Mess with the Repubs: Barlow promotes dancing in the streets!

[Spiffarino]

John Perry Barlow, in his July 31st blog, suggests an interesting way to protest the Republican convention in NYC that won't have you stuck behind police lines or razor wire:

Maureen Dowd recently observed that the Republicans had become so obsessed with rejecting the 60's ethic of doing it if it feels good that they have taken up an ethic of doing it if it makes someone else feel bad. Moreover, the GOP strategy of basing their root-level organization on Hot Protestantism has infused their ranks with a lot of chilly Puritanism, which, as H.L. Mencken defined it, is "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, is having a good time."

These were among the factors in mind recently as I turned my thoughts to what I might do to vex the Republicans when they gather in New York a month from now. Furious as I may be at their policies, conventional protest is not an option.

. . .

I want to dance in the streets.

. . .

...I propose the following: I want to organize a cadre of 20 to 50 of us. I want to dress us in suits and other plain pedestrian attire and salt us among the sidewalk multitudes in Republican-rich zones. At a predetermined moment, one of us will produce a boom-box and crank it up with something danceable. Suddenly, about a third of the people on the sidewalk, miscellaneously distributed in the general throng, will start dancing like crazy and continue to do so for for about a minute. Then we will stop, melt back into the pedestrian flow, and go to another location to erupt there.

Perhaps if we enlist enough troops, we can have several platoons simultaneously exploding into dance around Manhattan, so there will be absolutely no way to tell where we might strike next.

I promise you, this will make the Republicans uncomfortable. They will return to their partisan duties with a sense of disquiet that will slightly but surely fuzz the intensity of their focus. Besides, we'll enjoy it. That alone will irritate them. And we'll be doing nothing they can arrest us for. Nor, for that matter, televise us doing. By the time cameras arrive, we'll be gone.



http://barlow.typepad.com/barlowfriendz/2004/07/dancing_in_the_.html

[TlalocW]

1. Har!

Good idea. For some reason it reminds me of a practical joke that a bunch of people did where they dressed like clowns, and then they got on a bus - not all at once but over many of the stops that the bus made. There were clowns of all age groups - college kid clowns, clowns carrying briefcases, etc., and they all ignored each other when they got on the bus as if they were dressed normally. After about the 10th one, the bus driver broke down and yelled at them demanding to know what they were doing.

TlalocW

[silverweb]

2. Fantastic idea!

Wish I could be there... what fun it would be.

:D

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Yes! Mental Judo is the Best!

Like when Molly Ivans got hundreds to moon the KKK march!

[Spiffarino]

4. No kidding? Awesome!

When did that happen? Is there a link you could provide?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Ivins, Austin Texas KKK March

Molly Ivins gives Henry Pringle Lecture at Graduation 2003, Columbia School of Journalism: http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/graduation2003/ivins.asp

"They got off the buses, wearing their little pointy hats on their little pointy heads and commenced to march up Congress Avenue. They were greeted by several thousand citizens of Austin ... on both sides of the street who mooned them as they marched. It made a real nice effect - it was kind of like a wave in a baseball stadium."

...

The absurdity factor should never be underestimated. And, as you will discover, in the midst of the most dire circumstances, lunacy frequently breaks out and it should be pointed out. Politicians do not like to be made fun of.

[NuttyFluffers]

6. great idea! i wanna be there!

they should use all those anti-republican songs too. i heard plenty on the randi rhodes show. we can go back to the archives and have people pick up the samples and make a tape of it.

imagining the fun of 1/2 a crowd of people spontaneously dancing to "Kick Out the Republicans" and then fading away...