They’re not.
Please, show me someone anywhere near the mainstream that approves of ANSWER (and by “mainstream”, I mean “someone who I won’t laugh at you for calling mainstream” – and by “approves of”, I DON’T mean “does not condemn as strongly as you would like”) or advocates their beliefs.
I know quite a few people who marched (although, for various reasons, I did not), and not a single one of them thinks ANSWER is anything but a joke.
ANSWER was smart in using popular sentiment to get their names in the papers by being the ones to go out and actually organize the rallies – but by virtue of the sheer volume of turnout, no one group can claim ownership of those rallies – and I don’t give a damn whose name was on the permit.
You keep yelling about memes, how about you put your money where your mouth is and do your part to extinguish a particularly dishonest one and quit equating the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in those rallies with an insignificant group with an outsized ego that no one paid attention to before, and no one will pay attention to in the future.
John Cole
Whatever- The next time the KKK schedules a rally, you better not say a word about anyone attending- even if ‘everyone’ was going to attend anyway.
If you do not comprehend how attending ANSWER rallies legitimizes them and enables them to spread their poison, there is no amount of me trying to explain it that will do any good.
John Cole
And if you attend a rally run by Fred Phelps, yes, you are an asshole.
John Cole
Also- I am not sure what meme you are talking about. There were plenty of peace rallies run by respectable organizations. However, several rallies were orchestrated and run by ANSWER. Period. Do you want the dates? Do you want the links to the ANSWER sight and the write-ups from Nazimedia.
This is not a meme. This is just the truth. I have stated over and over again I have no rpoblem with peace protests, and I have no problem with people standing up for what they believe in. But when you legitimize the ANSWER crowd, you dont have my respect.
Kimmitt
The antiwar marches are very often organized by ANSWER. ANSWER does the shit work of getting permits, scheduling, promoting, et cetera, and then the folks who share their opinion on this one issue free ride — in the case of the earlier antiwar protests, outnumbering the ANSWER folks by as much as 100 to 1.
Andrew Lazarus
My feeling is that having ANSWER organize rallies drives attendance down. It certainly discourages me, knowing the stupid signs they will have printed and will encourage people to carry. [It may surprise readers of the comments to learn that I have significant differences of opinion with ANSWER.]
The Mighty Reason Man
Cole-
“Whatever- The next time the KKK schedules a rally, you better not say a word about anyone attending- even if ‘everyone’ was going to attend anyway.”
If two hundred people had shown up at a handful of ANSWER-organized rallies, I’d say fuck ’em, just as I’d condemn anyone who showed up at a Klan rally.
But that’s not what happened. Somewhere around a million people marched in North America – in one day.
The scale of the thing proves that ANSWER had little to do with the actual attendees – as I pointed out, ANSWER’s still holding rallies, but not a whole lot of people are showing up. Why? Because the people marching in February weren’t pro-ANSWER, they were anti-war. If they were pro-ANSWER, they’d still be showing up at the rallies.
“If you do not comprehend how attending ANSWER rallies legitimizes them and enables them to spread their poison, there is no amount of me trying to explain it that will do any good.”
Leave the condescension to me, John, I’m much better at it.
Show me one – ONE – even marginally mainstream Liberal who has said or implied that ANSWER (or their ideas) should be praised/accepted/reevaluated/whatever because they organized those rallies.
Let me clue you in to a little secret that might help you understand us liberals a bit better: We don’t fucking care about idiot Marxists – if they want to do some of the dirty work, fine, but if you are using “ANSWER” and “legitimacy” in the same sentence, you need to bash your head against the wall until the crazy goes away.
Here’s an interesting question for you: Let’s say a massive event was about to take place in this country, something that was absolutely anathema to you as a libertarian- like, say, nationalization of manufacturing. Let us also say that there was a massive nationwide protest against this scheduled to occur. Now, suppose the people who organized SOME of the larger rallies and got the permits and such were members of a hardcore anti-abortion group – you know, someone that us on the Left really hates.
Would it be all right for me to completely ignore the point of your rally (to which 1 million people showed up! Congratulations!) and instead try to contantly equate all those who opposed the nationalization of manufacturing with a few idiots screaming about how even severe risks to a mother’s health never, ever justifies abortion?
“Of course it wouldn’t be all right for you to do that! Abortion and nationalization have nothing to do with one another!” you might be inclined to say.
Ho ho. Like how Marxism has nothing to do with opposition to the invasion of another country?
Funny how that works out, eh?
“I am not sure what meme you are talking about. There were plenty of peace rallies run by respectable organizations. However, several rallies were orchestrated and run by ANSWER. Period. Do you want the dates? Do you want the links to the ANSWER sight and the write-ups from Nazimedia.
This is not a meme. This is just the truth.”
I will ignore the fact that this is almost certainly willful stupidity on your part. No one is denying that ANSWER organized some of the larger rallies — although you get to score a few rhetorical points by pretending I did.
The meme I refer to is the idea that the attendees of the rallies somehow were supporting ANSWER, and, by extension, Marxism, dictators, human suffering, and probably a few others that have slipped my mind at the moment.
Perhaps if you were to show that you are physically capable of referring to the rallies or the antiwar contingent without mentioning ANSWER, you would be able to argue that you aren’t promoting this meme, and I would be able to take what you say about the rallies seriously.
But you haven’t, so you can’t, so I don’t.
John Cole
REason Man- Check my Archives from 27 January 2003- Talking Past Each Other.
I have no problem with peace protests. I have a problem with ANSWWER. Maybe you were busy attending their rallies while I watched the ANSWER keynote speakers at a dc march on C-Span, calling for the end of Israel, calling Bush Hitler, calling for slave reparations, begging to free Mumia, pandering to Castro, and tongue-kissing North Korea, all while 50k-100k people are paraded past the C-Span cameras in supposed ‘support.’ Yes the people may have been there for peace marches, but that is not how it appeared on tv.
If you can’t grasp how that legitimizes hate groups like ANSWER, I can not help you.
IN the future, I may organize the god damn peace rallies, since the ‘decent’ left is too lazy to do it themselves.
Andrew Lazarus
Actually, John, most of the decent left DOES NOT SUBSCRIBE to ANSWER’s demand for immediate return of the troops. (I don’t.)
So we don’t need peace rallies. We need anti-Bush rallies to get rid of the prancing cowboy who ignored the war on terror (did you see some more deaths in Afghanistan?) to get his Real War and flight suit costume. And we’ll have them next year. They will be called “Election Rallies” and will be 10x bigger than anything ANSWER can pull off.
Noel
I wouldn’t go to a Klan rally against race-preferences, even though preferences are wrong.
These aren’t ‘peace’ or ‘anti-war’ demonstrations, anyway…they are Defeat America Rallies. These clowns are on the other team.
Kimmitt
Fuck you, fuck your mom, and fuck the horse both of you rode in on, asshole.
Sorry — said the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud.
Blah blah blah blah “intellectually banrkrupt” blah blah “modern-day red baiting” blah blah “intolerance for dissent.”
There we go; much better.
David Perron
Time to get those meds adjusted, Michael.
Dean
It’s red-baiting to call Communists Communists?
Thanx, Kimmitt, for that new definition.
Or is ANSWER NOT a Communist organization?
Not that it matters. They could be an auxiliary to the RNC, and their support for Kim Jong-Il would still be revolting and repulsive.