Notes from a rookie antiwar protester

Tomgram: Notes from a rookie antiwar protester

When it comes to Sunday's demonstrations, my favorite headline was from the
British Independent, "A World Against the War"; my favorite image, the
"Human peace sign from Antarctica" ("Today people from McMurdo Station in
Antarctica joined with the millions of others around the world in calling
for peace not war. With the Antarctic Mt Range in the background we laid on
the ice in a symbolic call for peace. Seven continents united." Click here
to see these images My least favorite "question" was on CNN's call-in Sunday
night ten o'clock news: "Are antiwar protests unpatriotic?"

It's all a matter of how you frame things, after all. My hometown paper, the
New York Times, had a front-page photo, "Antiwar Rally in Washington," but
the actual story was on page 12, headlined "Thousands Converge in Capital to
Protest Plans for War," even though paragraph one made it clear that "tens
of thousands" were there. Perhaps it's understandable that the editors
tucked the article on the largest peace march since the late 1960s (maybe
larger) away inside, what with "Gains on Heart Disease Leave More Survivors,
and Questions" or "Fearful Saudis Seek a Way to Budge Hussein" panting for
front-page attention. Imagine, however, this front-page headline: "Fearful
Americans Seek a Way to Budge Bush." (Nor, by the way, was there an
editorial about the demonstrations, though on the editorial page was "Along
With a Super Bowl, the N.F.L. Needs a Farewell Bowl.")

http://www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid12