'Tard of the Week - "Recreate '68" Protesters

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
This week's 'tard is a group of protesters who were arrested yesterday after a confrontation with Denver Police.

Because of the overwhelming interest in demonstrating during the DNC, permits were issued using a lottery system, and specific rules were put in place to prevent safety hazards such as blocking emergency access.

The group in question, "Recreate '68," has been vocal in their criticism of the lottery system, and claims they did nothing wrong.

The reason these folks are such complete and utter 'tards is not that they wanted to conduct a protest. It's not because they found the lottery system for permits unfair. It's not because they chose to flaunt the system and protest in an illegal manner. All of these things are mainstays of our democratic society, and even if I don't agree with their positions, we live in a free society.

It's because their quotes and statements give the impression that they're somehow outraged and surprised at the outcome of their actions.

These folks were pepper-sprayed and arrested after being warned repeatedly by Denver Police to break up their illegal activities. While I may or may not agree that what they were doing was right, the DPD is responsible for upholding the law and public safety. These people were in violation of both, and the DPD issued the consequences, decisively.

"Recreate '68," you are 'tards. The city did exactly what they said they were going to do based on the current law. You don't think the law is fair, correct, Constitutional? Then do what you need to do to demonstrate your displeasure, whether that's an illegal demonstration, a court case, whatever. Follow your conscience, and good luck with that. But don't act outraged and surprised when the police take your illegal activities to their logical conclusion. It's especially retarded when the very name of your group implies you were deliberately seeking out violent confrontation between yourselves and the police.

Fucking 'tards.

10 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

Personally, I have great problems with the whole idea of "recreate '68."

As much as I hate Bush and disagree with the current war, Iraq is not Vietnam. Not even close.

The Democratic Primary is no longer decided by deals made in smoke filled room.

We have not had a summer filled with assassinations of our political leaders.

As much as we still have inequity and racism in the US, the Civil Rights movement has succeeded and those successes continue forward.

This is not to say we don't have problems. We do. But the whole idea of "recreate '68" offends me in that it completely ignores the advances society has made in the past 40 years.

And as Janiece said (struggling to tie into post theme) rules were made. The police response is not arbitrary, nor is it the police mob rule of Daly's Chicago.

Morons.

Janiece said...

Michelle, I think their ideas are stupid, too, but I was trying to be clear about why I thought they were 'tards.

They seem to have a fundamental lack of understanding of the "cause and effect" phenomenon. The protesters of the 60's knew they were going to be arrested if they crossed the line, and they protested anyway because they felt a moral obligation to do so. These fuckwads want the cred of the 60's protesters, but they seem singularly unwilling to accept the natural consequences of their actions.

'Tards.

Random Michelle K said...

True.

Guess I just wanted to rant about the sheer stupidity of their ideas. :)

And I can hardly imagine what these people would have done had they been faced with the police mob of the Chicage '68 convention.

John the Scientist said...

I agree with Michelle.

But I also wanted to add that recreating '68 would not be a real and authentic recreation without the tear gas and arrests would it?

Be careful what you ask for, 'tards.

Jim Wright said...

I'm with John on this one:

Recreate '68: careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

Steve Buchheit said...

It irks the crap out of me that protestors have to "Register" and be assigned times and places to protest. However, it irks the fargin crap out of me when someone is doing civil disobedience without accepting they're going to be arrested for it (and either pay a fine or do some time). Really. MLK had time to write letters while in jail. If you feel that strongly about "making your voice heard" than accept the consequences. Force them to arrest you. Make it so hard on the police that they can't process all of you (good luck, they set up a special processing center for just this convention). Show how indignant you are by being arrested several times. If you don't know the name of the cop arresting you by now you aren't doing your job as protestor right.

Janiece said...

Michelle, you can rant here anytime. Especially about asshats who seem to lack fundamental information about an historic event they claim to emulate.

Steve, I'm of two minds about the whole "register and permit" for protesters. My small "l" libertarian self says people should be able to protest when and where they will. My fan of public safety self says that the city had to have some level of control over it if they were to maintain a degree of public safety. Left to their own devices, I'm quite sure it would quickly get out of hand, and fire lanes and such would of been blocked.

That's the sucky part of being a responsible adult, I fear...

Eric said...

In addition to Michelle's other fine points: in '68, the President of the United States was a Democrat. '68 lefties were justifiably outraged that Johnson had misled the country and escalated the war in Vietnam. So, wouldn't a logical re-creation of the spirit of '68 involve protesting, oh, I don't know, the Republican convention. I mean, for cryin' out loud, the presumptive Democratic nominee is the guy who said he'd pull us out of Iraq So unless you're one of those bitter and insane Clintonistas, what exactly do you have to protest at the DNC? Go picket the Republicans already.

(Also, I agree that (1) the current style of stifling protest through bureaucracy is evil and dubiously Constitutional and (2) that said, part of the protest is taking the consequences of the protest. MLK didn't just go along with being arrested--he knew he'd be arrested and deliberately provoked his arrest in order to make a point about the injustice of being imprisoned for speaking and marching in favor of basic human dignity. What Dr. King did is called civil disobedience; what Recreate '68 did is called whining.)

Random Michelle K said...

I have issues with permits for protests and "free speech zones" because they have little to do with public safety and everything to do with making it hard to voice your opinion.

My take is this, allow whomever wants to protest. However, if they they violate laws such as blocking the sidewalk, blocking fire lanes, violating noise ordinances, disrupting schools/ classes/ businesses then off they go.

We have every right to protest. We do not have the right to place public safety at risk.

As long as protests are made aware of these rules then let them protest whenever or wherever they want.

Janiece said...

"What Dr. King did is called civil disobedience; what Recreate '68 did is called whining."

Eric made me guffaw.

Naughty Eric.