Oct 6, 2011

Michele at Grinnell, The Voiltaire Perspective

I'll be glad to join a protest against the kind of culture which allows people like Michele Bachmann  to be taken seriously as secular leaders. I'll wave a sign against empowering the Morals Police. I'll chant slogans against  requiring kids to be taught that creationism is an exact science.  If the weather is nice I'll join a nude flash mob opposing foreign adventurism,  nation-building, and the designated hitter rule.

Those kinds of statist stupidites ought to be the subject of protest, 24/7/365, in one way or another.

But the wholesale creation of a new generation of Cotton Mathers is not  very directly Michele's fault.  If she panders to the dimdippitydoowops who make up the Neocon Right, she is merely reacting to market forces in her industry,  just like Barack Obama does on the flipside of the same political racket.

I will not join a protest designed to shut her up, and I like to think that even if I were one of  a starry-eyed liberals infesting the city of Grinnell, Iowa, and its famously  collectivist college, I would have retained enough respect for Amendment One to shut up and let her prate.

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Both sides handled the aftermath stupidly if media reports are anywhere near accurate.. Bachmann's Iowa handler,  Danny Carroll,  claimed, almost certainly falsely, that the pumpkin farm gathering was always intended to be a strictly private fundraiser. The students claimed, almost certainly falsely, that they had gathered to listen respectfully to Bachmann's remarks.

Michele mingled with the visitors who coughed up $25 to be there, strolled around the  farm quickly, and left.  But not before feeding a goat, speaking of pandering.

4 comments:

SpeakerTweaker said...

I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt as to the event being private. I mean, folks paid - in advance - to be there. Did the students pay, or just show up on private property? One wonders...

Jim said...

The Des Moines Register reported that Bachmann flyers advertised it as a public event, with speech. There seems to have been no effort to exclude the kids before organizers caught on to their game plan.

But you do have a point. Without actually being "there" -- at such events and at the planning sessions on both sides -- there are often fuzzy areas to screw up reportage.

I guess my take is is influenced by a lot of personal experience on that campus. Next time I think readers are willing to tolerate still another personal recollection, I'll try a little post on covering my very first nude political protest. It was at Grinnell. :)

Jim

JohnW said...

"Pix, or it didn't happen."

SpeakerTweaker said...

The Des Moines Register reported that Bachmann flyers advertised it as a public event, with speech.

Well, that makes it a horse of a different color, then. Frankly, had it truly been a private event on a private farm, I'd like to think that said farm's owner might have a bit to say about the protester's desire to participate...



tweaker