Forbes Ave. demonstrators apathetic

I live in South Oakland, way down past Magee Women’s Hospital, so every day when I walk to… I live in South Oakland, way down past Magee Women’s Hospital, so every day when I walk to class I have to walk past the protesters on Forbes Avenue, the ones who call themselves the “Pittsburgh Organizing Group” and wave “Honk 4 Peace” signs. After a week or so of this, it’s got me thinking quite a bit about the nature of protesting in general and specifically why this group is so bad at it.

I don’t want to sound mean about the POG, because in a deeply theoretical and idealistic sense I agree with, and even sympathize with, their cause. However, there are several things about them that really just bother me.

First off, these people are simply the most apathetic bunch of protesters I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it’s a product of their extra long stay on the sidewalk or if they’re just not a super active bunch of people, but honestly it looks more like a bunch of kids with signs hanging out on a sidewalk than any sort of movement meant to inspire peace in the masses. I sat and watched them for a little bit one night and for quite a while they didn’t even have anyone holding signs. They just sat and talked. They had signs they weren’t waving and flyers they weren’t passing out. I honestly wasn’t too moved.

Second, and on a much more philosophical level, I really intensely dislike the way this group is going about their protest. Not the apathy-I already covered that. I mean the fact that they’re basically doing this great symbolic protest without any hope for anything to come of it. Of course that’s probably not the way they see it, but it’s true. If the war were to end tomorrow, it would have absolutely nothing to do with the actions of a small group of young adults sitting outside a recruitment station. In terms of significance to the national anti-war movement, or really even anything at all, this barely registers on the radar. Of course a complete lack of enthusiasm also helps, which the POG seems to have in droves.

It’s not that I don’t care about the war. I just think that this “protest” is really a complete waste of time. I hate to break it to you, protesters, but you are not going to, as your website states, affect the “immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.” And even if you could perform a feat that Congress (which actually has some say in the way the country runs) couldn’t make happen, would the immediate ending of the war be a good idea anyway?

Look at it this way: We made a huge mess in Iraq, a really staggeringly huge mess. So while it may have been a mistake for us to go into the country and topple Saddam in the first place, it would be an even bigger mistake for us to leave now and hand the country over to a sporadically trained military force led by an unstable government being constantly attacked by insurgents and terrorists from all sides. For us to leave now would be tantamount to criminal negligence, only for a crime that we committed in the first place. The presence of U.S. troops in Iraq may not be something that all, or even a majority of Americans stand behind anymore, but it’s something that is necessary for Iraq to continue to exist.

This brings me to another point, which is related to the second goal of the POG protesters: bringing about “an end to military recruitment in Pittsburgh.” Once again I hate to break it to you, but this is not Vietnam. American soldiers are not being unwillingly drafted into the military to help fight a war they want no part of. The U.S. Armed Forces are strictly a volunteer service, which means that everyone who is in Iraq right now signed up to be there, or at least to be somewhere. To say that this is a violation of our rights as Americans would be like saying that your boss telling you what to do is a violation of your rights as a worker.

Military recruitment is not some evil practice suckering innocents into the jaws of evil. It’s a job, much like any other government job, only one with some very real and immediate consequences. If you don’t like it, don’t sign up for the military. Personally, I have a great deal of respect for anyone willing to join the armed forces and I always will. Shutting down recruitment stations only ensures that you’re keeping multiple-tour veterans in active service longer while preventing other people from doing what they want to do whether you agree with it or not.

So, in short, there is no pie-in-the-sky idealistic solution to the Iraq war and “Honks 4 Peace” aren’t going to get us anywhere. It might be a nice gesture, but unfortunately there’s nobody listening who can do anything about it.

E-mail Richard at rab53@pitt.edu and tell him why unrealistic ideals are the solution to all the world’s problems.