ANTEBELLUM: E-Volting
By: Matt Blickenstaff
Issue date: 3/18/10 Section: Opinion/Editorial
The revolution will not be televised, but Gil Scott Heron didn't say nothing about the Internet. If tea party rallies are a little too analog for your taste, Americans for Fair Taxation has a solution.
The group of plucky political activists is sponsoring the Online Tax Revolt, a digital march to Washington D.C. to protest out-of-control federal spending and high taxes.
"Join other Americans as we march online from across the country to Washington D.C. and rally together on April 15," the group's Web site solicits.
The Online Tax Revolt already boasts nearly 190,000 "marchers," including a few conservative celebrities like Mike Huckabee, Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher and Michael Reagan, "The Gipper's" eldest son.
By Internet standards, though, the march has a long way to go until it reaches the numbers enjoyed by other online causes. "Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback?" and "Flipping the pillow over to get to the cold side" claim nearly 1.6 million and 3.5 million Facebook fans respectively.
Joining this virtual procession requires little more than a few passionately patriotic mouse-clicks. After entering a name, ZIP and e-mail address, "marchers" must pick an avatar.
Unfortunately, 10-foot-tall blue nudists are not an option. Anyway, I doubt these na've Na'vi naturalists would fit in with climate change skeptics shouting "drill, baby, drill."
Males are limited to a little army man, Uncle Sam, a tricorne-donning tea party patriot, a doctor, a senior citizen and Ronald Reagan. The ladies' options include female variations of the male PLAYMOBIL choices plus Betsy Ross in lieu of a tranny Reagan. The, let's say ethnic, avatar options are labeled as "working families," so black doctors or Hispanic military personnel are, presumably, shit-out-of-luck.
From there, "marchers" can align themselves with a specific tea party team or simply begin their long trek to D.C. solo.
A "View the March" tab grants a bird's eye view of the movement's progress. A little purple beam leads the avatar to D.C. The journey is about 840 miles taking Interstate 64 from St. Louis, but non-existence has its perks. The as-the-crow-flies route outlined on the map shaves 150 miles off the trip.
The group of plucky political activists is sponsoring the Online Tax Revolt, a digital march to Washington D.C. to protest out-of-control federal spending and high taxes.
"Join other Americans as we march online from across the country to Washington D.C. and rally together on April 15," the group's Web site solicits.
The Online Tax Revolt already boasts nearly 190,000 "marchers," including a few conservative celebrities like Mike Huckabee, Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher and Michael Reagan, "The Gipper's" eldest son.
By Internet standards, though, the march has a long way to go until it reaches the numbers enjoyed by other online causes. "Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback?" and "Flipping the pillow over to get to the cold side" claim nearly 1.6 million and 3.5 million Facebook fans respectively.
Joining this virtual procession requires little more than a few passionately patriotic mouse-clicks. After entering a name, ZIP and e-mail address, "marchers" must pick an avatar.
Unfortunately, 10-foot-tall blue nudists are not an option. Anyway, I doubt these na've Na'vi naturalists would fit in with climate change skeptics shouting "drill, baby, drill."
Males are limited to a little army man, Uncle Sam, a tricorne-donning tea party patriot, a doctor, a senior citizen and Ronald Reagan. The ladies' options include female variations of the male PLAYMOBIL choices plus Betsy Ross in lieu of a tranny Reagan. The, let's say ethnic, avatar options are labeled as "working families," so black doctors or Hispanic military personnel are, presumably, shit-out-of-luck.
From there, "marchers" can align themselves with a specific tea party team or simply begin their long trek to D.C. solo.
A "View the March" tab grants a bird's eye view of the movement's progress. A little purple beam leads the avatar to D.C. The journey is about 840 miles taking Interstate 64 from St. Louis, but non-existence has its perks. The as-the-crow-flies route outlined on the map shaves 150 miles off the trip.
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