I've seen this remarked on at a few sites. I must say, the choice of the words "peace in our time" were perhaps not that well-chosen, but then I doubt whether the majority of people attending the march were thinking they would become easy targets for warbloggers armed with Neville Chamberlain pictures. I'm more irritated, though, by this:

I read this, and I don't even know what to say.
So I'll say nothing, and will get back to my homework, reading about WWII, wondering just what in the hell is wrong with humanity.

Yeah, imagine that, people exercising their democratic right to express their political opinion, especially when that political opinion is in opposition to official policy. How dare they be so presumptuous. I don't know, though, I was under the impression that this war thing was at least partly about establishing the superiority of democracy and that part of the superiority of democracy lay in the fact that people have the right to openly express their political views even when they're contrary to the official line, as opposed to totalitarian and backward regimes like Iraq where dissent is crushed.

Funny, isn't it, how people supposedly in favour of democracy often seem to forget that democracy entails also permitting people to speak who disagree with you as well as ones who agree with you. Interesting, too, how Instareynolds gets gleeful when Iranian students protest against the ruling clergy there but calls bullshit on peace protesters in the West. Being contrarian is apparently OK as long as in being contrarian you agree with us.

posted by James Russell | 5:21 PM