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Via the Food Fight grocery store blog, a news item about ACLU allegations that the government conducted surveillance on protesters, including anti-war and vegan demonstrators — in Georgia. Yup. Right here in our own little state. Are the allegations true? Who knows, but I personally wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Who knew we were such a hotbed of scary liberals? Where are these people? Why don’t I meet any of them? I mean, I live in a neighborhood that’s fairly leftist for Atlanta — our graffiti tends toward defacing “stop” signs to make them read “Stop War” or “Stop Bush,” which always gives me a proud little tear in my eye when I see it — but I certainly don’t know of any vegan demos, except for the Farm Sanctuary fundraiser walk (which I plan to do this year, really, honestly), and I’ve only heard of one or two anti-war demos, generally on the day they’re taking place so it’s too late to take time off from work to join. Maybe I’m just not aware of these things, and would be heartened and pleased if I actually read community bulletin boards or whatever. Maybe it’s just that I’m off in my own little world most of the time, obsessed with my own little thoughts. Or maybe someone in the government just thought that anyone weird enough to be leftist/vegan in Georgia had to be enough of an oddball to be worth keeping an eye on.

This is probably the story Clarke meant when he mentioned yesterday that he’d heard the government was targeting vegans; I thought he’d meant something to do with the SHAC7 trial, which is more mysterious and convoluted to me. (Free speech or incitement? I don’t know enough to have an opinion, yet; I keep thinking back to that pro-life Web site a few years ago that published a “hit list” of doctors who performed abortions, apparently with personal information about them — they weren’t actually doing any attacks, if I remember, but showed rather unbecoming glee when a doctor got killed. Personally, I am pro-choice, but I remember thinking that they had every right to publish their opinions, no matter how whacked-out I might personally think they are, but that publishing addresses of those they were attacking was at the best poor judgment, and probably should’ve left them open to wrongful death/injury suits if anyone was hurt because the information was there.) I haven’t yet had time to sort through all the media reports and blogs and sources to try to figure out precisely what’s going on with the SHAC issue, though, so that’s a topic for a later posting.

ObCaveat: I do not endorse violence, toward humans or property. The most I endorse is perhaps discreetly giving the finger toward a human or building that gives offense. An eye for an eye, more blindness, yadda yadda yadda. Peaceful protests or demos are another thing entirely: they may not change a whole lot immediately, but they’re part of a process, and at the very least give you the chance to stand in a crowd of people who at least agree with you about this one issue. In general, most issues worth demonstrating about seem to be too complicated and too entrenched or controversial to be solved outright with a simple demonstration or “direct action,” anyway. It’s satisfying to wear a “Meat Is Murder” t-shirt or put a “Vegan” magnet on your car, but that’s more for the benefit of making other veg*ns feel less alone; it’s certainly not going to make anyone who eats meat stop and contemplate their choices. It’s much more likely to make them roll their eyes, or think, “Bossy pinko vegan commie twerp.” By and large, lasting change seems to come through peace and acceptance of others, while still being yourself as hard as you possibly can be, to show that, at the very least, the Other is not the same as the Enemy, or even necessarily the Weirdo Freak Who’s Kinda Scary. It helps if you can keep that in mind yourself, as well.

Oh my, that was quite preachy and snotty and holier-than-thou, wasn’t it? Meh. Chalk it up to the fact that my computer speakers are playing up, and I kept having to stop typing to duck under the computer table and fiddle with wires. Very distracting and disruptive to the thought-composing process, esp. when your thoughts about what you’re saying are kind of nebulous and swirly to begin with.