laundry day sevenIt's not like we don't appreciate their sacrifice. Not everyone is willing to give a pint of blood, get arrested, be catapulted into instant rock star status, spend a year in jail (with no need to earn an income, pay rent, feed or clothe yourself), then come out and be feted by hundreds of adoring groupies.
Let's hear it for the St. Pat's Four! Hip hip hooray.
Problem is, the war is still raging, three thousand American lives, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, billions of dollars wasted. Squirting a little blood around a recruiting center in a boonieville community like Ithaca, NY didn't change a thing. Rather it cost the tax payers some additional thousands of dollars for court and incarceration costs, and drew attention away from the real heroes of the anti-war movement --the Laundry Day 7.
Chances are, you haven't heard about the LD 7 and their courageous but little noticed struggle to halt US imperialism.
Who are the Laundry Day 7? Well, you may ask. The LD 7 are as many brave Americans, also living in Ithaca, NY, who have vowed not to change their underwear until Bush pulls the troops out of Iraq. They have elected to move out of their comfy apartments or the homes they formerly shared with family and friends, to give up their jobs, and live collectively in a small farm in Groton, NY.
But why haven't we heard about the LD7? Ez has given this some careful thought and this is what he's come up with.
1) Few journalists and media representatives are willing to come within even a mile of the LD7 stronghold. Understandably, the LD7 have been given very few chances to tell their stories.
2) The LD7 haven't produced as many freckled offspring as the Grady's and Ritter's so they have fewer foot soldiers in their war against war. The Grady's, to their credit, have stuck to the Pope's ban on birth control and are mutiplying like Celtic bunnies. Translate: there are always hordes of freckled faces at rallies, demonstrations, in prison visiting rooms: more than enough people willing to write letters to the editor and scout out photo ops.
Who deserves the most credit for standing up to Bush's war machine? The Grady's with their self-aggrandizing, media-hogging style or the LD7? Who's sacrificed more for the movement? Be real! How does a year in jail compare to three yars of jock itch? You be the judge.
Comments invited at: ezrakidder@gmail.com - Peace, Ezra at 8:30 AM
