RE: [pf] Multinationals take aim at protesters [long!]

by Fitzsimmons, Diane

19 December 2000 15:18 UTC

I would like to respond to Priscilla's point about reaching out to middle
America.


> We need to reach out more to what we used to call Middle 
> America -- those who 
> trust that things are being done for the common good.  The 
> election is just 
> another eye-opening for some -- and the general public did 
> back away from 
> Gingrich et.al. within a couple of years. So I think that 
> there is more hope 
> there than we might think.  I also think that we tend to alienate.


My "leftist" credentials are not great, but I have had some activist
experiences: working in the local anti-nuclear group in the late 1970s
including assisting in some civil disobedience actions; then in the animal
welfare, anti-poverty and disarmament movements in the 1980s; and lastly
working on lifestyle simplification, wildlife preservation and urban
restoration now.

My experience -- obviously my own and maybe not others -- is that
"leftists," usually single males, tend to be intolerant of what they see as
traditional lifestyles and personal values.  I am not saying the following
in a bragging tone but matter-of-factly as that is the way I am: I have
never used alcohol or non-prescription drugs.  My reasons are because of my
personal religious values.  This value/quirk of mine made me viewed with
suspicion and in some cases mocked.  (I did not discuss my choices or make
comments about others until challenged.)

I found some of these activities to not be family-friendly.  Once I brought
a 4-month-old baby to a public meeting, which turned out to be a small group
discussion because of the paltry attendance, and kept getting dirty looks
thrown at me and the baby from the local Greens organizer.  The baby was
quiet, although she sat on my lap and played with my keys.  At other
situations, I have found the groups to be so willing to embrace alternative
lifestyles that they seem to be excluding or criticizing traditional
lifestyles.

At other meetings, I have seen my religion derided and made fun of.  I'll
never forget the time I went to a meeting that was on Easter and a young
man, now an activist with a major national eco-group, joked that the reason
he was serving the mixed drink screwdrivers was because of the Crucifixion.
I was very offended and never returned to that group.  Some of you will jump
in here and say Christians have been responsible for centuries and centuries
of abuse to other religions.  I will agree.  But it is my personal belief
system, and I was offended nonetheless.  I certainly would not make similar
comments about other religions.

Of course, I haven't gone running into the arms of the religious right,
where they want to tell me what to think, whom to obey and how to live.  So
I stick with the leftists, who will tolerate my ways, even as they criticize
them and make me feel sometimes as if my values have no place in their
world.

But I come from a long line of traditionalists, and the message they hear
from the left (what is heard, not said) is "You are bad, you are out-moded,
you are dupes, you are evil, you are a dying species."  So, they feel
comfortable with a Dubya type, who affirms their values; somewhat
comfortable with Gore, who basically goes along with them; and downright
attacked by the "left."

I am not sure how you can get past that.

Diane Fitzsimmons
Norman, Okla.