Now that’s a protest! Abbie Hoffman, of SDS Weatherman fame, pointed out an effective protest didn’t have to make sense. Hoffman created the anti-wat chant, “Hey, Hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today!” He pointed out the chant was nonsense. He knew that the emerging TV MSM would jump on the slogan. Six o’clock news producers had a choice. Give an administration talking head two minutes to debunk the slogan or show a thirty second clip of a bunch of freaks chanting the slogan. To a news whore there was no choice…. que the freaks.
Fifty years later chants are good but flashy videos are even better. A Colorado man set himself on fire outside the Supreme Court. He got his fifteen minutes of fame but not the video splash he hoped for. Where did he go wrong?
Prime location, the Supreme Court, Washington DC. Got that. Symbolic date, Earth Day, okay. Friday, prime time, at six P.M., missed the six o’clock news but plenty of time for the eleven o’clock broadcast. Manifesto blaming other people, events for an essentially selfish act, got it. What went wrong? I’m guessing that being a liberal he missed the whole irony thing.
People accuse me of being an asshole. They could be right. But is it wrong to wonder if using a hydrocarbon product is the wrong way to go when protesting the development of hydrocarbon recourses? Just asking.
According to his friends the crispy critter cared deeply for his cause. Fellow environmental wackos show that you care even more, follow his example.
