Some thoughts on the mindset of the fluffy wuffy demonstrator: The thing that has always amused me about many habitual placard-wavers is not the intensity of their commitment, but the lack of it. They go along to demos much as people go to the footy: because it's a ritual, all their friends are doing it, and they get to shout a lot and let off steam.

I remember once bumping into this Fremantle fluff on a train, whom I'd previously met at a party. We made a bit of small talk about non-political subjects. I'd expressed nothing to suggest -- either then or at the party -- what my political views were. Completely out of the blue she told me that there was an anti-development demo on the weekend. "If you're not doing anything, you might want to come along."

I felt like saying, "Well, I'll have a read about what's happening. If I decide I sympathise with the demonstrators' cause, and think that jumping around chanting some silly slogan will do any good for it, then I might show up."

Of course I didn't. I simply politely refused. She shrugged, and we changed the subject.

The thing that amazed me was the casualness of the suggestion. She clearly had no real emotional or intellectual commitment to it. She was going to lob there because, well, that's what you're supposed to do. It was an automatic, conditioned response, kind of like the staff at Macca's saying, "Have a nice day!"

I've often encountered this automaton-like behaviour amongst lefties. The reason they don't understand other opinions is because they don't know that there are any other opinions. I doubt they even truly know what their opinions are either. They've never really thought about anything much. They're just like lumps of seaweed, swaying back and forth with the tide. If this woman's friends were Nazis (er, real ones, not mere wannabes like me) then I'm sure she'd be doing the goose-step in no time at all.

Of course the foam-spitting ferals are a different kettle of filth. They are deeply committed to their nasty, idiotic ideology. They can't see reason because they're terrified of it, and are trapped in a constant state of fear and loathing.

This is why we non-fluffs shouldn't be too worried by the huge turnout against the war. I think most of the people who lobbed belonged to the two groups described above -- they were either air-heads or rumble-gutses. They weren't people who'd thought long and hard about the subject and finally, calmly decided to become appeaseniks. Still there's obviously a huge social problem to contend with when there are so many people out there who are that friggin' dumb.

Have a look here and you'll see how deep the fluffy wuffy cancer is in the country. I can imagine the staff at the SMH assembling this group of photos with a real sense of pride, confident that it shows what a kind and humane lot we tolerant, peace-loving Sydney-siders are. But I find it truly creepy.

Have a look at the pregnant chick in the bottom left hand corner. Her sign reads, "Power is in giving life." Well, I have no argument with that. But has it not occurred to her, and to the many bong-suckling barbarians in beanies that marched alongside her, that getting serious with the Butcher of Baghdad is not a contradiction of the sentiment she's expressing, but a confirmation of it?

By disarming Saddam (forcefully if necessary) we will be preserving and improving the lives of the oppressed citizens of Iraq, and protecting the lives of people in the West and Israel and other states in the Middle East. And if the UN comes along for the ride, the coalition of the willing will also be preserving any last vestiges of dignity and authority that institution retains. Surely she should be in support of that, if nothing else.

As a feminist (and I assume she is -- any appeaseniks who aren't?) she should also be aware that Iraq, like some other barbaric shit-holes in the region, isn't exactly chick-friendly. If she were to lob at an anti-government demo in Baghdad Uday and his mates would soon have her guts for garters (literally) and her tongue for dog food. Her head would probably be nailed to her front door just for good measure.

There's also the irony that this woman, or at least most of the women there, would be defiantly pro-choice. Peace rallies full of right-to-lifers? I doubt it. They're all "right-wing loons" aren't they?

So a more thorough encapsulation of the appeasenik position on the life-giving paradigm would be: "Power is in giving life... er, unless that life is deemed inconvenient to me. Then I'll pop into the nearest abortion clinic and have it ended pronto, and the body that contained it sucked out and spat into a bucket. My body my choice!"

Hey, bimbo! Why not just hold a sign reading, "Tyranny rocks, dude!"