Send in the Clowns

There are essentially two types of protest, violent and non-violent.

Examples of violent protest include the bombing of the on-campus Army Research Center at UW-Madison, which resulted in the death of a grad student; the burning of Watts, which resulted in making a poor area of LA even poorer; the trashing of the DNC in Chicago in 1968, which resulted in the take-over of the Democratic Party by liberals, and the throwing of bricks and rocks at men armed with M-16s at Kent State, which resulted in the deaths of four brick and rock throwers.

Examples of non-violent protest include the marches led by Martin Luther King, which resulted in the Civil Rights Act; the protests led by Mahatma Gandhi, which resulted in Indian independence; the confrontation of a lone Chinese man with a column of tanks, which resulted in world-wide attention and pressure on a communist dictatorship, and a love-in staged in bed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which resulted in world peace in our time.

Okay, clearly the result of that last example of non-violent protest is an exaggeration.

These protests had a focus, whether it was racism, the Vietnam War, the British Raj, oppression, or war in general.  And then you have the protests that were held at the 2012 RNC in Tampa.

One of the leaders of the RNC protesters was Andrew Speirs, 23, who had quit his job at a North Carolina deli to devote himself full time to protesting.  His cohort, Nathan Schwartz, 21, had asked his parents, who had already given him a Lexus, for an advance on his birthday money, which he used to buy such things as mouth guards in anticipation of police brutality.

Speirs, a self-styled anarchist, was expecting 300 fellow protesters.  72 showed up.  Protesters from Miami, New York, Dallas and other places, worried that they might get wet from Tropical Storm Isaac, said, "Nah, we're good," and cancelled out.

Speirs was chanting, "Whose streets?  Our streets!  Tear up the concrete!" when a more credible protester pointed out to him that his group was conducting a "voter suppression march with people who are not as radical as you."  Speirs' group let them pass.

While Speirs was doing his best to bait the police into creating You Tube moments, some protesters were posing for pictures with Tampa's police chief.  Others found themselfs in the embarrassing position of having to accept box lunches and cold bottled water from cops when their enablers failed to supply them with sustenance.

The one more or less success protesters had at disruption was at a power plant 15 miles south of the city.  At the plant, winter haven of warm water for manatees, two teams of three chained their arms together inside PVC pipes that were wrapped with chicken wire, tar, rebar and duct tape and laid down in the middle of the road.  When a power plant truck stopped rather than run over them a seventh climbed the truck and chained his neck to it.

The cops told them if they would leave nd get back on their buses, no one would be arrested.  The protesters, by this time bored and happy to oblige, were unable to free themselves and had to be cut apart.

Back in Tampa a group of 12, wearing pink cowboy hats, tried to arrest Condoleezza Rice for having been a part of the Bush Administration that sent troops to the Middle East.  As of this writing Condi remains at large.

15,000 protesters were expected.  500 or so showed up, of which only two were arrested.  Speirs and Schwartz said their issues were providing everyone with basic human rights, such as housing and food; eliminating corporate control of the political system and the right to protest in public spaces without a permit.

Hard to take folks who quit their jobs and drive luxury cars seriously when they demand housing and food.

I don't think anyone expected RNC protesters to self-immolate.  On the other hand, I would expect them to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose over serious issues.  This performance, all bombast and no substance, resulted in nothing but comic relief.

Gandhi, King and Lennon must be looking down and shaking their heads in disgust.