Matt, oh wise one, oh holy one. Even though you cannot see me, before beginning this reply I got down on hands and knees and paid my obeisances waving a boa and singing hosannas. I have some minor disagreements with your post, however, and I should like to express them here.

As to the police building a “cage” around us protestors, I think this was a reasonable thing to do. Our free speech and assembly rights do not extend to violating other people’s rights by precluding their free passage. Even under the circumstances passage for pedestrians was tight. And those logistics allowed us to message the pedestrians. As far as I can tell, the vote on the harm in this is several scores to one. But then I guess we need to keep in mind the exceptionalism of that one.

You moan about this movement not disrupting. Spoken like a true agent provocateur. Why don’t you lead us oh wise one? Why don’t you show us by example, how to disrupt? You reserve all your criticism for the handful of people concerned enough to come out; and none for the apathetic hosts who stay home. Where’s your analysis of them, holy one, and their failure to show up? You moan about consistency in message and then accuse me of engaging in “violent accusation,” an oxymoron, especially in light of F-16s and helicopter gun ships pounding the Palestinians and now the Lebanese. You accuse me of looking like a “crazed lunatic to 80+% of the population.” Which population are you talking about oh holy one? The demonstrators? The passersby? The press? Chicago? The United States? The world? And what exactly does a “crazed lunatic look like.” Someone who’s 47 years tired? Who sits on the toilet just like you? No really, I’d like to know because god forbid someone thinks me a crazed lunatic; or worse even, looks like a crazed lunatic. And what about all the pretty people passing by, mighty sage? With their fancy clothes, their Nordstrom’s packages, their banked tax-dollars financing Israeli aggression? Did they look like “crazed lunatics.” Maybe you’re just subtly pointing out the difference between looking like and actually being a crazed lunatic. Oh, and by the way, where were you while all this was going on? Were you in the cage with us? If you were in the forum right in front of us you must have been awful quiet, else you would have been ushered into the cage with us. Can’t take your own disruptive advice, oh venerable one? Or maybe you were just right there in front of us looking like a lost sheep your own self? Can you enlighten us oh revered one, oh pure one?

In all seriousness, how are you organizing against the bloodshed? What groups are you networking with? You must be the leader of one or several of them. Can we have the privilege of being members of your private club? I’ll bet the initiation must needs be as secret as at Skull and Bones.

You say, “We do not have a message to give, and even if we did we do not know who we are speaking to or what we are trying to accomplish.” I would caution you unless you become a liar on par with Bush or Bark O’Bomb ‘em. We had a message. Sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit. Stop the bombing. Stop killing civilians. Stop killing children. US stop financing Israeli aggression. Indeed, there were loud chants to this effect. Are you deaf oh holy sage? Are you like the blind master in the Kung Fu television series who makes up for his blindness with exceptional talents in his other senses? Maybe you have a sixth sense and could ascertain our true motives beneath our superficial protests at the Israelis consulate. We enjoy the bloodshed. What difference do children torn limb from limb matter? Dog munching on bloodied flesh in the streets is a sight much more attractive than a garden. I understand oh chosen one, your reservations, your qualms, your compunctions.

You say, “I'm just really tired of people trying to end a war though not so clever rhetoric.” Well that settles it. Notwithstanding the pained confusion, the groping in the dark for what is obviously just, our inexplicable torment, and as impotent as our actions have been, we thought we were at doing if not the best think at least something. Enlighten us oh master, how correctly to change our gears.

“This gobbledygook doesn’t even merit a response: “Something violent in the world happens, we hold our cardboard and then we go home. Even that would be OK if there was a consistent and correctly spelled message, and we held cardboard when and where we wanted to, not behind cages. Everyone wants to be a martyr. We want a romantic movement, wherein we are the underdogs and are oppressed and we are standing with an oppressed people.” These last two sentences especially highbrowed doctor, unbearable light, can most correctly be responded to with four words: you’re full of shit.

Lest you tell a Bushism your sovereign royalty and accuse me of being one who thinks in response to their violence, violence against Israelis is okay, let me refute you pre-emptively. I do suggest we understand the history and origins of this conflict, and recognize that Palestinian and Arab casualties run something on the order of five to one to Israel’s, pretty much a historical constant. I also suggest it be recognized [not by you august prodigy, you already know] the real villain in this charade and these massacres is the US government for not reining in its Mid-East attack dog; and then Israel. To put it more succinctly, it is overwhelmingly the US government that is at fault in this conflict for not requiring Israel to negotiate. From historical immemoriality, the US has consistently thwarted UN resolutions and actions designed to rein in Israel in votes that normally go 174-1 with two abstentions, the US being the one. I’m surprised oh sublime maharishi you’ve never read any Chomsky. You do know that the US supplies Israel $5 billion a year in aid, much of it sophisticated weaponry, and could stop Israel’s wanton aggression with a snap of its fingers. But we should acquiesce and admit to what you have so sapiently uncovered: it is we in the “peace movement,” our impotence and ill-will that is really the fault. It is a good thing we don’t have the power and influence of our senators O’Bomb em and Durbin otherwise the casualties in the Mid-East would really be astronomical. The US supplies Palestine something on the order of $325 million a year, and even that it has cut off after the non-democratic election that installed Hamas. Hama and the Palestinians ought really to learn something from our democracy don’t you think oh holy one, oh wise one? I’m assured in your wisdom that I don’t have to do that math for you to derive a percentage proportion of what the Israelis get versus the Palestinians. See, oh perspicacious profound one, despite its vicissitudes, wisdom does sometimes have its benefits. And the Palestinians are reduced to impotently tossing stones at helicopters, tanks, and F-16s. Can you tell us oh guiding light, oh leader, oh sublime authority, should we too throw stones at police in riot gear, on horseback, packing .357s? Would that be disruptive enough? Can you lead us in such a noble and courageous endeavor? Or at least enlighten us as to what would be the veracious way to disrupt.

Everyone is bored; goddammit. If that’s not the ultimate indictment of the peace movement I can’t think of one more severe. We ought to pick up our jacks, pack up our toys, and go home.