1: I was! But I think I got it. Fixed now?
Rather, I'm just not sure what's to be accomplished by a protest of him at this point.
Stanley represents what's wrong with the American left, and he should be publicly shamed pour encourager les autres.
But it's hard for me to feel particularly jazzed-up about doing so
You should bring a drum to the protest.
4:
What do we want?!
JUSTICE!
When do we want it?!
["On Green Dolphin Street"]!
Or maybe you could bring two turtles, one name Tor . . . .
When do we want it
["On Green Dolphin Street"]!
I believe you mean "["In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"]!"
7: "Turememo", actually, but "Ture" is a good nickname.
I suppose it's something like, make him aware, at every available opportunity, that many people were and remain outraged at his behavior, and to continue to do so for as long as he's showing his face in public.
Hating somebody doesn't make stalking less creepy.
11: Protesting public appearances isn't stalking.
I am too tired to make this argument coherently, so let me just register my strong disapproval of "it's not worth the effort" kind of thinking. It's worth the effort because:
1. Standing up for something changes something in *you.* Regardless of whether eleven people who go and stand in front of a building somewhere with some raggedy signs have an impact on the wider world, the very act of protesting alters your own sense of who you are and what you believe in. Solidifying your own values makes you stronger the next time someone wants you to violate them.
2. Bearing witness in public is a visible reminder to the rest of the world that some people aren't comfortable allowing the John Yoos of our country to go about their business as usual.
3. Identifying some behavior as subject to public shaming may be a factor in others deciding not to engage in that behavior. Humans are very social creatures.
4. It's impossible to know what really keeps someone awake at night. We have absolutely no way of knowing whether Yoo and his ilk are amused, irritated, disturbed, honored or humiliated by public protest. I would venture to guess that they *themselves* may not even know.
Is it a coincidence that Ashcroft's pancreas or whatever it was flared up when he was in the midst of a pitched political battle over ethics? I would imagine there are precious few humans who could be making those kinds of decisions and not feel some kind of conflict or tension. I'm generally in favor of public protest that weighs on the side of human decency, even if the protesting heightens the tension.
Is it a coincidence that Ashcroft's pancreas or whatever it was flared up when he was in the midst of a pitched political battle over ethics?
"Bile! Black bile and choler, sir! They flood a man's reas'ning part, make him a wretch for passing fancy-fortune sorrow. No, but this gentleman shan't succumb to mercy in his lungs. This gentleman, sir, shall sin increasingly, though his liver swell likewise."
Snapdragon [to the Trampler], The Attorney's Tragedy, Act IV, sc. iii.
I was prepared to agree with what I gathered was Stanley's sense of futility, as further iterated by KR upthread, but Witt gets it completely right, especially with (1) and (2).
I go through this train of thought every Friday evening when I drive home past the very small contingent of people protesting next to the commuter route near Johns Hopkins: scraggly people holding signs: War is not the answer; Consider peace. And so on.
This evening it was just one guy (used to be eleven or twenty), smiling patiently and receiving a wave from every other car, to which he responded with a peace sign.
Huh.
to which he responded with a peace sign.
Corny but droll.
Hey, what are you going to do when you've decided to patiently stand/sit/squat by the side of the road with your sign, because you're really really stubborn, and all these people are driving by on their commutes from work, and the protest thing is supposed to go until 7, and here it is 6:30 and the other protesters have left by now, and the people driving by are waving at you in I guess solidarity?
Of course, drollery. As far as I can tell, that group has been doing that 5 to 7 protest for at least 5 years, every Friday. I don't know what effect it has on those commuting drivers who aren't already members of the club.
I'm perplexed. What is that group protesting in that location?
I think they're a Friends (Quaker) group. Not completely sure. There's a Society of Friends meeting house somewhat nearby. My impression has been that they are affiliated; on the other hand, that's a very well-traveled commuter route, so they may just have chosen that location for obvious reasons.
This is Hopkins Homewood campus, by the way, not Hopkins Hospital.