Borecast QUESTION OF THE SHOW: Weird Protest Encounters

[Eel O'Brian]

What's the most hilarious or weird protest you've ever witnessed, been a part of, or read about?

[Eric P]

a good friend has been actively involved involved in protest and protest culture for the past 9 years starting with going to jail for spray painting "vodka is not a lubricant" on a school building after a series of rape/assaults at the school he was attending. 

I'll see if he has anything he would like to share anonymously since there is a lot of wacky shit that happens when people try to change the world for the better.

Personally, I don't go out and protest because I don't think there's any change feasible with American political culture and direct actions like protest. 

I feel the only way to affect change is to shame people out of office.

[tehjaybo]

I had a couple of friends that went to those Anonymous vs Scientology protests... but that's about it.  They told me some funny stories though.  Like taking megaphones and boomboxes and rickrolling Scientology buildings.  Pretty good times.  I've never really had anything to protest, myself.

[cool breeze]

would a couple anti-abortion guys holding up posters of bloody fetuses be considered a protest?

I once saw a homeless guy kick the shit out of one of them because they were doing it outside a Mcdonalds and he was angry that they were showing gross pictures in a place where people were trying to eat. 

[Human Snorenado]

I always think of that Man Show segment where Carolla and Kimmel are out trying to end Women's Sufferage.  Pretty awesome.

On a personal level, I think the most annoying thing I've encountered at protests is how they will draw out all the loons on that side of the political spectrum.  Hey buddy, maybe I agree that we need to do something about the evil capitalist pigfuckers, but do you mind if I protest the war first, which is kind of why I showed up today?  You saw that with the tea parties, although to be fair the tea parties didn't really have a central message anyhow other than "we're a bunch of crazy fuckers and we don't like that black dude that just cut our taxes".

Oh, don't know if it counts as "protest" or not, but last October/November right before the election someone decorated their truck with a bunch of nutty anti-Obama signs, like "No we can't!", "Obama = Osama", "Don't spread MY wealth around!" and shit like that.

[cool breeze]

I once saw a guy running around throwing Bibles at people.  Again, not sure if it was a protest or not, but I thought it was hilarious.

[Don Flamenco]

9/11 Truther protest in Madison, WI that came down the street my apartment was on.  It was literally 17 people strong and most of them were not the typical UW-Madison student protesters.  There were a few awkward and nerdy looking students along with a bunch of middle aged neckbeard men. 


and I'm not sure if this counts as "a protest" but the guy was protesting.  Some guy was running around the library mall (one of the busier spots on campus) screaming "Fuck you and your degrees!!!!" 

[Kestastrophe]

does this mean that there is going to be teabagger discussion on the next borecast?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I've seen quite a few protests in my time at school:

- A couple years ago a good looking girl wearing a tight blue soccer t-shirt (that said "Italia" on it) holding up a Bible verse on a posterboard, screaming at people to "wake up."  She had a fantastic rack, which is probably the only reason I remember it.

- Last fall, there was a bunch of protesters that said "Obama's Holocaust" with a bunch of pictures of dead fetuses.  Last fall was pretty crazy overall in general but that was probably the highlight.  In fact, I've probably been handed at least a dozen pamphlets that contained pictures of dead fetuses during my time at school.

- There was a protest held annually to end racism, sexism, etc.  The way that they would do this is by shouting out the slurs to people walking by.  I'd intentionally walk by them so I could get called a cunt, a cigarillo, or a distinguished black fellow.  It was always 15-20 people strong so by the end of the line, I was always laughing my ass off.

I'd say every month at school I saw some kind of protest.  Most of it was just a bunch of fundies handing out pictures of dead fetuses and xeroxed sheets that said "40 million murders were committed last year..."  The left was typically quieter, with a bunch of dejected looking old men handing out copies of some kind of socialist newsletter every once in a great while.

[Fresh Prince]

At uni there was a protest for Isreal. Poor guys got ignored.