Fake News
WARNING: The following perhaps was a figment of my imagination. Or maybe it was really a Trump fan club rally, and etc…? The possibilities of illusion, delusion, are infinite. In any case, I’ll tell you what the Chicago Tribune wrote about the event, and show you the pictures that “somehow” materialized in my camera. You decide if this was “real” or faked.
Thousands fill Loop after Women’s March rally in Chicago draws 250,000
The women of Chicago would not be stopped.
A quarter million demonstrators poured into downtown on Saturday, so many that organizers of the Women’s March on Chicago told the throngs that the event would only be a rally because there wasn’t room to march. But people marched anyway. —Chicago Tribune Jan. 21, 2017
A group of four happy warriors wait for the train to Chicago: Laura, Nancy, and Michael. We walked as far as Michigan Avenue and could go no further; a sea of humanity as far as we could see. Taking to the streets, marching for a cause is not something one does often. This time it’s different. The signs powerfully, in graphic imagery show what is at stake. A quarter of a million people in Chicago put their “bodies on the line” to advocate for human rights. The term needs saying again: human rights. How many is 250,000 people? It would take four Soldier Fields to hold that many.
The following photos chronicle what we saw. You will notice the diversity of the crowd, people of all ages, of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, male and female. The human must be preserved at all costs is the message transmitted by the physical presence of so many on the streets of Chicago, at this point in the history of our country, and of our world.
Speaking strictly from a personal angle, I was especially moved by sight of several large rainbow flags being waved at the center of thousands of people standing in the middle of Michigan Avenue. For me 
those flags were an emotional 
rallying point, like a battle flag that marks the line of advance. Another point in the day that was imprinted in my heart was when we passed directly in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. I understood at a deep level, that the values of thousands of us on the streets today, in many cities, are self consciously in opposition to the values of the man elected to the White House. Nothing could be more patriotic, or faithful to the earth,–than raising our voices.
These pictures will speak for themselves.
7 thoughts on “Fake News”
The vernacular of our culture has changed, actually in a very short time. Two words in particular come to mind, “Fact” and “Fake”. In some ways opposites, yet they have both been thrown into a blender and come out with little or no meaning. “Fact”, once meant something irrefutable, proof positive, quantifiable, rock solid evidence while “fake” described something made up to trick us into a belief, a forgery of a fact. Now those words have been lost in the arena of political double talk. “Fake” news is a fact and “facts” are as malleable as clay. So where is our center, where is our compass to lead us towards the thing we believe to be the light? Everything is enveloped in fog and all we can do is divine what we think is the correct path, keep our fingers crossed and walk – or march, as the case may be.
Social media is able to effect shifts in the mental environment of society at warp speed. Shifts that once took a generation, seemingly occur within months. Perhaps this has been percolating for a few years and is breaking the surface to become obvious. I think this “fog” is a direct threat to the democratic process.
I had not foreseen how emotional it would feel to walk among so many like-minded people who had expended considerable effort to travel to a single place –not to see an entertainment or because it was a pretty day, but solely because they deeply believed showing up was important and the right thing to do.
Man, that sense of conscience is powerful! The crowd’s energy was not violent or angry; it was resolved, unified — sort of “One for all and all for one!” — and purposeful. Think of the old colonial “Don’t Tread on Me!” flag without the implied threat of retaliation. Instead, “Don’t Tread on Us” because we’re simply not going to accept being trodden upon.
Occasionally someone would start a chant that would be picked up by surrounding marchers for a a block or so. The most frequent one was a call-and-response: “Tell me what democracy looks like.” “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!!!!” AMEN! I was proud to yell that out.
Also, eyeballing the crowd, I estimated that 10% – 20% of the “Women’s March” marchers were male. Good for them! Good for us all! Human rights are omnisexual.
Great to learn and read about your experience in participating in the march in Chicago! And, your photos prove it all occurred, something that apparently now in our new age suddenly seems a necessity to prove something existed, that you were there…a sad situation where we can now apparently no longer trust a person’s word, something not so great that our new president somehow tried to remove from our culture in a day. Yet, yours and others’ participation in a march like this, in a day, proved that America is and always has been great.
Jeff existence and “truth” are intimately linked. I read once that the first casualty of tyranny is truth. When we seek power without compromise, by undermining confidence in truth as a useful linguistic tool, we undermine those who disagree from forming a reliable understanding of reality, what exists. Reliable and accurate understanding of existing conditions is requisite for forming a plan of action.
It was heartening to see millions of women and men march for women’s rights and justice.
Just like the the millions who marched to protest when WJC used his position and power to sexually exploit Monica Lewinsky
Peter, are you saying that you are supportive of women’s rights as human rights? Or do you think the actions of 250,000 people on the streets of Chicago blatantly hypocritical?