Comrades in Peckishness

Let's face it: Hunger strikes rock. Few things in the history of mankind have evoked more political change than hunger strikes. Just take Gandhi's famous fasts promoting Indian independence from colonial power Great Britain. And then there's, uhhh, you know. Others.

Despite the poor logic of the I'll-starve-myself-so-you-will-change modus operandi, our friends in Hollywood have once again pulled it out of the social protest closet to, naturally, protest the Iraq war. And to prove that their commitment to this cause knows no bounds, over 2,700 activists have pledged to forgo eating for upwards of, wait for it, 24 hours. Here's a blurb from an AFP article:

“Other supporters, including Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, novelist Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover will join a 'rolling' fast, a relay in which 2,700 activists pledge to refuse food for at least 24 hours, and then hand over to a comrade.”

Wow. Twenty-four hours. And we're not talking about a full season of “24” on Fox that takes 22 weeks to unfold. We're talking about a day. Three meals. Maybe a Fig Newton or two before bed. And then you can head back to the Ivy and get your sprouts on.

If you support the war, well, pretty much anything this crowd does reeks of stupidity and hypocrisy. And if you oppose the war, you really have to be wishing that these people would stick to being meat puppets and let others more intellectually astute argue the cause.

As it is, I don't think 24 hours without a protein shake is going to slow Spicoli down enough to matter. Pity.

Later,

Fox