A Counterpoint to Calls for Politeness in Protesting: Sometimes Rude Works
I think it’s worth noting tonight, as people prematurely celebrate the alleged reopening of the Capitol (which is allowed to take up to five days, and enforcement is up in the air even then), that these protests have been a bit, more than a bit really, TOO polite.
For instance, if I hear one more treacly bit of praise for the cops who, it is now officially declared, illegally held the people of Wisconsin outside their own Capitol, I think I’m going to throw up in my mouth, just a bit.
So for a bit of contrast I present this video I took yesterday of a man who was determined to exercise his right to speak to his representative inside the building, cops or no cops:
You’ll note, it worked, despite heckling, yes, heckling, from some goody-two-shoes protest leader, who is shocked that it did work.
Non-violence doesn’t mean you have to beg, and it doesn’t mean you have to be polite to your oppressors. Food for thought.
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1,000,000 times YES. and AMEN.
The “protest cringe” I see so much is really annoying… .”OH GOD, What will Fox think? They’ll kill us with that if they see the drum circle / angry sign / yelling at dickhead assemblyman”
Actually, no. This energy is galvanizing a population like never before. People are excited to be part of a movement that is not going to back down, not going to get pushed around, that might, for fucking once, actually WIN.
Thanks so much for this.
I’m going to put up a full post about this, but it’s also worth noting, the same police we’re supposed to praise assaulted, in full view of the public, a Democratic lawmaker trying to get into his own office: http://www.wisn.com/video/27074185/detail.html
Does that look praiseworthy to anyone else?