Why do people like Jane Fonda show up at anti-war rallies? [1] Don't they realize that they serve as an almost immediate delegitimizing force the second they open their mouths? I don't get it, are they trying to recapture Woodstock or something?

Nota bene: My comments have nothing to do with whether I like Jane Fonda or not. I'm just curious why people like her and others (especially when Cindy Sheehan was protesting outside of W's ranch) feel the need to interfere in this generation's organic protest/progressive movement. Regardless of whether I like her/them or not, she/they hurt the cause by drawing attention to herself/themselves and her/their past and away from the present circumstances--namely that we need to stop this war. It's not Vietnam. It's Iraq. There are no jungles, only sand this time.

More nota bene: Since the hole is already this deep I might as well make it deeper. As I said in the comments: It's not a generational thing either. It's more a bias against celebrities on my part. If this is going to work, if real protests are going to work they are going to have to be like the protests in the late 60s and early 70s, which were geared towards shutting activity down, not just silly Saturday outings. The protests have to be Gandhiesque, in that they have to bite, but be peaceful. They have to affect and hurt the interests of the powers that be. Just protesting is a waste of time, but protesting something and being effective, now that is another matter. And all the Jane Fonda's (and other celebrities) in the world won't make these Saturday protests any more effective. They have to mean something and they have to have a real effect. Just having a protest on Saturday says, "hey, I don't care enough to miss fucking work for this, I can only do it on the weekend when I can get a babysitter."

That was the genius behind Cindy Sheehan: she was real. She was a threat. And she was 100% genuine and everyone knew that the right wing would throw all kinds of shit at her and none of it would stick. That's what I'm talking about. Cindy hurt Bush. She hurt him bad. And she didn't do it just on a Saturday.

One last nota bene: To those of you of previous, wiser generations suggesting I show more respect to my elders, etc . . . (of said respect you will find ample amounts in the archives of this blog I hasten to add) I ask only that you ponder this quite humorous paradox: aren't you the folks who coined the phrase, "never trust anyone older than 30?"

We all take ourselves too seriously sometimes, don't we?