You start telling people they can’t have fun and express themselves and you will kill the Tea Party movement. That’s partly how activism was killed off on FR years ago.
I think this is also a very legitimate and important point, but it is really impossible to find a middle ground between people having fun and expressing themselves and showing some consideration of how their behavior and message is going to be portrayed in the mainstream media? Does this have to be an excluded middle argument?
What is the point of protesting and who do the protests serve?
Sorry, Kristinn. I don't want to be a wet blanket. As a mom of a teen, and have taken him to Tea Party events, he just sees these people as geeky. Believe me, I've told him they love this country and that's how they express it.
Maybe it's my fault. I've taken him along to counter protests in Minneapolis after 9/11 and we've been outnumbered 1000 to 10 and have been sworn at and our flag knocked to the ground.
Maybe because I went there every Wednesday for two years and I never said a word about it because it was just the right thing to do.
The Left called me a killer, told my son his mom loves to kill people, but I stood my ground. They went by in fairy costumes and other unmentionable stuff, but I stood my ground, by myself.
When a law school professor was tacking up "Just Peace" on every light poll on the neighborhood my throat was raw in a yelling match.
Sure, if someone wants to wear a costume, so be it. For me, it wasn't about fun. I lived the fight everyday.
That's what I want portrayed. Not some costume stuff.