Inside the Mind of an Anti-RNC Protester

The most recent issue of the New Haven Advocate (unfortunately not online yet) features an article containing advice for those planning to protest the Republican National Convention. I won't be among them, but it's still a good piece. The advice is pretty good, ranging from the mundane ("Be respectful to the police officer who's observing you" and "Show up in court if you're arraigned") to the obscure ("It's illegal to put signs on sticks in NYC; use cardboard tubes instead"). Hopefully this'll help those cute hippies out of the poke. Probably not, but I can dream.

The article has a very measured tone. It's a practical guide for staying out of jail, not a polemic. But every once in a while, the veneer breaks and we get a glimpse into the authors' minds. For instance, here's one of the reasons to protest Bush:

He defied the United Nations, the governing body of the world, and staged an unprovoked attack on another country.

"The governing body of the world." Obviously I didn't get the memo.

And here's a piece of advice given to would-be protesters, "How to not sound like a leftist radical, a Republican-hating bandwagon-jumper, or a stereotypical mindless hippie":

Don't compare Bush to Hitler. Yes, of course parallels can be made but when you do this all you're really doing is preaching to the choir or alienating potential converts with your extremism.

"Of course parallels can be made." Not "don't compare Bush to Hitler because it's a ridiculous slander" or even "doesn't Bush=Hitler blow things just a bit out of proportion?". The big problem with comparing the president to the Fuehrer is that it freaks out the normals.