Our brothers on the left have been throwing pies at unsavory capitalists and right-wing politicians at least since the days of Abbie Hoffman, but the frequency of such incidents has been trending upwards in the last decade. Perhaps it’s frustration at having our message so thoroughly locked out of the mainstream media, or maybe we’re becoming a bunch of sweet and tender hooligans. Last week was a busy one for the freedom food fighters. The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol got hit in the smacker with an ice cream sandwich at Earlham College on Tuesday, and two days later, Pat Buchanan got a face full of Ceasar dressing at Western Michigan University. The dressing came courtesy of a comrade in the Socialist Party, Sam Mesick.
Perhaps I’m just indulging my general bias against salad dressing (I mean, if I can’t stand having my greens drenched in the crap, I can only imagine how odious it would be to have my person drenched in it; this really is a Golden Rule issue for me), but I don’t think that this was the most effective means of furthering the cause.
Nevermind the fact that the vast right-wing conspiracy is already targeting academia as the last bastion of leftist thought in Bush’s America, and that incidents such as this will just be used to argue that the kids have been brainwashed by those ivory tower commies and they’re all running amuck! No, that’s to be expected. What’s worse is that these incidents make us on the left look like a bunch of incoherent brutes who are trying to shut down speech that we disagree with, without really offering our own alternative. Now, I’ve never met Cde. Mesick, and I’m sure he meant well, but if he managed to actually get on the stage with Buchanan, why couldn’t he have done a banner drop, or heckled or loudly rebutted the speaker. Anything that was more verbal would have gotten a message across better than “Viva La Cause.” What cause? Socialism? Fascism? Paul Newman’s salad dressing? What message was the audience supposed to come away with from that?
This incident reminds me of a visit that George Bush the Elder made to the campus of the University of Hartford in 1999. Two other comrades from the party, Jeff Rabinovici and Scott Jarzombek, took the opportunity to challenge the former President on his decision to invade Iraq and continue the economic sanctions during a Q&A session. Of course, their mic was cut and they got roughed up by the Secret Service for their trouble, but at least there was no mistaking their message, which was articulated clearly and loudly for all to hear.
I wish my brother Sam Mesick a long life on the left and many more opportunities to speak truth to power. I just hope he takes those future opportunities to verbalize his opposition.