Why people in audiences get boisterous..

[SoCalDem]

i wrote this years ago, but the sentiment is still valid.. probably more so.. People are frustrated, angey, upset, and they take every opportunity to try and get their message across..



SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Fri Apr-01-05 08:33 AM
Original message

The Egg, Pie, and Salad Dressing Rebellion..




Today on Washington Journal, a teensy bit of the Ann Coulter incident was mentioned and then a bit about the salad dressing incident with pat Buchanan. Of course Brian Lamb chuckled a bit when he reported it, and seemed truly confused as to why this is happening.




People make a long distance call to C-Span, sometimes dialing for hours....get through..and if they are not disconnected during the interminable wait, they are given a scant 30-45 SECONDS to try to make their point. Of course if there is a "guest", the guest always gets the oppportunity to totally ignore the comments or just re-spin their propaganda.

What Brian does not understand is this:

When ordinary people are DENIED their opportunity to set the record straight, and are finally tired of hearing propaganda, they will resort to extremes, just to make a point.

We rarely see "the pundits" squirting salad dressing or tossing the occasional egg. The reason they don't have to is that they have virtually unlimited air time, and have the capability to "silence" any and all "guests" who dare to disagree with them.

The president and his minions travel the US on OUR dime, and then speak before hand-picked audiences. If a detractor manages to get inside, and has the courage to say his/her piece, they are unceremoniously escorted OUT, and possibly arrested. The next time they try to fly, they might find out there are further ramifications too..

A person like Coulter is paid thousands of dollars to spew hatred, and then "deputizes" burly republican students to "throw the dissenters out". This is incitement to violence, pure and simple, and she's being paid by a university that is supported by ALL our tax dollars, democrats and republicans.

Pat Buchanan may have every right to say his xenophobic "piece", but he should expect to hear some opposition when he ventures outside his little media cocoon. Salad Dressing is actually quite inventive when you consider that lettuce pickers tend NOT to be blond, blue-eyed wasps.



When a Vice president or president "visits" a town, it should not be unusual for the general public to take notice and want to participate in some way. Tossing an egg at a vehicle that would probably fare well in a nuclear blast, is not a threat..especially when it's tossed by an adolescent girl.

None of these bold "attacks" are sophisticated or even original, but it's a symptom of just how frustrated half (or more) of the nation has become. It's kind of like a water balloon.. Squeeze one part of it, and the water will just go to the other side, but if you twist it and poke it and stomp on it, the water balloon will eventually burst.

It is ironic though, that these pranks are widely reported, when millions of people in the streets marching, is not..

Civil disobedience is a long-held tenet of our country and "first amendment zones", hermetically sealed leaders and storm-troopers lining the streets are starting to bring out the "kid" in all of us..

We must be careful though... There was a girl who put a flower in a gun barrel...and then 4 students died.. (Kent State)

[LibDemAlways]

1. You make a very valid point about ordinary people not

being given a platform. My local city council is an excellent example. Every week at the meeting time is set aside for "public comment" where anyone who wants to can speak before the council for five minutes.

During this time, while the public is supposedly having its say, members of the council are visiting the bathroom, reading the newspaper, doodling, or chatting among themselves. The disrespect and lack of courtesy they show the public is almost beyond belief. The meetings are televised, and you would think they'd be shamed into paying attention, but they don't give a good goddamn what any ordinary citizen has to say. And they know that so few people pay attention that it doesn't much matter anyway because come the next election they will be returned to office based on name recognition alone. I've watched people up there speaking their mind and imploring the council members to please pay attention to them. They just get ignored. I keep waiting for an egg to fly, because that's what it would take to get noticed. Of course then the offender would just get escorted out.

Ordinary people have virtually no say in anything. No wonder the frustration sometimes boils over. Amazing that it doesn't happen more often.