Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Tuesday, May. 27, 2003 - 3:49 a.m.

Tough weekend.

Yesterday I got accosted by a pro-war demonstrator who did not feel I was supporting the troops loudly enough when I stopped at a red light at an intersection where his little group was demonstrating. My windows were down, and I was stopped in front of his little section of curb, and since I wasn't honking my horn and waving and giving the thumbs up, he felt I wasn't doing my part. But I smiled, and there was a sign someone had attached to a fence that said "The Left are Sore Losers," so I said - while smiling - what do I gotta be a sore loser for, just coz I'm on the left, I still support the troops, and he, without smiling, said "You can be whatever kind of loser you want, I don't care. You can be a smileyface loser, but you're still a loser." Then he proceeded to tell me I need to fix the dent in my right fender, that my car looks like shit. But I kept smiling and said well, that's from a hit and run, and I don't have the cash right now (two hit and runs in as many weeks...$1000 in deductibles, no thank you), and he goes well, it looks like shit. I am really losing patience at this point, but ever one to try and fix the animosity, I asked him did he also have a kid over in the Gulf, and he said yes, and I said well, I hope your child and everyone else's gets home safely," and in the middle of that sentence to him, he turned his back on me. The guy next to him said thank you and lifted his hand to me, and I rolled up my window, and as I was doing that, the asshole guy stepped over to the other one and started calling me a stupid bitch.

Ain't that sweet?

My question is, why is that group of people so filled with fear? They can't stand for anyone to feel differently or to actually BE different. They can't stand to have their ideas challenged, and when those ideas are, they answer with anger, threats, and abuse. Why is that, all you pro-Bush, pro-war people? Why do you insist on labelling every single person who disagrees with your cause unamerican, unpatriotic, a loser, a bitch, stupid, etc? For *that* matter, why do so many of you sound like ignorant redneck dumbasses?

Bygones. I'm sure you guys think a great many of the anti-war people sound like ignorant flakes. But seriously, you should probably do some policing of your mob and work on some kindler, gentler PR. You'd get a lot further if you weren't attacking every person who disagrees with you.

On the opposite corner was a bunch of anti-war, pro-peace demonstrators, and I went and stood with them for a little while, and while I was there, people kept coming over to them from the pro-war corner and trying to start fights, calling the peaceful people names and insulting them, literally getting in their faces and yelling at them, and in general just being a bunch of Grade-A Number One Fucking Assholes. I was absolutely amazed. And then it turns out the peaceful people have been there for a while on that corner every Sunday at 5, but then the pro-war asses started showing up a few weeks ago, a few more every week, harrassing and threatening the peace people. Yesterday someone actually had to make a 911 cell phone call when one of the war dicks came over and started yelling and pushing. I just don't get it. What is WRONG with you, that you are so fucking fearful of having your ideas challenged? You can't be very sure of yourself, if that's how you handle the situation. One guy came over when the peace people were packing up, and he came up to me and asked me why I was against the action in Iraq, especially on Memorial Day weekend, didn't I respect the people who have died for my freedom, and we started to have a decent discussion. THAT guy seemed to actually want to understand my viewpoint, and I told him I appreciated that he was being respectful of me. But he also didn't want to really hear my reasons for being anti-war, because every time I started to tell him, he kept coming back to don't I support freedom. I couldn't seem to make him understand that I don't believe the invasion of Iraq had anything to do with freedom OR September 11. Every time I started to tell him why, he asked me again don't I want freedom. I wanted to pull my hair out, and frankly, I was fairly happy when he cut the discussion off, because I didn't feel he was listening to me at all, though he was VERY nice about not listening. And maybe the fact that he's from Iran had something to do with why he was so fixated on freedom and how Saddam Hussein is such an evil man. I don't know.

But that was Sunday.

And today my gramma died. I don't want to talk about that.

Peace out,
Katie

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memorial, adj.: Serving as a remembrance of a person or an event; commemorative
In memory of Pete & all who have given their lives for justice everywhere

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