Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Caution: Dark Fantasy, Rambling, No Closure
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2004 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Jon Carroll, like me, is thinking about Ralph Nader.
I overheard David Talbot's phone call with Nader in the office a few days ago. As I see it, the cycle of marginalization and radicalization has gotten to Nader, just as it gets to kids who become martyrs to any cause. Rebels don't conform when you punish them, they rebel harder, especially if they don't have any stake in the stability of their world.
I made a dark joke to my cubicle neighbor: Nader as a suicide bomber, strapping dynamite to his chest and wading through the Democratic National Convention.
Later I watched The Daily Show at Leonard's. Jon Stewart interviewed Michael Isikoff of Newsweek. Unlike, say, "serious political reporter" Cokie Roberts, Jon Stewart debunked the stupid "terrorism in Madrid changed the outcome of the Spanish elections" claim. (Polls of the Spanish, both before and after the attacks, favored the challenger. The incumbent just made it worse by trying to blame it on the Basque separatists.) And I asked aloud, "Why is Jon Stewart the only responsible journalist?" He is a FAKE NEWSMAN! I have to count on a comedian to hold up the standards of journalism because most of the press is on a fawning break? Aaron Swartz continues my train of thought.
And I wished so hard that Abu Ghraib and the September 11th attacks were a dream. I would wake up and it would be November 7, 2000. Even though that would mean Leonard would be a dream too.
Instead last night I dreamt that we had a second Civil War, and some group of fighters ambushed my train. They shot me and I tried to shoot back, and I died crying, "I want to live!"
People who actually care what the rules say always seem silly and irrelevant to powerful bullies. It makes us mad when you call us silly. "That's why I'm starting an antiwar militia."
