I'm going to drop the blog into low gear for a few days as I try to re-discipline myself to writing something that might actually be published and purchased one day. I apologize in advance to my Reader.
In the meantime, I'll offer a proposition for debate within the comments. Background: On September 12, 2009, a large number of people marched on the Capitol in Washington, and were addressed by prominent Republican leaders of Congress. The number of marchers was reported as anywhere from 50,000 to 2,000,000. Proposed for your consideration, then, is the following phrase (one which I do not necessarily agree with):
"It doesn't matter how many people there were at the 9/12 protest, because they failed to express any policy proposal more coherent than generalized distrust of the government."
Please discuss in the comments. I'll be back in a day or two.
Burt (for lack of a better name):
ReplyDeleteContext please. Is thaqt your phrase or somebody else's phrasing?
I came up with what you read, which is my best paraphrase of something half-heard on the radio this morning while I was thinking of something else. I don't know if I agree with the proposition or not.
ReplyDeleteOK fair enough. I'll take you up on this a little later when I have some time to articulate my thoughts on it.
ReplyDeleteTo me it sounds rather a lot like something David Axelrod would say in response to the protests...
I believe said march will be just as effective and politically useful as the anti-war marches were.
ReplyDeleteWell it does matter how many people show up. And, coverage and continued coverage matters. The message may not be more than the claim and the march could still have an effect.
ReplyDeleteIf the numbers are high, it shows a lot of dedication and that would, to me, suggest a higher likelihood of more actions which could eventually be sharpened into some actual cause with a specific demand. And then they might get the demand. And, amount of media coverage might be important to increase their numbers for future events.
But, if it's really just 50,000 and the coverage goes away, it doesn't matter if they had a more concrete message and demand. They don't have the critical mass to get anything done.