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Observation #1
It is incredibly eerie to walk through downtown.
With hundreds of cops dressed in full riot gear (armor, helmets, three foot batons and ample numbers of plastic-tie handcuffs), huge welded chain-link fences cordoning off the area around the Xcel Energy Center (complete with checkpoints and armed sentries who allow bus traffic in and out through the enormous gates), and large dump trucks being used to blockade roads and bridges, walking through St. Paul feels a little like being in Escape from New York. All it really needs is a crazed Donald Pleasence standing atop a barbed wire fence mowing down his former captors with a machine gun while shouting obscenities to complete the scene (that and a cheesy John Carpenter soundtrack). What was especially unnerving was to see the nervous look on quite a few of the younger cops' faces (the look that, in the words of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snurri said, "Oh my god, I'm gonna die -- I better start beating people."). It's also rather difficult to navigate the streets as nearly all of them are blocked off and even the ones that aren't will be just moments before or after you've walked through. I understand that all this is done in the name of keeping everyone safe but I, for one, have a hard time feeling safe surrounded by what looks like either a war zone or a police state or both.
Observation #2
Congratulations, anarchists -- you turned the message behind a peaceful protest into a story about you smashing shit up. Good job!
A -- An estimated 10,000 people marched peacefully from the state capitol down to the convention and back, protesting the war in Iraq. B -- 284 "protesters" were arrested for smashing the windows of a store, a bank, and police cars, throwing bricks through bus windows, strewing garbage and debris in the street to blockade traffic and attempting to form human barricades to do the same. Which story got more press? If you guessed A, you'd be wrong.
So a small group of idiots managed to make sure that the message of 10,000 played second fiddle to theirs. Now, if you're going to tell me that's the fault of the media, stop. You (the anarchists) know just as well as I do that that's what the media does. Of course people breaking stuff and trying to start a riot is going to get more ink and more air time than people marching peaceably in the streets, holding signs and chanting. You know that and I know that and to pretend otherwise is just making excuses for yourself. Sure, it's fun to run wild in the street, but tell me, how is what you did any different from the college kids who riot after their team wins a national title? Because I really don't see a difference. You may have a point to all this, but what is it? And how are your methods getting it across? How does slamming a dumpster into the side of an occupied squad car show you want the war to end? How does smashing the windows of a Macy's tell people you want a change in government? How does assaulting Republican delegates (including an 80 year old man who had to be treated for injuries) help convince people that what the Republicans are doing is wrong? How does throwing a brick through a bus window and injuring the blue collar driver let people know you care about unions and living wages? How does throwing bent nails, newspaper kiosks and garbage cans in the street show that you care about the environment? Because to me, your actions make you no better than the people you're "protesting" against. As many have said, the ends don't justify the means, but what exactly are your ends? To prevent the Republican delegates from attending their convention and thus suppressing their right to free speech because your rights are more important or valid than theirs? Maybe you do have a valid point to all this but I certainly don't see it. All I see is a bunch of self-righteous thugs using political action as an excuse to break the law.
Bonus Observation
Because I was in St. Paul to see the concert put on by SEIU
Tom Morello, the self-described "Night Watchman" and "On-Man Revolution," though he can play a serviceable guitar, can't play the harmonica, can't sing, and writes lyrics that a ninth grader ranting in his basement and using newspaper headlines as his inspiration would be embarrassed by. Note to the Night Watchman: name-checking a lot of political buzzwords and third world countries and then throwing in some badly pronounced Spanish does not equal good songwriting.
It is incredibly eerie to walk through downtown.
With hundreds of cops dressed in full riot gear (armor, helmets, three foot batons and ample numbers of plastic-tie handcuffs), huge welded chain-link fences cordoning off the area around the Xcel Energy Center (complete with checkpoints and armed sentries who allow bus traffic in and out through the enormous gates), and large dump trucks being used to blockade roads and bridges, walking through St. Paul feels a little like being in Escape from New York. All it really needs is a crazed Donald Pleasence standing atop a barbed wire fence mowing down his former captors with a machine gun while shouting obscenities to complete the scene (that and a cheesy John Carpenter soundtrack). What was especially unnerving was to see the nervous look on quite a few of the younger cops' faces (the look that, in the words of
snurri said, "Oh my god, I'm gonna die -- I better start beating people."). It's also rather difficult to navigate the streets as nearly all of them are blocked off and even the ones that aren't will be just moments before or after you've walked through. I understand that all this is done in the name of keeping everyone safe but I, for one, have a hard time feeling safe surrounded by what looks like either a war zone or a police state or both.Observation #2
Congratulations, anarchists -- you turned the message behind a peaceful protest into a story about you smashing shit up. Good job!
A -- An estimated 10,000 people marched peacefully from the state capitol down to the convention and back, protesting the war in Iraq. B -- 284 "protesters" were arrested for smashing the windows of a store, a bank, and police cars, throwing bricks through bus windows, strewing garbage and debris in the street to blockade traffic and attempting to form human barricades to do the same. Which story got more press? If you guessed A, you'd be wrong.
So a small group of idiots managed to make sure that the message of 10,000 played second fiddle to theirs. Now, if you're going to tell me that's the fault of the media, stop. You (the anarchists) know just as well as I do that that's what the media does. Of course people breaking stuff and trying to start a riot is going to get more ink and more air time than people marching peaceably in the streets, holding signs and chanting. You know that and I know that and to pretend otherwise is just making excuses for yourself. Sure, it's fun to run wild in the street, but tell me, how is what you did any different from the college kids who riot after their team wins a national title? Because I really don't see a difference. You may have a point to all this, but what is it? And how are your methods getting it across? How does slamming a dumpster into the side of an occupied squad car show you want the war to end? How does smashing the windows of a Macy's tell people you want a change in government? How does assaulting Republican delegates (including an 80 year old man who had to be treated for injuries) help convince people that what the Republicans are doing is wrong? How does throwing a brick through a bus window and injuring the blue collar driver let people know you care about unions and living wages? How does throwing bent nails, newspaper kiosks and garbage cans in the street show that you care about the environment? Because to me, your actions make you no better than the people you're "protesting" against. As many have said, the ends don't justify the means, but what exactly are your ends? To prevent the Republican delegates from attending their convention and thus suppressing their right to free speech because your rights are more important or valid than theirs? Maybe you do have a valid point to all this but I certainly don't see it. All I see is a bunch of self-righteous thugs using political action as an excuse to break the law.
Bonus Observation
Because I was in St. Paul to see the concert put on by SEIU
Tom Morello, the self-described "Night Watchman" and "On-Man Revolution," though he can play a serviceable guitar, can't play the harmonica, can't sing, and writes lyrics that a ninth grader ranting in his basement and using newspaper headlines as his inspiration would be embarrassed by. Note to the Night Watchman: name-checking a lot of political buzzwords and third world countries and then throwing in some badly pronounced Spanish does not equal good songwriting.
