Recently I’ve been imagining a spaceman named Reth-Nar looking down on us in more confusion than usual. On January 20, in Washington, D.C., he sees all eyes focused on an earthling topped with an unusual flowing golden mane. (Yes, it’s visible from space.) Then, the next day, he notes large rivers of humanity flowing through Earth cities whilst wearing pink headgear.
Mystified, Reth-Nar boots up his Earth Decoder Module 3000 and tries to puzzle it all out. He learns that the lion-maned man is the new U.S. sachem. The rivers of people in the cities the next day are protesting his election and the things he stands for.
These events don’t completely baffle him. He’s seen humans follow unusual leaders before, and he’s seen marches, too, over such notions as women’s suffrage, civil rights, Vietnam, abolishing slavery, and unlocking the Bastille. (Reth-Nar is roughly 7,000 Earth-years-old.) But he couldn’t quite grok the scope of these protests. Problems with the new leader’s policies make sense for U.S. residents, but these demonstrations aren’t limited to the U.S. There are marches in London, Paris, Berlin, Belfast, Cape Town, Aukland, Nairobi, etc. and etc. More than 600 cities in all. There are even 30 protestors in Antarctica. (Reth-Nar particularly enjoys the “Penguins for Peace” sign.)
