My View From the Soapbox: Lonely Soapboxer just wants some peace, love and understanding

Since this will probably be the last column I ever write for The Daily Free Press, I just wanted to say it’s been a lot of fun. For the past year, I’ve had a blast running my mouth off on different topics, and I hope you guys have enjoyed reading them.

I really appreciated the responses from readers, especially the ones printed in The Daily Free Press. I loved going to lunch the day after my columns ran and reading what you, the Boston University community, had to say about what I had to say.

I was feeling nostalgic this past week, so I sifted through the online archives to find all the responses. I got a total of 12 all overwhelmingly negative. By ‘negative’ I don’t mean ‘disagreed with me’ negative; I mean ‘you’re wrong, you’re an idiot, shut up’ type negative.

That’s my one regret: never once did I get a ‘nice’ response printed in the letters section. Oh, I’d get nice letters e-mailed to me every once in a while, but for the most part, I felt very alone up here on my Soapbox. So that got me wondering: am I really that right-wing? Am I really just a junior Republican whose archconservative ranting and raving puts me on par with a younger, eviler Pat Buchanan?

I’d really like to be a liberal. Behind my staunch conservative façade lurks a protest-sign waving hippie just screaming to get out. OK, maybe it’s not that extreme, but I still have a lot of respect for the left’s ideals and liberalism in general. What I can’t stand, however, is the huge number of radicals who overshadow the true message and present themselves in an overblown, extremist nature.

The anti-war movement provides a good example. The war on Iraq is probably one of the most controversial events in our country’s history and has drawn an ideological rift between the right and the left; while the left professed a good message, their leadership and execution left much to be desired.

International ANSWER, for instance, became a leading organization within the anti-war movement. ANSWER, or Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, put on many large protests (including two in Boston) and made quite a name for itself as an emerging activist movement. What many people don’t know, however, is that ANSWER is run by the World Worker’s Party, a pro-communist organization that has voiced its support not only for Saddam Hussein, but also for the genocidal leadership of North Korea. Needless to say, that catchy protester chant, ‘This is what democracy looks like!’ takes an ironic twist when advocates of Stalinism are the ones leading the cheers.

Then there was the almost animalistic hatred of President Bush. Like Ahab’s white whale, the left deemed Bush and his administration the root of all evil and misery. While those protest signs may have been funny, (my favorite was ‘Pull out, Bush, we wish your father did’) comparing our president to Hitler wasn’t the most effective message. Even Noam Chomsky, the most educated leftist out there, couldn’t get past the ‘Bush is a Nazi and that’s that’ argument.

The situation in mainstream politics is partly to blame. The Democratic Party became so wishy-washy about war no one, save senior senators like Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd, had the courage to speak up and take a definitive position. Instead, we mostly heard incessant whining about the economy from Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi.

The result was that ignorant celebrities became the popular spokespersons of the anti-war movement. But rather than adding credibility, morons like Sean Penn and Sheryl Crow made fools of themselves and cemented the opposition. Martin Sheen may play the president on TV, but that doesn’t mean I have to pay attention to him in the real world.

I can’t possibly respect a movement being led by communists and B-list celebrities.

In the end, there were plenty of good, solid reasons not to go to war, but they seemed largely ignored in favor of sensationalism and propaganda. Even now, the situation hasn’t changed. Norman Mailer, the famed writer and activist, stated just this Wednesday that the war was fought because ‘Bush thought white American men needed to know they were still good at something.’ Come on, even Bill O’Reilly isn’t this bad!

I’m not trying to say every liberal out there is some kind of flower child, but until the left finds some decent spokespeople, the fanatics will continue to hijack the message and twist it to ridiculous ends.

Believe it or not, I think social programs and taxing the rich are good ideas, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go join the Spartacist Youth League to help further the cause. In politics, the head not the heart should make the decisions.

Brendan Cavalier, a junior in the School of Management, has been a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press and can be reached at b_cavalier@hotmail.com.