For those care at about whateverthefuck the protests are, what question would you ask them?
The protest in San Diego is going on this weekend. I went last night, when they were assembled in a nearby park, just to get a feel what the average protester is like, without getting anything filtered by the media. And I wanted to ask them what they thought the goals of the protest were.
So far I've talked with:
And yes, there were drum circles and ridiculous signs and I'm sure a lot of unemployed hippies too. And one guy who walked through shouting "get a job, losers!"
There were a lot of Obama apologists there, and a surprising number of people espousing libertarian views. There wasn't much of any arguing; I suspect these people think their a lot more unified ideologically then they really are.
Anyway, I'll be back later today. If anyone actually wants to ask them a good question, I'll see what I can do.
The protest in San Diego is going on this weekend. I went last night, when they were assembled in a nearby park, just to get a feel what the average protester is like, without getting anything filtered by the media. And I wanted to ask them what they thought the goals of the protest were.
So far I've talked with:
- A middle-aged couple of guys who thought that despite his failings, Obama's "head and heart" were in the right place, and his efforts were stifled by republicans. One said that the top issue should be removing subsidies for argibusiness and the oil industry. Although they'd be small cuts, they're "highly symbolic in nature".
- A university student who said we should focus on closing the tax loopholes and ending the bush tax cuts. He was very insistent that we shouldn't get caught up with blaming anyone, and instead just focus on what to do next.
- A guy in a Guy Fawkes mask, rallying for internet freedom and 1st amendment rights. He told that he didn't support wikileaks because it singles out America, and doesn't try to pull out any dirt on other countries. He said that we should go back to the bill of rights, and in particular protecting 2nd amendment rights. He kept getting into an arguments with the others about his libertarian views.
- An older gentlemen who told me that "self-confirmatory ideation is the source of all pathology". Not sure what he meant by that.
- A very old man with a huge beard saying we should return to gold standard. "The banks wouldn't own us". When asked further, he explained that whatever problems we had arising from it, our problems are worse now.
- A pair of Ron Paul supporters who said "it's not about left or right, it's about finding a foundation where we could plant the seeds of love, and watch that tree grow, and bring some piece into our lives." One's top issue was withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan. The other's was establishing "real capitalism", where you "get the benefits of your hard work or success, and you actually fail when you fail". He told me was against government regulation in general because it "creates a false sense of security", in that federal agencies get bought out by industries anyway.
- A squadron of folks holding up signs and talking on loudspeakers about how Jesus is the answer to our problems.
- A younger person who told me that cap-and-trade was a bad idea, because it doesn't encourage broad enough thinking (CO2 isn't the only greenhouse emission), and let's industries "offset" their emission by planting trees, an act which doesn't do all that much to remove carbon from the air. He said that thorium nuclear and tidal power are the ways to go. Wind is weak and solar is far too inefficient.
And yes, there were drum circles and ridiculous signs and I'm sure a lot of unemployed hippies too. And one guy who walked through shouting "get a job, losers!"
There were a lot of Obama apologists there, and a surprising number of people espousing libertarian views. There wasn't much of any arguing; I suspect these people think their a lot more unified ideologically then they really are.
Anyway, I'll be back later today. If anyone actually wants to ask them a good question, I'll see what I can do.
