Send in the Clowns: Antiwar Protestors in the Streets of DC

Human Events ^ | 3/20/2008 | Jack Langer

[HoosierGirl25]

Coming on the heels of the Winter Soldier retread that once again portrayed U.S. soldiers as bloodthirsty maniacs, antiwar protestors converged on Washington D.C. this week for another major antiwar protest. At least, that’s what the organizers promised to deliver.

The protests kicked off on Tuesday night with “Sound the Alarm” at Union Station. This demonstration was modeled after “Frozen Grand Central,” a piece of performance art carried out at Grand Central Station in January. The idea is that a large group of people suddenly freeze in place, in the middle of a busy train station, for five minutes.

If you’ve seen the YouTube clip of “Frozen Grand Central,” then you know that it was actually pretty cool. Bemused commuters walked through a maze of over 200 people frozen like statues. One bewildered man gingerly approached one of the participants and nervously poked her to see if she was a real person.

[Holicheese]

“large group of people suddenly freeze in place” You know, I was always for the war but after seeing people freeze in place in a train station, well, I have changed my mind!

[ANGGAPO]

There has to be a way to entice these social misfits to move to a more progressive country. Some of the Balkan states come to mind.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Interesting take on why the decided not to arrest the clowns:

But in the end, I understood the tolerant response. The crowd on the streets of Washington D.C. on Wednesday was not part of an antiwar movement. The dancing kids and ridiculously costumed protesters are what we have today instead of an antiwar movement. A true antiwar movement, like the one from the 1960s, causes real chaos, affects public opinion, and ultimately can influence policy and our political culture. That’s not the case with United for Peace and Justice. Its members are clowns who are looking for a good street party that’s made more exciting by a whiff of protest and danger.

Arresting, manhandling, or otherwise cracking down hard on them would just feed into their martyr complex and generate a lot of sympathetic media attention. When they’re left alone to act out their fantasies, they discredit themselves. If the price for keeping this circus sideshow from metastasizing into a real political movement is that some local drivers get delayed at intersections once in a while, then that’s not much of a price at all.

[steel_resolve]

So basically it’s “police do nothing, women and clowns hardest hit?”

[Bitsy]

There has to be a way to entice these social misfits to move to a more progressive country

You are right! If we took up a collection for one way tickets to, say, Sweden or Norway - wherever - and they could move their smelly, hairy, worthless sorry @sses selves to a place where they would fit in and be appreciated for the scum they are. Then we would be rid of the stench of a pile of traitorous half-wits from this great country once and for all. Er, not that I have anything against them or anything!

[Sicon]

The idea is that a large group of people suddenly freeze in place, in the middle of a busy train station, for five minutes

For some reason, this immediately brought to mind a line from "12 Monkeys", where one of Brad Pitt's fellow activists says that Pitt's character called them all "ineffectual liberal jerk-offs".

Freezing in place for 5 minutes - how much more ineffectual can you possibly get?

[The Great RJ]

What is it with the left and these weird theatrics? They sleep in tents to “help” the homeless, stage “die ins” and “freeze ins” to demonstrate one thing or another and show up dressed as clowns. What is all this supposed to prove other than their idiocy?