fresnelly

My sense is that with regards to perception at least, the Tea Party phenomenon appears as the mirror image of the Anti-Globalization movement in the 90's.

To be clear, I don't equate the modes of protests themselves (The revivalist rallies of the Tea Parties today vs. the violent battles with riot police of yesterday), only the perception of the movement from the non-participating masses.

At the start, today's movement had some traction because the busting economy was a reality effecting everybody and the numbers being thrown around were staggering. Who wouldn't be apprehensive and wary about the govenment's handling of it all? At this point a protest movement was only natural and totally understandable.

And then, just as the anti-globalization movement became synonomous with violence and anarchy in the streets, the tea party's message has been lost in a din of unfocused, foaming anger.

Is that the fault of the giddy media for only reporting the movement's squeaky wheels? Partly. If you've only got 30 seconds to show, do you interview the quiet guy at the back of the crowd or the chanting roughneck with the misspelled sign in the duck costume? I appreciate the voices here, even if I don't agree on the stakes.

How successful the tea party movement will be depends on the state of the economy and for that, we will have to wait and see.

We pay too much attention to the extreme voices of any movement.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life