These are big protests but…

by E.D. Kain on April 16, 2009

…it still feels like, despite strong attendance, the one real thing they have going for them is a catchy name.

I suppose this reflects on the importance of names, words, and titles – and even categorizations.  Imagine a similar movement without a name?  Would it ever draw these crowds?  What’s in a name?  I think the answer, at least for the Tea Parties, is everything.

Tagged as: tea parties

E.D. Kain is a blogger and freelance writer. Currently he serves as Editor-in-Chief of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen and writes a tech blog at Forbes. Visit his politics blog here. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The National Review, The Washington Examiner, and the now-defunct True/Slant. You can also contact him via email.

{ 2 comments }

1 Fr33d0m April 16, 2009 at 12:44 pm

You mean big by Republican standards?

2 Katherine April 16, 2009 at 12:59 pm

I think it’s also the problem with supporters of the tea parties complaining that they’re being misrepresented as anti-tax rather than anti-spending. If you invoke the Boston Tea Party and hold your protest on tax day, people will naturally assume you’re protesting taxes. If your taxes have just been cut, that’s likely to come across irrational.

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