Fascism is contagious.

After Cristina Page spoke to a large pro-choice crowd
at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books,
a "pro-life" (anti-abortion) woman tried to speak.
She was allowed to talk for a while, then Page rebutted.

After this, things got ugly.
A self-described "bookstore employee" tried to "escort"
this small woman out of the store. In doing so, he stood very close to her, confronting face to face, with his chest almost touching hers, as if trying to intimidate her.

Call me old-fashioned if you please, but I don't like to see any man abusing any woman
(except in truly consensual play) -- even if I despise the woman's ideology. So I verbally objected to the man's bodily behavior.

My statement switched his attention to me, thus getting his chest away from her bosom. Next he began confronting me, face to face, using the same tactic of standing too close, deliberately invading my personal space as if to intimidate me. Since I was trained in nonviolence by CORE, his attempted bullying didn't work.
However, for the sake of peace,
I bottomed, letting him eject me from the bookstore.

Fascism is contagious. Americans watch over-zealous cops eject two women from Congress for wearing teeshirts with messages (one anti-war, one pro-war). A few days later,
a bookstore employee imitates those cops, trying to suppress dissent. Left apes right.

Censorship is the first sacrament of fascists. When we progressives imitate their behavior,
we debase ourselves, and we dishonor our ideals.



-- pro-choice queer man, 63,
San Franhattan


Tuesday night,
7 February 2006

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