Public Protests

[Sephex]

Sort of.

Back in 2006, my then girlfriend invited me to go to a local 4th of July parade in her local area. She told me her father's group were part of a minor protest group against Bush and other aspects of his presidency that they didn't like. I thought it was going to be a casual thing were some people would hold signs and march along a parade route.

Now, I don't really mess with politics that much. I really won't get into it, but I think both extremes of mainstream politics (Left vs Right) are way...out there, and mostly serve to make their own interests/ideals look bad.

So when I get there, I see that one of the people in the group had a George W. Bush effigy in a noose on a flag pole. I quickly figure out that I am about to march in one of those groups. I'll admit that I wasn't Bush's biggest fan, but again, how do people who do something like that (no matter what their cause is) think are going to make people suddenly switch to their point of view?

The rest of the group seemed normal, so at first I thought there were just a couple of extreme people. No big deal. Then my exgirlfriend's father reveals why he was in an orange jump suit (I thought it was to protest some sort of prison policy on the way there). He then pulls out a George W. Bush mask and a sign that says "MISSION AKCOMPLISHED!!"

Oh boy.

I should note here that I had to real issue with these people, and I still don't. In fact, my ex's father was a pretty cool dude, aside from being extreme into politics. What I don't like is to have tons of attention on myself. Now, I have no problem giving a speech in public or whatever, but I just don't like it when people draw unnecessary attention to themselves. I feel that when people do something extreme in public it becomes less about the message or action they are conveying or more about "look how edgy I am!"

Anyway, we had a group of Conservative bikers behind the group roaring their engines the whole time to drown them out. Right when we joined the parade route people, including children, were booing us. Some guy got in my face and screamed in a drunken rage, "GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!" Right before the group joined the parade, a dude came out from a nearby house with nothing but jean shorts and an Air Force baseball cap on and tried to start a fight with the group (nothing happened).

As the parade went down the street there were more supporters for their opinions, so it thankfully became less intense.

When the route went off the main streets, some edgy teens/very young adults joined us. To the groups credit, whenever they said anything over the top ("LOL WE SHOULD KILL BUSH!!111") they told the young people to knock it off. However, I thought it was strange that they would let in more extreme members in their group, like the effigy guy.

That's about it. So basically I got in over my head over some protest section of a local parade. It made me pretty uncomfortable (at the time I tried to play it off as amusing) in the end.

PLEASE NOTE: If it wasn't clear already I didn't exactly agree with the protest group. That doesn't mean I am some crazy Conservative as a result. Yes, I have been accused of that for sharing this story before. I just don't care for politics in general, so don't try to engage in a discussion about them with me. I seriously don't want to hear it, nor do I care.