I was walking by one of the cubicles the other day when I noticed the occupant had clipped out an article by George Will and pinned it up on the wall. The article spoke about the cultural acceptance of protest and anger as a virtual fashion accessory. But I don't think Mr. Will took it far enough.

Living here next to "Little Beirut" I've seen a lot of protests. You can't miss them, they're everywhere. Protests against the war, against President Bush, against capitalism, against corporate greed, racism, sexism, global warming, logging, Israel, motor vehicle, manhole covers...

That's right: manhole covers. See there were some "antique" manhole covers still on the streets of Portland from way back in the 1920's that the city was replacing with modern manhole covers. The new ones aren't as decorative as the old ones and a local group pulled together a protest to voice opposition to the practice.

Maybe things aren't this strange where you live, but around here, this is actually normal. Bear in mind that we have protests virtually every week against or for something or another. We even have regularly scheduled protests. There are regularly scheduled protests every May day (anti-capitalism), every Father's day (gay rights), labor day (anti-capitalism again), and every last friday of the month (critical mass- a group of irritating punks that find it necessary to jam up rush hour by pointlessly riding bicycles through as much traffic as they can).

I've a theory that protesting is much more than just voicing opposition or support for a policy or ideal. Protesting is the new barn raising. See these people, by and large, do not attend church, are not members of an Elks/Eagles/Moose club or sports team, and most are no longer in college - heck most of them don't even have jobs. So where in the past people would socialize at a sewing bee the modern progressive reaches out to socialize with like minded people by attending the weekly protest. It's like almost like attending a church function: you immerse yourself in the dogma of socialism, environmentalism and vegetarianism and while you're at it you meet young "open" minded people of similar hatred of the oppressive Republican party plus you get to feel good about yourself because you are "sticking it to the man".

Of course with all the excessive protesting going on all the time, no one is making you center of attention anymore (it's just another protest) so, naturally, you've got to throw a brick through that plate glass window to "increase awareness" of your cause. Right?