Make Some Noise

Two summers ago I cut a "This Modern World" cartoon out of a pamphlet for an activist group in DC. It was obviously an archived cartoon, even then. I used to have it taped up next to my desk, as a reminder. Time to tape it up again.

"They smile reassuringly and tell you everything's fine, that the economy's going gang-busters and a rising tide lifts all boats - but you know that something's wrong here. You know that 85% of the wealth is controlled by 20% of the population...that the wages of a majority of Americans are actually lower, in real dollars, than they were in 1973. You know that your leaders have been bought and paid for, that corporate money sets the political agenda. You know that the free market has become the dominant religion of our age...that anyone foolish enough to suggest tempering the quest for profit with a modicum of concern for human rights or the environment is viewed as a heretic - if not an utter lunatic. You know that something is deeply, fundamentally wrong. But what can you do? You don't matter. Your vote doesn't matter. Your protests don't matter. Go ahead, march in the streets and chant your little slogans. The political sophisticates and media elites will smirk at your naivete, your misguided nostalgia for the sixties, and then they will steer the conversation back to the stock market, or the fabulous new restaurant they've recently discovered. They're not worried about you. And yet...something extraordinary just happened in Seattle. Demonstators took to the streets and made their voices heard - and it made a difference. The media were forced to address issues they had previously swept under the rug, to explain why anyone could possibly be opposed to unfettered global capitalism. In a few short days, the entire debate was altered, perhaps irrevocably. You know something's wrong. Maybe it's time to start making some noise about it. Happy new millennium."