While it is not the first time I have had a gun pointed at me, I don't think one can ever get used to a person on a roof top tracing their every move with a high powered rifle.
Who knew a F@#K Bush tee-shirt had the ability to put your life in immediate danger.
I looked at the perimeter surrounding the Xcel center keeping the people and protesters out of the political process by a use of force, imprisonment, media marginalization, and threat of deadly force.
I tried to reconcile this view with the fact that when I was in Iceland several years back I actually stumbled into a Parliament meeting and even as a tourist was able to watch the government at work. 50 feet away from the prime minister.
People say that we are different here that we have a target on our back. Maybe we should really look at that. If enough people want to kill that you have to travel with an entire batallion of soliders maybe you are not doing things that are in the peoples best interest. Maybe we could just listen to each other instead of hiring more secutity.
Because something here is wrong. This barrier in yellow tape, taffic cones, gaurd rails, tire spikes creating a buffer zone between the haves and the have nots.
Something is wrong....it just feels wrong.
I actually looked out over the crowds of protestors, crowds of people who lined the streets in the name of change. They actually gave me hope that
Somewhere along the line we be came a dictatorship. Choose dictator A or B.
In my only viable option of protest left come November I am going to choose C.
7 comments:
I hear ya, but I can't do that because I feel it is a silent protest that will in reality do nothing to chnage the zietgeist.
I have to vote against the religious right.
Good for you.
I'm scared of what this country could become after November. It's scary enough as it is.
I'm not sure I agree. I think a lot of protesters are only looking out for #1. Not all protests are because the government is doing something wrong. Likewise, just because a bunch of people want to kill you doesn't mean that you should be killed. This is a huge, diverse, ever-immigrating, relatively YOUNG country. There is bound to be someone who doesn't like you based on something trivial just depending on where you go. We also have the greatest population of diagnosed mental illness (makes you think about those that are undiagnosed).
People see what politicians say as very possible to be enacted and rolled out as part of the way we live--their words (in addition to how they may look or what they 'stand for') and what they represent means that people feel that their way of life could change or that it challenges their own deeply-held beliefs, whether that's a racist belief, a belief in right to life, a belief that everyone should have the right to behave however they see fit (anarchy).
I would say that the number of peaceful protests that are there are far outweighed by the violence and intimidation of other protests. Those protesters prevent other people from being heard--unfortunately the peaceful ones sometimes get trapped in the ensuing rigmarole. That part is a shame. This does not make me want to abandon the political process, however, it just seals my belief that there are a crapton of crazies out there just trying to cause damage and draw attention to themselves, preventing real quality protests from being heard.
I'm a registered independent. Thank God for that option!
You don't know how many people I've heard say the same thing about needed a choice C (including myself)
As long as you exercise the right by marking a ballot you retain the right to protest the wrong. There is always more than two options; if C is your choice then stay the course, retain your right to criticize the government. There is no peril greater than silence.
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