Getting 1,000,000 People to Join your Facebook Cause Doesn't Equal a Protest

One thing I have heard repeatedly during the last year -- as the economy tanked, as people lost their homes and jobs, as the Republicans' obstructionism watered down the health care debate -- was, "Where are all the protests?  Why aren't the progressives taking to the streets?" 

Yeah, where were we?  Protesting has been the mainstay of the left since the 1960's.  Heck, as recently as the 90's we were out there with our "No Blood for Oil" signs.  But where are we now?  Why, when so many critical issues are coming to a head, are we silent?

At first I thought that maybe we had just gotten too old as a generation -- that most of the GenXers (who carried on the mantle of the 60's hippies) had reached middle age and retired their protest signs.  And that the Millenials were just too damned optimistic and naive to protest (and they are). 

But that's not it.  The real culprit is the rise of the internet and social networking.  Back in the old days, the only way to commune with fellow lefties en masse was to attend a protest or gathering of some sort.  These days?  Join a Facebook group called "Get Rush Limbaugh to Leave the Country" or "1,000,000 Facebookers against Iraq."  And that's it.  Join, and you're done -- you've felt like you've added a voice.  But to what?

Some of these groups actually have some meat behind them -- if the pages are sponsored by a specific non-profit.  But have you really taken a close look?  Most are nothing more than a page created by someone who cares about the issue -- which is admirable, but it isn't going to create any measurable result.  Obama isn't going to be getting any morning briefs about Facebook pages.  Well, he might -- but I think 1,000,000 angry progressives standing on the Mall would have a greater impact.

Meanwhile, the Tea Baggers --- I mean, Tea Partiers -- are getting the jump on us.  They actually have rallies (lame as they are).  Which gives the "news" media something to cover.  Now of course I don't expect Faux News to cover a progressive rally -- except perhaps to make it look like it was an angry socialist mob coming to kill granny with their death squad -- but maybe the local news stations would.  And it would make us visible to others. 

But we don't.  Somehow we've been brainwashed into inaction.  Into thinking that joining some doofy group online means anything.  It's a false sense of security, and we shouldn't allow ourselves to be mollified by it any longer. 

Be loud, be proud, and let's show those Tea Party nutters what a REAL protest is like!