What the hell?

The pizza, ignited, will never be reheated.

So a friend of mine trucked it out to Washington D.C. for the March against the war on Iraq. She came back with some funny stories, and even funnier chants...

... “We need more oil for our traffic jams!”
... "We must be grateful for our car-based culture.”
... “What is our oil doing on their soil?”
... “What is the sound of one corporation merging?”
... “We need to worship fear, people. Let nowhere there be a relaxed asshole.”
... “Let’s all kneel before the holy phallus” (i.e., the Washington Monument)

Friend (who is kind of kooky but harmless) hooked up with the contingent from NYC called An Absurd Response to An Absurd War. They’re led by Rev. Billy, this local Lower East Sider actor/comedian who does an astonishingly accurate impersonation of Billy Graham, only “our” Rev. Billy is a preacher for The Church of Stop Shopping. He dresses in a polyester white suit with a cleric collar and is best known around town for his activism against Starbucks and the Disney stores. He’s got a very heightened consciousness about consumption, but mainly he’s just hilarious as he performs his preacher/activism.

His contingent included 1950’s-dressed “Housewives for War” who had pink, green, and purple beehive wigs. His Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir in choir robes sang, spoofing songs such as John Lennon’s, turning it into “All we are saying is give war a chance.”

The group had numerous bold-faced, officious-looking placards, many mimicking Orwell’s “1984.” Mysterious friend carried one of their signs that said “Tell Us What To Think.” On the back was a blurry, pixilated photo of Bush with the giant word “OBEY.” Other signs said:

... “Perma War”
... “God Bless Hysteria”
... “We’ve Always Been At War With Oceania”
... “Ignorance is Strength”
... “No Justice, No Peace Either”

And the chant cited earlier,"The pizza, ignited, will never be reheated," was in place of that famous chant “The people, united, will never be defeated.”

I've never been to a peace march, but hearing from her was nice even if it's about such a sensitive topic.

posted by irene @ 10/28/2002 06:41:00 PM