Kieran Healy raises a good and difficult question, to which I do not have an answer. Why, he asks, are the protesters out now, on this issue, and not for a variety of other issues? If, as I suggested, the protests are driven by narcissism, then where are the big protests over other issues? A fair criticism, and I agree that on its own, narcissism does not explain why these protests are so large. Kieran's closing sentences, however, suggests we may be talking past each other.

When set in the context of the history of mobilization for protest, the anti-war movement has generated a turnout for protests on a scale rivalled by only a very few social movement organizations on a very tiny number of occasions. That’s worth bearing in mind the next time you’re tempted to dismiss it as a failure or write off its participants as out-of-touch peaceniks.

I should re-emphasize that I do not equate opposition to the war with the loathsome protesters. Opposition ranges from the pious and frivolous sentiment that war kills innocents to sophisticated Mearsheimer and Walts stuff. I was not fully persuaded of the case for war until I read Kenneth Pollack's book, The Threatening Storm. But I will admit that regular exposure to the protesters made me a lot more easily persuaded. And when I listen to John Bruton, Ireland's former prime minister, refuse to disassociate himself from the creepy crowd, I am even more easily persuaded of the case.

They are not out of touch peaceniks; The protests are led by out of touch Marxists and really out of touch Stalinists.

It's Foreign Policy As a Leisure Time Activity. Here's an explanation by David Friedman on why people bother to vote that also works for protesting:

--------quote---------
The Market for Partisanship

Major sports teams, in the U.S. and elsewhere, are almost always
associated with a city or university. The pattern is so familiar that it
rarely occurs to us to wonder about it. Yet the same pattern is rarely
seen in other industries ­not even other parts of the entertainment
industry.

The explanation is that part of what sports teams are selling is
partisanship. Fans come not merely to watch a game but to cheer for
their side. A fan who believes that his cheering helps his side play
better can even feel that he is part of the game even if only a very
small part. Identifying with a city or a university is a cheap way of
obtaining a pool of partisans.

Every four years, a game is played out on nationwide television, with
the fate of the world at stake. On election night, they add up the
score--one team wins, one loses. You can not only cheer, you can even
play. The admission price--an hour of your time. As a way of influencing
the fate of the world, it is a poor deal--an hour of time for one chance
in a million of affecting the outcome. But as a way of adding excitement
to election night, it is cheap at the price.

In order to improve the state of the world, you must not only vote,
but vote for the right candidate--which requires additional hours spent
considering candidates and issues. Sports fans do not have to know which
team is more deserving of their support. Neither do political fans.
Quite a large fraction of voters cannot name their own Congressman, and
only a small minority can give an accurate account of the policy
positions of the candidates.
--------endquote--------

Does anyone think that the large scale of the protests has anything to do with an increasing ease of organization of them (through organizations like ANSWER who specialize in such things) and to the ease of communications and notifications (auto dialers, cel phones, instant messaging, etc.)? These things must make organizing protests MUCH easier to do.
-Are organizations like ANSWER much more attuned and prepared to organize people than say in Vietnam or Apartheid or Gulf I?
-How fast can the word get out nowadays?

brain-terminal.com says it all.

Or it could be brain_terminal.com

If the world thinks the USA is going to listen to a bunch of commies, bolshies, marxists, anti-globos, ecoterrorists, Stalinists, tranzis, ad nauseum, they're wrong.

Don't forget, ANSWER started organizing on 9/11 for this.

We're getting their number.