The Roch CL postings of the last few days are great examples of the complete impotence of the hippie peacenik "movement":
Let's begin with the the hippies' opening salvo, which was a load of incoherent rambling about the supposed evils of military recruitment. This horseshit is taken from Page 1 of the "Hippie Peacenik Handbook", where, right after a discussion of the importance of tie-dye and patchouli, hippies are instructed to equate the current struggle with Vietnam.
In Vietnam, poor minorities were drafted, and middle-class non-minorities were able to get educational deferments. Because of this 30 year-old set of facts, hippies assume that the military is still up to its same tricks and is coercing today's high school students to enter the military.
This strategy is politically stupid for two reasons: First, it goes against our shared experience of volunteer military recruitment as a relatively benign process. Second, and more importantly, it puts the hippies in a pissing match against the military. A lot of those recruiters who the hippies are calling evil are decorated war heroes. They are honorable men and women who risked their lives in battle. Any successful anti-war strategy must not belittle the brave sacrifice of our troops.
The second hippie strategy is to paint this war as a "war for oil". Of course, this lets the hippies indulge in their favorite pastime: sneering at the "bourgeois" middle-class riding in their SUVs with yellow ribbons.
Here's the hippie "logic" behind this sneer: those people in SUVs are using more oil than the rest of us, so they are the bad guys. I'm a hippie and since I drive a Prius/VW Van/bicycle and use less oil, I'm morally superior. Those SUV drivers display yellow ribbons to show their support for the war that will keep supplying them cheap oil for their gas-guzzling SUV.
The first part of this argument ("I use less") is just stupid. The US consumes the lion's share of all the world's resources. Any US citizen, whether he drives a Prius or an Avalanche, sucks down a huge amount of oil as a member of our society. Hippie, you are a pig like the rest of us - accept it.
The second part of the argument (Yellow Ribbon = War Monger) is even dumber. Whenever hippies see a yellow ribbon, they should see a possible convert to their cause. People displaying ribbons actually care enough about the terrible sacrifice of good young men and women to go out and buy a ribbon and display it. The yellow ribbon means "I want our troops back home soon." Isn't that pretty close to your position, hippie?
So, hippies, if you're still listening, here's what you need to do:
1. Lay off the military - they're just doing what our corrupt and idiotic leaders are telling them to do.
2. Broaden your base: SUV-driving yellow-ribbon-displaying soccer moms hate war. Reach out to them, don't sneer.
3. The "war for oil"/Cheney/Bush/Halliburton/etc. argument is weak. The general point, that we are too dependent on foreign energy sources, is broadly accepted. Leave your Halliburton hobby horse at home.
4. Take a bath. You stink.
