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A Hunger Strike

 


Joe Madison, a radio host with a show on Sirius XM Urban View, announced Nov. 8 that he will not eat solid food until, as he put it, “Congress passes, and President Biden signs,  the Freedom to Vote Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”

This could be Big. Bigger than anyone is yet saying. Bobby Sands big.

So far as I know he has stuck to it. And there is a clock running. The human body needs food, and seldom survives without it for more than 70 days. 

(Bobby Sands, the notorious IRA Provo who demanded he be treated by the Ulster authorities as a political prisoner rather than a criminal, died 66 days in.) 

That is Joe Madison, not Bobby Sands, above. 

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Comments

  1. HenryNovember 25, 2021 at 8:57 AM

    Why might Madison be doing this? Here are some possibilities: (1) to draw attention to the legislation, (2) to draw attention to himself, perhaps to promote his radio show, (3) to demonstrate how important passage of the legislation is to him, (4) to blackmail Congress into passing it. What he is not doing is making a case that the legislation is desirable. I believe that it is highly desirable (without Madison's telling me), but an opponent of the legislation could also go on a hunger strike to blackmail Congress into rejecting it.

    You may infer from the above that I find Madison's hunger strike pointless and stupid.

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    Replies
    1. ChristopherNovember 26, 2021 at 10:57 AM

      At first I found amusing your idea of dueling hunger strikes. On second thought, I think that it does suggest a fifth possible answer to your question. He is doing it to signal a level of determination. He is doing it precisely because he does NOT expect that any opponent of the legislation will do likewise. That signals "we are more dedicated to our cause than you are to yours" which may have some effect on the morale of those on each side who continue to eat regularly.

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