h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The whole "War with Iraq" thing has got me realising something else I am sick to the back teeth of - political slogans. Not only are they incredibly irritating, but seem like a feeble excuse to not have your own opinion or insight into a situation. Don't understand the complexities of Middle East politics? - chant "NO WAR FOR OIL". No thinking required, just a nice, easy-to-understand slogan you can shout.

Although I think there *is* some good in the anti-war movement (It's certainly not malicious, and it's good that someone is standing up to Blair's cynical autocracy) the amount of sloganeering involved is depressing. Many of those interviewed at these demos are asked their opinion and end up simply spinning these slogans into a sentence - "We are here today because we want to tell Blair and Bush that we do not want *a war for oil*. This is *not in our name*". The politics are also hand-me-down simplistic - war is always bad, Palestinians are only ever victims, America is the world's only aggressor. At the recent London rally, Reverend Jesse Jackson dispensed with old fashioned rhetoric altogether and instead chanted some simple pacifist slogans to the crowd. The crowd simply chanted along with him. Once, these sort of things were about free-thinking and new ideas. Now they are like benign Nurenburg Rallys - a place to merge into a psychological collective, without having to think for yourself.

Yes, but if you go to an anti-war rally, then you've already made up your mind that this war is unjust. Chanting slogans is a way of expressing your views in a quick, handy way. "So what are these people marching for, Doris?", "Haud on, the speaker's about to read out his 34-point manifesto..."

Personally, at the only march I've been at (due to work restrictions) I didn't chant. When it came to the speakers, I did applaud points I thought were relevant and well-made. Hardly comparable to the Nuremberg Rally.