While fuming like a crazed maniac over the unfairness of the Olympics I came across this article: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/2009/11/01/baiting-olympic-protesters
I immediately signed up to post a comment but for some reason I can't get on to post WAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!! :(
So I decided to dedicate part II of my first Olympic basher to all my loyal fans and seriously question the validity of this article against street protest. I mean first of all...here is a direct quote from la article:
"(Olympic protests have) been completely ineffective in driving change in all past Olympic regions, and it’s dangerous. Street protest has had its day and it’s time to evolve. It’s possible to achieve the same results using brains over brawn."
Its basically goes on to say...use social media...blogs, facebook, twitter, etc to get the word out and protest online. Boycott the Olympic sponsors - McD's and the like, to get the message across. While I respect this point of view and it has some merit, my neanderthal brain is too simple to grasp the concept of an "online protest" I mean, how does u do dat? (no seriously, someone break it down for me.)
I also think that street protests are far from useless. They can make an awesome, destructive yet revolutionary change. They can quickly devolve into a bloody mess, but still make an impact. But hey, if everyone just hid behind their computers - too chicken shit to take some real action like..erm... myself...then what good would that do? (I HAVE A TASER PHOBIA)
Also the author seems to be living in la la land because he goes on to say "Protestors drink Coke, eat at McDonalds, and bank at RBC right?"
WRONG! Most protesters in Vancouver are incarnations of peace loving hippies, Marie Curie, Robert Dziekanski, Gandhi and the Spirits of Felled Trees. You have that sweet mix of righteousness, bitter revenge and a touch of zen. These peeps prefer to live off the grid, avoiding McD's, banks, credit cards etc at ALL COSTS. I mean, shit, if you are crazy...I mean...passionate...enough to go into an Olympic protest with a high likelihood of getting pepper-sprayed blind, you have already gone to the "extreme" of buying fair trade coffee and clothes hand made in India, or shopping exclusively at thrift stores and living as simply as possible. Which is sweet.
GO PROTESTERS!!! I HEART YOU!
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