Bush Protesters

Recently my daughter C started work in Salt Lake City. She got a close up and personal view of some events surrounding President Bush's visit to that city. She emailed me a report of her experience. Here it is:

So, we got to see a lot of protesters on Wednesday. That was kind of fun. I decided that protesters are really just confused and misguided sports fans. I mean, you’ve got all the elements of a pre-game rally – megaphones, attention-getting signs, crowd-pleasing charts, frolicking in the fountain – but then there’s no football afterwards. It’s really quite a let-down. I think it’s no wonder protesters often become violent. After going to all that work and then not having a game to watch, they probably figure that they might as well just start tackling each other. I know that’s what I’d do.

My [co-worker] and I spent about an hour on Wednesday watching the protesters…. Pres. Bush was in town to give a speech, and Rocky Anderson had arranged this protest outside of the federal building.... Rocky and his minions kept calling for Orrin Hatch to come out and “speak to the people.” [Co-worker] pointed out that it would make more sense for them to call for Matheson, since he’s a pro-war Democrat, but I don’t think sense is usually a consideration in politics.

[T]here was a kid down there doing really good business selling anarchy t-shirts. But honestly, if I really believed in anarchy, I wouldn’t reward that capitalist pig for his attempts to “sell” his “private property” by giving him paper issued by a meaningless government entity. I’d just punch him in the face and take it. What’s wrong with anarchists these days?

My favorite protester sign was one that compared the Bush administration to the Taliban on one side and said, “Save Pluto” on the other side. I guess as long as you’ve got people’s attention, you might as well protest everything that bothers you.

Lots of the protesters – particularly the ones frolicking the fountains, for some reason – had signs that said things like “Love is the subtlest force in the universe” and “the answer is LOVE.” I find this amusing as a political statement. It’s not like Bush won the election on an anti-love platform. In fact, I think you’d be hard pressed to find many people who are really opposed to love. I’m quite in favor of love myself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I intend to join an anti-Bush protest any time soon.

Even less logical in terms of argumentative force was the Anti-Bush Dance Squad. “You know, I always used to think that Bush was a pretty decent president, but then I saw those girls doing a choreographed dance routine while wearing ‘Impeach Bush’ armbands. Now I don’t know what to think.”

I’m thinking of starting up a “Save Pluto” dance team myself. Let me know if you’d like to join.