Event I witnessed yesterday walking through downtown Chicago

[porphyrian]

One of the things I love about Chicago is that it gives me a new story to tell every hour or so I spend in it. Yesterday, as the wife and I were walking up Michigan past the Art Institute, we noticed a number of bush protesters out in front of it. It's great to be among so many liberals after decades of sweltering conservativism in northern Florida. Anyway, as you may or may not know, there are two lion statues out in front of the Institute and, because the White Sox made it to the World Series (and won, ha, ha, you Texas bastards!), both were decorated with Sox hats (for the first time in history). So, there's these huge bronze lions flanking the steps up to the Art Institute with White Sox hats on and twenty-something people with signs and banners protesting bush and his criminal cohorts, with some extra signs propped up around the base of the lions on one side and a guy posing as the Abu Gharaib prisoner being tortured with his arms out, the pointy-hooded black thing over his head and body and the wires coming from his fingers in front of the other lion. Also milling about were some students trying to look cool and ignore everything going on, people just trying to walk by like myself, and this small gaggle of middle-aged Mid-westerners squabbling with one of the protesters by the lion with the signs leaning against it. From what I could tell in the short time it took to walk by, the Mid-westerners were trying to get a picture of the lion (probably because of the Sox hat), but they apparently didn't want the bush protest signs in their shot. However, the older protester didn't want to budge, I'm assuming because the city takes permitting seriously, and these guys either had a permit or permission to protest at that time (if they didn't, I'm sure the police would've arrived in riot gear in no time). So then, the old Mid-westerners got nasty and tried to put the leaning signs on the ground, which the older protester quietly proceeded to put back up. This really pissed off the old folks, and they started yelling at him. "I don't know what country you're from..." was about all I could make out, partly because I was laughing at them. I'm not sure what happened after that because I kept walking.

Do you think it was more impolite of the protester not to allow the old folks to take a picture without the protest signs, or was it more rude of the old folks to demand that he do and yell at him when he didn't?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Personally I think the protest

would have been more interesting than the regular view!

[TomInTib]

8. That was my take, too....

They could have pulled those lion pics off the net and still had the protest pics to show the slobberbones back home.

[porphyrian]

29. It was definitely more interesting than most of the protests...

...I saw in Tallahassee. But, then, I didn't go to all of them.

[Cats Against Frist]

38. Uh -- why does this have to be a partisan/contentious issue?

I don't get it. If the old people were yelling at the protester about protesting BEFORE asking them to move the signs, their motives are questionable. Plus, it's human nature for the protester to be like "fuck you," and leave the signs up, just to piss them off. Both right, or both wrong? Depends on how you look at it, I guess, or if you think that anger is justified, or how "bigger than," one has to, or should be.

On the other hand, if people taking a picture of the SOX lion, politely asked the protesters (if it wasn't too hard) to shuffle over, for a minute, so they could get a picture of the lion, and the protestor refused, then he's just an asshole.

[porphyrian]

42. Why do you assume it is or that I think it has to be?

I'm asking for opinions on it so that I'm not just telling a story. Responders do so at their own free will in the manner of their choosing.

[MadJohnShaft]

2. I suppose just like if there was an anti-choice rally

going on and I wanted a picture of some tourist destination - I wouldn't be thrilled but I would be thankful I lived in a free and open democracy - where we have the right to ruin photo-ops.

And then try to take a picture of one of them picking their nose or something.

[porphyrian]

28. Heh, right on. - n/t

[CottonBear]

3. It was more rude of the old tourist to demand removal of the signs & yell

at the protestors.

[porphyrian]

27. I think you're probably right.

I just don't have enough information to be sure.

[TlalocW]

4. Speaking of fun stories from Chicago

I have a friend who lives there. He once emailed a report out of his workday. It began with his walking across a bridge (one that didn't span water) and finding a still alive trout in his path then almost getting hit by a guy with orange dredlocks on a pogo stick, and then having to close the blinds in his office window (he had a first floor office looking out onto the sidewalk) because he had superglued a half dollar to the sidewalk, and he was busting up with laughter from all the people trying to pick it up and wasn't getting any work done.

He fit in pretty well.

TlalocW

[porphyrian]

26. Was the pogo stick guy aiming for the trout?

I love Chicago.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. personally,

I'd have wanted a photo with the protestors and the signs, as they were as timely as the Sox hat on the lion. And not all middle aged oldsters would be mad at protestors; a few hundered miles south in Arkansas yesterday about 30 were meeting, planning ways to work for peace and thinking up creative ways to protest the culture of corruption.

[porphyrian]

25. Good point.

I almost brought my camera, but left it at home at the last second. Oh well.

[Skittles]

6. "the wife"?

would this be, uh, YOUR wife?

[TomInTib]

11. That one has always puzzled me....

I know guys that say that and..... well.....

[KC21304]

12. Some old habits die hard you know.

You know, the wife, the dog, the cat. :P

[porphyrian]

16. Sorry, yes.

I didn't mean a metaphorical wife or "The Wife" or anything like that. Actually, it's not even my wording, it's what my dad used to say. She was with me, but not really part of the story, except that we talked about the encounter afterward.

What's more offensive anyway, saying "the wife," which is an outdated term that make a woman seem extraneous, or "my wife," which is infinitely more clear, but is also possessive? It's difficult to win sometimes.

[Neocondriac]

7. The protester had a permit......

...the Bluehairs time has come and gone.

[porphyrian]

24. Shh! They don't know yet. - n/t

[hfojvt]

33. why be a jerk about it?

Moving the signs for half a minute is not that hard a request. Now you have two old people who are going to tell their friends what dickheads those war protestors are instead of being able to talk about a pleasant encounter.

[porphyrian]

35. Maybe, I don't know what happened or was said before I got there. -n/t

[Neocondriac]

37. Yeah...

like older people would have rushed home to tell their friends how cordial the protesters in Chicago are.C'mon!

[hfojvt]

39. why not?

It is a sidebar in answer to 'how was your trip to Shytown?' At the very least you would not get negative advertising.

Of course, I have the feeling they made it a demand, instead of a request, and did not say please, but that is speculation. I just like to see all people in all situations try to get along, and do not applaud somebody who will fight rather than comply with a simple request.

[porphyrian]

45. I guess it's very difficult to say who was at fault...

...without more information about how the confrontation started, but I walked into it in the middle.

[sufrommich]

40. Oh come on!

What's the point of refusing to let someone take a picture of this without protesters with signs in front of them?How unbelievably rude.Blue Hairs?How very tolerant of you ,all old people should die or get out of the way,right?Jeez,the sheer stupidity of the self righteous,pompous ,jerks who will not remove a torture poster for one minute while some tourist takes a picture?Give me a break.By the way,what exactly does a Midwesterner look like?

[porphyrian]

41. Renew! Renew!

All citizens must report to Cathedral for renewal at age 30.

They're doing a remake of Logan's Run soon, by the way.

[0rganism]

43. Now there's a movie that actually *deserves* a re-make

Wasn't it "Carousel", not "Cathedral"? They made it sound extra fun.

"Last day, Capricorn Fifteens. Year of the city 2774, Carousel begins."

Anyway, I hope it's re-done the same way Battlestar Galactica was re-done, bigger and better and a lot more gut shots -- literal and figurative. Even though it's one of York's better pictures, it has not aged well.

[porphyrian]

44. Yes, you're right, Carousel! My bad. - n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

9. If the gaggle asked politely

the protester would have been kind to oblige. I wonder if instead the gaggle asked in an insulting way, or demanded rather than asked.

If the gaggle had any common sense they would have just taking the damn pictures with the signs. It's a snapshot in time, not a Disneyland display.

[porphyrian]

23. Yeah, I'm not sure who started it.

I came by in the middle.

[ComerPerro]

10. Both actions are rude, depending on who was rude first

and how things happened.

Common courtesy would demand that the protestor let the couple take an unobstructed picture. Besides, it might reflect badly on the anti-war movement.

But that's if the couple asked nicely.

However, if the couple demanded the sign be moved, then I can't blame the protestor for refusing.

Really, it just depends on the details of the situation, who escalated things first, and who made the first rude action.

I can see both sides.

[porphyrian]

22. Yeah, I missed the beginning of their argument...

...so I can't say who started it. The protester never said a word while I was walking by, though.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. I would have made way for the old folks.

Never hurts to show a little respect and kindness, particularly if you are selling a message.

[porphyrian]

21. That's a good point...

...but I'm not that polite anymore. Neither was the protester guy, apparently.

[beyurslf]

14. Why do they always pull the "I don't know what country your from" bullshit

The same one as you--the one that allows free speech, stupid old nitiwit.

[porphyrian]

20. Most Americans support freedom of speech...

...as long as it's the speech they want to hear and make.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

15. The old farts were in the wrong.

As you pointed out, the protestors must have had a permit to stage this protest.

The old farts should have just found out when the protestors would be gone and gone back to the Art Institute and taken their pictures.

Why is that some people in this country always assume that if you're protesting something, you're not American? Obviously, this group doesn't remember their high school American history lessons.

[porphyrian]

19. That's pretty much my take on it. - n/t

[jeanarrett]

17. How do you know they were Midwesterners?

And what does it mean when you label them as such? And by the way, folks, middle-aged is hardly "old farts."

[porphyrian]

18. A) Their accent, and B) it means...

...I don't know their names.

[Critters2]

31. As a 6th generation Midwesterner,

I must admit that I'm offended by the perjorative use of that term. Why the negative assumptions about Midwesterners? Henry Wallace was a Midwesterner. The LaFollettes were Midwesterners. And isn't Chicago in the Midwest, or did it get moved to one of the coasts.

As a downstater, I try to counter the negative things my neighbors say about the city. Then I read a post like this from a Chicagoan and I wonder why I even try.

But then, I'm a middle-aged Midwesterner, so hardly worth your time or trouble.

[porphyrian]

32. Well, at least you're not defensive about it.

I'm sorry you don't like my choice of adjectives, but it wasn't really meant to be perjorative. In the fifteen or so seconds that these people were part of my life, their obvious Mid-western accents and white-bread appearances were their most memorable traits, thus my use of the term (and I would argue that it was appropriate). Would you have been less offended if I had used "white" instead?

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

30. Hey jeanarett, first of all I consider myself an "old fart"

and I was born and raised in the City of Chicago and still live in the southwest suburbs.

I've seen these types all my life and believe me some of them would make Archie Bunker look like a liberal.

[gollygee]

34. Chicago is in the midwest

so chances are the majority of people there, including the protestors, were midwesterners.

[porphyrian]

36. Very good point, and partly why I used the term in the first place.

I'm from Florida, after all.

[No Exit]

46. I think killing 2000+ Americans and 1000s of Iraqis for profit is impolite

Does that answer your question?:)

[porphyrian]

48. I think so. Thanks. - n/t

[leftofthedial]

47. I believe that anti-bushturd signs should be REQUIRED

to be included in every photograph taken in Murka until those criminals are punished.

[porphyrian]

49. That may have been what the protester-guy was doing.

Maybe he kept putting signs in the way every time the (politically-correct substitution for Mid-westerners so people won't get their panties in a wad over my use of the term) tried to take a picture. I don't know. Like I said, I showed up in the middle of things happening.