Requested by AxsDeny:
I’d like to hear your take on the turnyourbackonbush.com people. Specifically the incidents at OSU that led to the removal of a few of the students from the graduation ceremony.
First off, as far as the protest technique itself, I think it’s brilliant, especially in the current political climate we’ve got. When there are designated “protest zones” being set up at every event — generally so far removed from what’s actually going on that they’re nearly pointless — that anyone carrying an anti-Bush sign, wearing an anti-Bush shirt, or possibly even cracking an anti-Bush joke is going to get herded into, I think having a more or less “undercover” method of being able to publicly protest is very important.
By eschewing the normal protest trappings of signs and banners and dressing normally, people would be able to get in to more conspicuous spots closer to where Bush is and still be able to publicly show their opinion. It’s also wonderfully non-disruptive, if handled correctly: the protesters are doing nothing more than turning around. They’re not shouting, chanting slogans, or causing a public disturbance in any way. Ironically, of course, protesting in any way is seen as so reprehensible an activity these days that it’s quite likely that the people around the protesters will raise a fuss, security will be called in to pull them away, and far more attention will be paid to them than if they’d simply been allowed to stand in silence.
I love that.
As far as the removal of the TYBOB protesters at the OSU graduation, I think it’s despicable. Even before the graduation ceremony they were being threatened with arrest and denial of their diplomas, and at the ceremony, one man was escorted out and charged with disturbing the peace (a ridiculous charge, as he was being silent, as requested by the protest organizers — thankfully, the charges were dropped when he left peacefully).
As pointed out above, though, by reacting (and denouncing the protests proactively) as strongly as the OSU administration did, they called far more attention to the events than if they’d simply allowed everything to progress normally.
People — especially people in power — can be so stupid sometimes.
“Cyberspider” by Tear Garden, The from the album To Be an Angel Blind, the Crippled Soul Divide (1996, 3:53).