Self-parody watch

Non-violence and passive resistance have a storied past, but never, I think, in the name of self-satisfied smugness.

The AIPAC 10, a group of New Yorkers arrested for blocking a Manhattan fundraiser for the pro-Israel lobby, offends on so many levels, where to begin?

First, the fashionably washed out photo that tops the blog: The happy, facetious, grinning, untried faces, the fashion statements – the scarves! Where, by the way, are the Palestinians? Or is this only about 10 poseurs?

Second – what are they protesting? The right to lobby one’s lawmakers? Don’t take my word for it, here’s their take:

Basically AIPAC lobbies the US lawmakers to push forward pro-Zionist legislature (sic.)

(Mightily resisting snark about political literacy … is ‘legislation’ what these twerps mean? Mmmmmf. Oh well.)

I mean, take a risk, lock yourselves to Israel’s U.N. mission, say – but this? Protesting the right to petition government?

The last time I heard talk about how First Amendment freedoms needed curbing was at an event, at the height of the Iraq war, sponsored by the neo-conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies – and even then, the speaker who made the case was soundly rebutted by several of his colleagues. Is that the company these kiddies want to keep? Or is this the political illiteracy thing again?

This stands by itself:

Fuck Bourgeois Parties Celebrating Massacre

Ooooh! The F-Bomb! Whoa. Own the word, non-bourgeois dudes.

Own. It.

But this offends me more than anything else on the blog:

Benefit Folk Punk Show for The AIPAC 10

Folk? Punk?

These words cannot coexist. I was there, at the dawn of punk. It was pure and unadulterated. Peter Paul and Mary never made a surprise appearance at a Siouxsie and the Banshees concert, I can tell you.

Talk about bourgeois nightmares.

These lunkheads aren’t about to change anything in the Middle East soon. They might just ruin punk for the rest of us.