Yesterday Meteor Blades put out a call for black armbands this Friday. Great idea, but two days notice makes this a very unserious meme.
Eric Pusey contacted me five days ago about this protest coming up on Sunday:Voices for Peace
Mass Mobilization to tell Congress
It's Time to End the War!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
1:00pm
South Steps of the State Capitol
If he had mentioned black armbands, I would have flogged it before now, but he didn't, adding to my suspicion that Meteor Blades just pulled this one out of thin air.
But I do have an idea that might work. The point to a movement is to show numbers consistently, to establish an ongoing presence. One day proves nothing other than to start arguments at the office water cooler (not necessarily a bad thing).
We need a universal antiwar symbol. Something passive, not confrontational. Something you can't ban school kids from wearing. Something easily made at home, and not a merchandising gimmick.
I'm thinking along the lines of a black diamond or square. Simple enough to go with any outfit. No message, people would figure out what it meant soon enough.
But for godssake not another ribbon. Something simple, something somber. And maybe, maybe on special days like pre-announced days of protest, we could wear black, as befits a nation that should be in mourning over lives lost to gain nothing more than oil. Oil we're not getting, and lives lost in vain (but Bush's vanity, not ours).
Wege's comments are self-fisking, but he needs some help with symbol design. How does one draw a black hole? Speaking of which, Air America will be there Sunday.
