March 10, 2003

Dumb-mobbing the Smart Mob

A big NY Times Magazine piece, Smart-Mobbing the War, on the Internet-driven mobilization for the (less-objectionable) sector of the antiwar campaign: moveon.org. It is particularly insightful on some of the new organizing techniques.

Good thing Lenin didn't have these techniques in 1917!

The piece is pretty objective given that the author is critical of the naivete of these people and their association with the Stalinist Ramsey Clark deviation. But the money quote comes near the end as the author characterizes the principal organizer's world view:

War is evil, therefore prevention of war must be good. The wars fought for human rights in our own time -- in Bosnia and Kosovo -- have not registered with Pariser's generation. When I asked Pariser whether the views of Iraqis themselves should be taken into account, he said, ''I don't think that first and foremost this is about them as much as it's about us and how we act in the world.

'Nuff said.

Posted by campbell at March 10, 2003 12:57 AM | TrackBack