Mediaboss Marketing

About this past weekend

Someone won.

Someone lost.

When it came to the National Football League playoffs, it was pretty cut and dried. The New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons won and will be going on to play in the Super Bowl a week from Sunday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers lost and have gone home or wherever it is football players go when their presence is no longer required in a stadium.

In local and national politics, determining who wins and who loses can be somewhat more complicated.

On Saturday, supporters of President Donald Trump including those who bused or drove from our area to the ceremony could bask in the afterglow of their man being inaugurated the previous day.

Mr. Trump won the election, and by extension, so did his followers.

Hillary Clinton lost, but by extension, were those who greatly preferred her to Trump losers?

Many of those folks who live in our area have told us they have felt that way since the election.

They didnt watch the news on TV or follow the post-election events online. They turned to Netflix, situation comedies, movies and catching up on their novel-reading.

They have been depressed, in a funk. Waking up each morning hoping that the shocking election results had all been just a bad dream. It was almost like a death in the family and having to go through the five stages of grief denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Then, something happened Saturday. All over the country and many other places around the world, including here in Oneonta, Cooperstown and Delhi, progressives paused their mourning. They rallied in massive numbers in Womens Marches against the new president and the statements he made during the campaign and since the election.

In Washington, their numbers dwarfed those at the inauguration. In major American cities and in small towns, attendees carried signs, listened to speeches, cheered and generally felt a palliative sisterhood and brotherhood.

They realized that they were not losers. Under the new administrations plans, the environment lost, health care lost, reproductive rights lost, tolerance lost, immigration lost and criminal justice reform lost.

But the estimated three million worldwide protesters Saturday did not lose. By their common purpose, they made a statement. They are not defeated until they say they are defeated.

Has Trump awakened a sleeping giant? Does the prospect of a Supreme Court that may overturn Roe v. Wade give a much-needed booster shot to the abortion-rights movement? Will a denuded Environmental Protection Agency, global warming denial and oil pipelines springing up hither and yon invigorate those who care about such things?

The rally in Oneonta like the others was a worthwhile exercise in democracy. Organizers estimated about 450 participants, but it looked like there were more. From across the street from Muller Plaza, a young man repeatedly called out his support for Trump from an apartment window as marchers passed by, taking it in their cheery stride.

Among the speakers was another young man, who insisted that ex-President Barack Obama is a war criminal for the bombs he authorized to be dropped in the Middle East. The crowd booed, but heard him out. The other speakers pleased the audience by denouncing Trump and calling for resistance to his policies.

What the rallies and marches tell us is that in the long run, who has really won and who has really lost are yet to be determined.

Excerpt from:
In Our Opinion: Marches helped progressives fight back - Oneonta Daily Star