Trip to NYC

Had an interesting trip into NYC yesterday. I wanted to check out the city under convention/protest conditions. I went to a place that offered refreshments (and bathrooms!) for protestors to check out what they were saying/doing. When I went there, they had some interesting literature.

One whole wall was covered with pictures (and some statements) from notjustastatistic.org. The pictures were of soldiers who died in Iraq, each with a statement that told some fact about the pictured soldier, "He was a boy scout", "He missed his own wedding", "She loved Stephen King novels". The originators of this campaign were right: it is very humanizing, very powerful. The soldiers aren't just numbers, they are young (too young, in many cases) men and women who had hopes and dreams and who died for their country. The campaign begs viewers to ensure that these men and women did not die in vain; from their "What is this project?" Statement:

"But instead of trying to ram an anti-war sentiment down people's throats, we are trying to transcend the politic by humanizing the Americans who have died in the war in Iraq."

Meaning, of course, that we should get out of Iraq before more lives are lost. But I noticed an interesting disconnect: under a few pictures, they had statements from family members that didn't entirely back up their anit-war stance.

Melissa Hobart's mother related that Melissa's daughter stated that her 'mommy was in Iraq fighting bad people'. It makes my heart hurt to think of a little girl who no longer has her mother. But it sounds as though Melissa was doing something she believed in.

Kenneth Conde Jr.'s father said, "As a Marine, I understand the decisions he made. I respect them. As a father, I wish he had come home ... Hopefully, it's going to be worth something and not just be a number or a statistic." The grieving father is totally honest, showing his conflicting feelings. And his second statement, the hope that the sacrifice is worth something is the honest, common, hope of a loving family member who hopes his grief at least has some meaning; it is not quite the exactly the anti-war sentiment that the campaign is promoting...



The next interesting table was one that was on voter registration. The guy at the table told me that they drive to battleground states ("We already have New York") to register voters in states that matter. He had worked on it and "About 90% of the people we register are democrats." I stifled myself and managed to avoid saying, "You mean, out of the people too lazy to register to vote, 9 out of 10 are democrats?"

There also was a Howard Dean table...but I didn't actually check it out. I was kinda worried about laughing at them.


Oh, and one more thing. I personally hate when people put advertising stickers on public property...I consider it to be a form of littering. I feel the same way even when it is funny, even when when it's thought-provoking and, yes, even when it is political.

Apparently, anti-Bush people disagree and pro-environment people don't think it is littering.