MARISSA'S JERRY MCGUIRE MOMENT

Official TFM best friend, sin-ternational correspondent, liberal hippie, and accomplished matchmaker Marissa Mika has some strong words for the campus antiwar movement.

I have one Yiddish expression for you: oy vey. If I get one more petition, one more flyer or one more invitation to a teach-in, I think I will impale myself with a short range ballistic missile. And this is coming from someone who thinks bombing Iraq on a pre-emptive strike and engaging in "nation building" à la Afghanistan is a ridiculous idea. And I can't believe our fearless leader has decided to do it.

Other than the cathartic bonus, activism at this juncture seems futile. I hope no one honestly thinks if she is tear gassed and riddled with rubber bullets it will change anything. Being peacefully handcuffed and spending a night in jail will not alter Bush's oil-slick heart.

(snip)

Do you want to change the system? Here's a start: Challenge your conservative, hawkish, tax cut loving, red meat chomping, Social Security salvaging, international relations despising, terrorism fearing, SUV driving, Wal-Mart shopping, gun-toting relatives in the middle of this country who actually think Mr. President is doing a fine job to a dinner table debate match.

Don't be disheartened. You will probably lose because you are a liberal hippie from Berkeley who's had the luxury of preaching to the choir ever since you found the co-ops. Thus, your ability to win a debate about the war with people who are different from you or who go to church rather than meditation will be minimal.

If that doesn't work, and if you want to feel like you're making one last cathartic statement, get arrested. But if you want to make a difference, go into politics.

I am not going to the lockdown in San Francisco, nor walking out of my classes. Instead, I'll see you on the campaign trail of 2004.

Her point, in many ways, is quite well taken. The target of our beams of antiwar sentiment should be middle-America (hmm scroll down a few entries, hehe), indeed. She takes a few shots, including that 1) the co-op/liberal set in Berkeley, or at any other campus really, is enclosed socially (but not necessary in an 'outside world' sense, this is something i could talk at length about were it not so late and so close to my exams) to the point where a lot of things are preached to the choir, and that 2) some people protest for personal psychological ("cathartic") reasons, which may be true in some cases.

I disagree with her in that I'd rather people were protesting than not protesting, and the choice between direct action and debating your grandparents is a false one, both can be done. Nevertheless, I will agree with her that her prescription has the capability to help the cause more than causing someone to be late for work because their bus was blocked by direct-action participants in the street.

(also, hehe, i know you were trying to be cute, but we know whose fault cali's energy "crisis" was)