Proggers
I wrote this many years ago when I was feeling very disappointed in the protest movement. I saw a lot of people getting beaten up and zero systemic change happening. I started to question its power.
I don't feel like this any more.
She leans on the counter and tidies the ribbons. Two people with receding hair jog past. They wear short, high waisted shorts and ribbed red running vests. They run in rhythm with each other. They wah in rhythm with their running. “Whah whah! Whah whah! Whah whah! Whah whah!” Not far behind them runs a bigger group, similarly dressed, more rhythm. She notices their bibs. WE WANT shouts one. GIVE IT TO US NOW demands another. The proggers. Protesting joggers. The latest craze.
Theoretically proggers can put anything they want on their bibs. In reality all they ever have are empty demands. Demanding nothing, now.
The really dedicated ones carry placards, for extra arm resistance. And the whole charade is completed by the aggressive mock police chase. Personal trainers clad in safety-conscious high visibility jackets.
The simultaneous mockery of protest and admittance of its status as sport succeeds; it kills it dead. There is no point. Even if someone was serious, they would pass for proggers and be forgiven. Allowed to carry on. Unchallenged.
Several popular theories circulate. One school of progger thought is that doing little but often will eventually have a bigger effect than the big, loud outbursts of yesteryear. Keep doing your small bit, every day, and reap the results; be listened to, be earnestly involved, be part, be remembered. Of course, their only common goal was self-improvement. Occasionally, a few asked for MORE GREEN SPACE or BETTER EDUCATION NOW but these were always fads and they’d be pleading for something else the following week.
She is not at all surprised. What is there left to shout about? If you shout you might actually get, and once you get you’re stuck with it. Everything is fine.
Some believe that repression will cause explosion. But all those happy hormones unleashed through exercise take care of that. Progging is addictive. And football hooliganism has significantly reduced.