An Exercise in Futility

I am going to attempt to keep my blog apolitical as much as possible (I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind at any point), but today I am going to discuss a couple of political issues, but since I will be any equal-opportunity ranter, I feel no remorse about doing so.

Tomorrow a "protest" is supposed to occur. All people who do not support the war are being called upon to not spend any money tomorrow. Don't buy gas, don't buy groceries, don't buy anything. I'm not going to sit here and tell you or anyone else what to think of the war. I just want to say that I hate the idea of this protest. I find it both pointless and tasteless. Why, you ask.

First of all, the idea that a single day where people do not buy anything will make any difference is absurd. If you wish to actually impact anything, you must make an actual change. This follows the same logic as the recent "Don't buy gasoline" day. Even if no one bought gas on that day, everyone still ended up buying the same amount. If no one goes out and buys groceries tomorrow, do you think that everyone is going to go hungry? Obviously not, people will buy groceries (and everything else they need) on another day. What has been proven? Nothing.

For the sake of argument, let's assume a point can be made. What is that point, and who is on the receiving end of it? If you stop buying all goods and services tomorrow, how much will it impact the administration you believe is waging an unfair war? Not too much. If all of a sudden, money stops flowing into grocery stores and restaurants and little Mom and Pop hardware stores, do you think that will change the situation in Iraq? The direct impact is going to be on your friends, your neighbors, your coworker's kid trying to pay his way through college, the people closest to you. Why should you harm them for the sake of making a point that may or may not even be noticed? Is it the fault of all of these people that we went to war? If the current administration makes decisions you don't like, should you take it out on the person that lives across the street? This is the same logic that led the "Freedom Fries" lunacy recently. The people in favor of going to war with Iraq were screaming for bans of all things French or German. Stop drinking French wine and eating French cheese. Don't go visit Germany. Their governments dared to oppose the opinion of our own, and people felt the need to punish the vineyard owner who may or may not even share her government's opinion and the dairy farmer who may or may not even be a supporter of his current elected officials. Why punish those with whom you have no disagreement?

On the flip-side, we have the nearly-ubiquitous "Support Our Troops" ribbons. It seems that almost every other car I see on the road has at least one of these, be it a magnetic ribbon affixed to the side or a sticker on the rear window. Are we to think that, aside from being the aesthetic equivalent of gum on the underside of one's shoe, the ribbons are to imply that anyone not showcasing them is not supporting the troops? They would seem to be saying something like that. Oh, I see. They're about "raising awareness." Of course, because no one is actually aware that there is a war going on and citizens of our country and others are dying everyday. After all that's never on the news.

Just like with the protest issue above, this is being approached the wrong way. We don't need to raise awareness of the troops; I assure you everyone is well aware of their situation. You want to support the troops? Good, so do I. Stop spending money on ribbons that serve no purpose except to make someone more money. If all the money spent on these ribbons were collected, how much would there be? How much good could be done with it? How much support could be given to the troops in the form of needed supplies?

Whether we are talking about a protest that is at once too small in scale and too broad in scope or a ribbon affixed to the side of one's vehicle, we are talking about the same thing. People looking for a way to make a big point and a big change by doing almost nothing. This is why I chose the title "An Exercise in Futility" today. Change is difficult, my friends. If you want something done, you must be willing to do something about it. There is no quick fix.

Sorry for today's ranting. Tomorrow we should return to our regularly scheduled programming: Pointless, soap-box free ramblings.

Until later...