Pussy Hats Galore
They came one by one at first, then a few pairs but soon carloads arrived and by noon the highway was jammed, throngs of protesters cramming their way down the highway from Elger Bay Grocery to the South End Diner, chanting everything from ‘He’s Not My President’ to ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Pussy Hat’. The so-called Women’s March here was pretty much men too, a lot of them clad in their pink ‘pussy hats’.
The mizzus hated those hats. Well, not the hats, the name. Obscene, she said, and of course, that was the point. The new Prez used the term to describe how he could grab a woman victim there and she’d do anything he wanted. He says he’s tired of political correctness, now he’s got a few million marchers mocking him. Welcome to the New Politics.
Me, I’m a big fan of hats. I’m a big fan of protest rallies too ever since the Viet Nam anti-war riots at my college, the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, back in the late ‘60’s. Tear gas, National Guard troops, flowers in gun barrels, student sit-ins, student strikes, a world away from now but maybe coming back. We sat still for the Iraq Wars, we stayed quiet as the rich got richer and the rest of us could eat cake, we watched the money boyz drag down the economy with their greed ten years ago and then blamed Obama for the Recession lasting so long. Now we voted in a billionaire playboy, thinking what, he’ll create a level playing field?
Okay by me if it’s the women who take charge. Okay too if they wear those cat-eared pussy hats. Although, I may stick with my own headwear. The President, standing in front of the CIA’s memorial to its fallen, ranted that the press had underestimated the immensity of the crowd who came to his Inauguration, not a word about those folks who had given their lives, just a grievance that the press had shortchanged his Victory Lap. The man wants to end political correctness. A few million walked the streets yesterday who agree. I may just have to get myself one of those hats. Or just stick little cat ears on the one I got.
Hits: 121
I suppose here in America we still have the freedom to wear what we like on our heads be it pussy hats, or even fedoras. I would think the Prez himself has to back up womenfolk and Brooklynites on that account. Case in point, my favorite chant at one of the rallies yesterday:
“We shall overcomb.”
Ah ha, great chant! If we can hang on to a small sense of humor, maybe the future won’t be so grim. I’m planning to get some pink ears for the slits I’m going to cut into one of my hats, sort of a hybrid pussy hat, something I can wear with pride to the grocery store and the neighborhood tavern. Won’t even be necessary to overcomb.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the Iraq war in 2003. Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney did what they bloody well wanted to do anyway. Those who protested sort of retreated back to their jobs and their books and their internet ravings, but no movement really emerged from that. Will a more durable resistance emerge from these protests? I heartily hope so. But it remains to be seen.