I Went to the Women's March in LA
It was my first protest that I've ever been to. I never went to Occupy Wall Street back in high school, nor attended the protests that went on at my college campus, nor have I gone to any of the Black Lives Matter protests, among others. There have been more, I'm sure, but these are the big ones I can really remember.
So. I went to the women's march. Didn't have a sign - just threw on some clothes, put on the Pussy Hat my mother made and climbed into the LA metro.
i looked lyk dis
It was good. I'm glad I went. I worry about how "effective" it was (although I am a huge proponent of the right to protest, I still find myself dubious as to just how much protests accomplish), but I think it can be considered pretty goddamn successful seeing as 2.5 million people turned out from across the US at these marches around the country.
I have friends in London right now who say that there were even protests happening there. Goddamn, I mean, godDAMN.
And the name "Women's March" was not a misnomer - it was a march run and dominated by women. Guys like me were still welcome, but at the end of the day, it was the literally millions of women who showed up that mattered most.
The protest signs were great. I'm not going to post any pictures of them 'cuz I'm sure you've already been inundated with the most hilarious and scathing ones on your various news feeds. But on top of that, there were RAVING SUFFRAGETTES. I mean, come on, how awesome is that?
They looked like this and they were BAMFs
Naturally, you can't expect a protest and its aftermath to be all sunshine and hippy-dippy happiness. The thing to come out of this that really pissed me off (and I'm sure you've already heard of) was Trump and his cronies' response to the marches. You know - "Why didn't these people vote?" and "Alternative Facts."
What. The. Fuck. I mean, what the fucking fuck? Do I even need to explain further?
I'd tread more carefully if I were you, Mister Trumpster Dumpster - you've got a sliding 31% approval rating, been the cause of the largest mass protest in US history and not only that, you fucking lost the popular vote by THREE GODDAMN MILLION. Now, in and election where 123 million or so people voted, that may not seem like so much, but I mean...
THREE MILLION people. That's a lot. A real lot. Somewhere between 2%-3% of people who voted were effectively swept aside because of this blitheringly idiotic thing we have in America called the "electoral college."
I mean. Just. FUCK.
They say vulgarity is the curse of the stupid. Maybe it is, but frankly, I can't think of anything better to describe how I'm thinking.
Just a long goddamn stream of curse words.
Ahem.
Back to the march for some closing points:
While many can make the complaint (and many have) that the Women's March consisted of a lot of simplified, watered-down feminism, I think to dwell on that is to do a disservice to what happened on January 21st.
It was magnificent to see. The atmosphere was friendly and determined with primo signs to boot. I'm so happy to have participated my little amount and to have seen so many of the wonderful women in my life take a stand or otherwise express solidarity.
For humanity.
For the country.
For women.
For themselves.
For the one's who've been shut up one too many times.
...
We'll be back to something sillier next week. I will admit to taking a greater interest in politics, but I don't want it to constantly be polluting the blog.
Even with the potential looming apocalypse, we all still need a break. Right?
Right?