The Things I Have Seen!

It's been quite the gap between entries, my precious little pixies, but that doesn't mean I have stopped ranting! I just haven't been ranting here, sadly. Since I rebooted my film blog, I figured I'd try to get this one going again. I've been thinking about this post for a couple of months now, and I think I've allowed myself enough time to heal before approaching this topic. Ready? OK...

On November 5th, 2009, I attended the Tea Party (or is it bagging?) rally at the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building. I was not there because I supported the ideas; rather, I was there to observe and report. I will be honest-- it's hard to observe such a spectacle without any sort of bias. I'm pretty much at the center line in the political spectrum, and I roll my eyes at both sides when they have protests and rallies that I think are completely ludicrous. But this was a beast of an entirely different nature.

The Tea Party Movement, which, I swear to God, was first called the "Tea Bagging Movement" by the people who started it, is more than just a silly group of misguided individuals. These protests were sponsored by Fox News. Not "officially", but they sent their correspondents out to the protests in order to meet with people, let people know when and where their correspondents would be there, and told people they should head out to protest. It's one thing when the New York Times or CNN gives their coverage a liberal spin; it's another thing to sponsor a political movement under the banner of "fair and balanced" news. Believe me when I say that I hate both MSNBC and Fox News, as I think they are practically two sides of the same coin; however, this sort of behaviour is why Fox News will always be the worst, in my eyes. Some of their normal newscasters are OK, but that the entire network promotes itself as "fair and balanced", including its entire op-ed team (which is largely where Fox made a name for itself), is simply laughable. And that team touts their slogan about, as if it makes their twisted comments more truthful. It doesn't. Not only that, but Fox News used footage from a previous rally and claimed it was from this rally to show inflated attendance (footage from a couple of months prior to this protest, so it's not like it was just laying around next to the new footage). Fox has used Photoshop on people's pictures in order to make them look unattractive simply because the people in question had the audacity to criticize Fox or people Fox supports. There is nothing fair or balanced about Fox News, as an entity. It is the single most laughable "news source" there is, and every time I hear people praise it, a part of me dies inside (same for MSNBC, but it's a smaller piece).

Back to the actual protest.

One of the first things I heard from the crowd as we tried to get up the escalator in the metro station was (shockingly) a complaint. "Why aren't both escalators going up?!" one woman demanded to know. One of her companions logically responded, "Well, because some people need to come down here to use the metro, so they probably need to keep the other one going down." A third member of the party chimed in and said, "I'll tell you why-- it's because Metro doesn't BELIEVE in us. Metro doesn't think we exist! THAT'S why!" I had to stop myself from turning around and going, "Are you fucking kidding me? You're claiming a Metro conspiracy?! Metro can't even get its act together in order to properly carry out a conspiracy, and you actually believe that this was an insidious scheme to thwart the protesters' plans?!" I had to keep calm, though. I needed to stand amongst these people for an extended period of time and try to keep from looking nauseous so as to avoid suspicion. The last thing I needed was a confrontation by an angry "true believer". And, to be quite honest with you, I was terrified that such a thing would happen.

I was amazed to see how many people did attend, even though it wasn't enough for Fox News' standards (wink wink, Hannity). I was even more amazed by how brainwashed everyone seemed. There were no casual supporters-- everyone was in staunch agreement with every single speaker. Again, to be perfectly honest, that frightened me. It's one thing to believe in something, but to question absolutely nothing? That just gives me bad feelings all over. I received several confused looks as I scribbled out page after page of notes while never smiling, cheering or clapping. Every so often the people around me would enthusiastically agree with something and look to their peers for like-minded approval. I gave them none. I tried not to scowl, frown, shake my head in disgust, throw my hands up in the air, or scream out "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!" Every so often, I'd accidentally mutter something under my breath, only to realize with a tinge of panic that someone nearby might have heard.

I tried to move throughout the crowd to capture images of people and signs. Oh, the signs. It's hard not to give nasty looks when people are using images from and comparisons to the Holocaust in their protests against health care reform. These people have no shame, and I'd wager no souls. How could you possibly compare the suffering people endured in Auschwitz to the inclusion of a public health care option? How? Who raised these people? I was in a sea of the most offensive, disgusting dreck I've ever been exposed to (thankfully, because this wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of other rallies from other more extremist groups). Part of what made it so shocking was that these people really don't see themselves as extreme, but these rallies and people like Glenn Beck at Fox News are blending extremism into the mainstream. I wasn't OK with the Bush as Hitler images when liberals were holding them up, and I'm not OK with the Obama as Hitler images. However, this movement is making the Obama-Hitler image acceptable because that sort of extremism is becoming the norm.

One of the most amazing things about this crowd was their complete lack of self-awareness. Everyone was shouting about the tyranny we are facing, the freedoms and liberties that have been stripped from us, and how we need to fight to defend this glorious country of ours, and yet no one seemed to realize that they were standing on the steps of our nation's Capital Building without fear of being arrested or physically harmed for saying these things. I wanted to ask which freedoms, exactly, have been stripped from us--especially any that President Bush didn't strip (and that's not a criticism of him)-- but I didn't want to call more attention to myself. I also wanted to understand why these people were the "true patriots" when these are very much the same people who called anti-war and anti-Bush protesters "Un-American" for not supporting our president. (Likewise, I'd love to know why the left pulling the same bullshit that they accused the right of doing only a year ago. The two sides have completely switched in almost every aspect of their tone in this political discourse, and yet no one seems to notice. It's completely fucking insane.)

The crowd was, unsurprisingly mostly white middle-aged and elderly Christians (that may be more of an assumption on my part, but considering how God-heavy this rally was and how many God and Jesus signs I saw, I think it's a safe bet). Genders were equally represented. One of the most depressing thing was seeing people using their young children as props. This is the kind of indoctrination that scares me. Children at that age don't question their parents' viewpoints that much. Bringing your kids to a rally is unfair to them and, in my opinion, makes you a terrible parent. Let your kids make up their own damn minds as they learn new things. Unfortunately, that requires them to look at sources other than Fox News (more than one person held a sign proudly proclaiming that Fox was their only source of news). The entire event made me feel disgusting and sad. Well, except for one moment.

At the end of the rally, the song "God Bless the USA" was played. This is basically the right-wing theme song, I think. However, it is a song I first heard after September 2001, and it did help to fill me with pride in those dark moments. I felt that feeling again while standing in this crowd of thousands of protesters. I was proud to be an American because I live in a country where thousands of people can flock to its capitol at the behest of failed comedians (Beck) and sleazy media personalities in order to shout about things they don't quite understand at the top of their lungs, and basically act like complete and utter ignorant assholes, without fear of persecution. These people were allowed to be idiots--in fact, that right is protected! And that is a beautiful thing.

However, if these assholes cause us to elect Sarah Palin in 2012, I'm moving to Canada.