Categorical Aperitif

What will come of it remains to be seen, but there's a viral push afoot for a general strike on 9/11/07.

I learned of this from the good Sam Smith, who quotes a Scoop (New Zealand) article which notes that general strikes are not unknown in the U.S.—despite the best efforts of many to strip the word strike of any meaning outside of baseball or bowling:

The Seattle general strike of 1919 is the first known city-wide general strike in U.S. history. Failing to get promised wage increases, 35,000 ship yard workers were joined by 25,000 other Seattle union members for a 6 day work stoppage. The 60,000 workers and their families represented a huge portion of Seattle's 315,000 populations at the time.

The most recent U.S. general strike occurred on May 1, 2006 when millions of Latinos hit the streets across the country. The Latino population once, known as the sleeping giant of American politics, awoke that day in a national effort that shocked and awed the U.S. political elite. . .

What do you suppose will happen if it starts to look like 20% or so of the American population will actually stay home, call in sick, take to the streets, etc. on 9/11/07? Terrorist scare? Terrorist attack? White girl gone missing? Paris Hilton gone missing? Paris Hilton gone lesbian?

Hmm. Michael Jackson hasn't been heard from in a while...