"Peaceful" Protestors, Not So Peaceful

[hismajesty]

This seems to happen at every "peace" rally these people hold. As soon as somebody who doesn't agree with their doctine of hate shows up, they blow a gasket. I find it funny, actually, the hypocrisy of the left wing. They're against violence in a place where people have openly said they hate America, Americans, and Chrstianity, but are all for violence against their fellow citizens. The left thinks it's futile for ProtestWarrior to counter their protests, yet none see how pointless their protests are in the first place? If any of them think that 3,000 people (mostly nonvoters, I'd wager, seeing as a lot of hippies and teens go to these places) shouting anti-Bush left wing propaganda and holding anti-war signs will change foreign policy, then they are very very wrong.

Source

Article:

Protesting the Protesters
Small Band of Conservatives Comes to Town to Answer Anti-Bush Groups

By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, January 20, 2005; 5:59 PM

Ten minutes after telling his fellow protesters to stay safe, Gil Kobrin lay huddled in the slush and mud as two anarchists repeatedly kicked him in the back.

How he got from point A to point B is simple enough. Kobrin, accompanied by a dozen members of the conservative group ProtestWarrior, crashed a rally of hundreds of anti-Bush demonstrators at Meridian Park in Washington, D.C. Holding aloft signs that read "Say no to war unless a Democrat is president" and "Not to brag, but Bush won, so shove it!" they had set off earlier on inauguration morning in search of their opposites.

The ProtestWarrior contingent didn't have to search for very long; the party came to them.

"You can go a [expletive] half-mile away and stand on the first street corner you see!" shouted a self-described anarchist, dressed all in black with a bandana covering his face. As they taunted and threatened and liberally profaned Kobrin and the rest of the group, a member of the D.C. Anti-War Network (DAWN) -- the official organizers of the rally -- tried to break it up.

"Your purpose is to instigate people. You're going to have to leave!" shouted the "marshal," DAWN's term for their ad hoc security force.

"We're staying here," Kobrin replied.

Then he went down under a hail of black boots. Once the marshals pulled the anarchists away, ProtestWarrior sued for peace and made for the exit. Their chant of "Four more years!" was answered by the anarchists' reply: "Wah wah wah!"

It wasn't much of a contest. ProtestWarrior's contingent numbered 13, the other side in the hundreds. If they won any hearts and minds, no one said so.

"I expected it, but I didn't expect to be kicked in the back," Kobrin said later. His boyish, twentysomething face wore a wry smile and he stood upright, but conceded that he was in some pain.

Kobrin is a dedicated member of ProtestWarrior, a two-year-old group formed to demonstrate against the demonstrators. A theology student from Far Rockaway, Queens, he was the organizer of the group's inauguration day action, code-named "Operation Hail to the Chief."

It was modeled on ProtestWarrior's primary M.O.: mingle with protesters, mix, await angry abuse and epithets and then label the peaceniks as aggressive hypocrites. Meanwhile, a ProtestWarrior videographer records the whole affair to post on the Web site later. Videos already on the site show off ProtestWarrior counter-protests in places such as San Francisco and in New York during the Republican National Convention last August.

The group was founded by Kfir Alfia and Alan Lipton when the self-described conservatives, both 30, were living in San Francisco and desperate for a political counterweight to their "overwhelmingly liberal community."

ProtestWarrior might be a bastion of conservative ideals, but its brand of humor is better suited to the hip left, and Alfia wouldn't be out of place in the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. Born in Tel Aviv, his photo shows he has a face and body built either for a beefcake calendar or a recruitment poster for the Israeli army. Lipton's photo reflects a younger, cooler, better-fed Bill Gates with snazzier glasses.

The group's symbol, meanwhile, is a bare-chested, musclebound hero wielding a sword. It looks like it sprang, Athena-like, from the paperback cover of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

ProtestWarrior's members see themselves as a baker's dozen dedicated to balancing out DAWN, Turn Your Back on Bush, International ANSWER and the myriad other organizations that took to the streets to denounce the Bush administration, the war in Iraq and just about every other liberal bogeyman.

"They hate freedom and hate America," said ProtestWarrior's Dana Forehand, 24, a graphic designer with long brown hair who came down from Astoria, Queens, to mix with the other side of the ideological street.

"I like the idea of reminding these people that they're not the overwhelming majority," said David LaRue, 24, of Humboldt County, Calif. LaRue, unlike a majority of the other ProtestWarrior members, is on his first "infiltration" as they call it. He's worried because he heard that some of their opponents were planning to hurl water balloons at them, a chilling prospect on a sub-freezing morning.

After the scuffle, one young anarchist hurled a snowball, laced with dirt and pebbles and whatever else he could scoop of the ground, at the retreating ProtestWarrior members. The anarchist, who declined to offer his name, said he did not believe in violence, but insisted that "Throwing a snowball... is not going to hurt anybody."

Patrick McKale, 22, an anarchist from Baltimore, said he was pleased that ProtestWarrior members took a few licks. He said he saw no irony in beating people up at a peace rally. "Just because you're anti-imperialist doesn't mean you're not against violence."

Kobrin and several of his comrades held their remaining signs aloft -- under the protection of several D.C. police officers -- as the anti-Bush demonstrators formed a parade to march down 16th Street to McPherson Square.

"Dude, you got your ass kicked," one of them taunted at the ProtestWarrior group. Several anarchists, their bile neutered by the police presence, resorted to creative hand signs. It brought to mind something Kobrin had said in an earlier interview: "Ideally it should be a nice, cordial, open dialogue."

Some in the anti-Bush crowd said they resented the fact that ProtestWarrior's "man bites dog" schtick eats up a disproportionate amount of press attention.

"They're taking the media away from us!" exclaimed one angry protester.

After the fight television crews popped up out of nowhere and reporters rushed to the ProtestWarrior members. But just as soon, they melted away, chasing after the legions of anti-war demonstrators banging on drums and soda cans and carrying cardboard boxes done up as coffins draped in American flags as they hoofed it down 16th St.

Kobrin and the ProtestWarrior crew hung out for a few more minutes before reconnoitering at their car and heading down to 4th and Pennsylvania to get another dose of the action. The drubbing from a few minutes before didn't seem to act as much of a deterrent.

"We're going to hang tight," he said.

You know, if the ProtestWarriors there had attacked any of the protestors, the cops would be arresting people, and they'd be saying how violent conservatives are, etc. All their media pals would be all over it too, only in a negative way.

"Throwing a snowball... is not going to hurt anybody."

A snowball filled with rocks.  :rolleyes:

"Just because you're anti-imperialist doesn't mean you're not against violence."

"They're taking the media away from us!"

Ah, at least they expose themselves.

[Arta]

*shrug*

A small minority of every majority act like dicks. It would be incredibly naiive to think that that principle doesn't apply to the right as well.

I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish with this kind of post, really.

[hismajesty]

It would be incredibly naiive to think that the right holds peace protests, which is what this topic is about - hypocrisy at peace protests.

It's more or less a post where Hazard, quasi, and I can talk about how hypocritical liberal protestors are. And, obviously, nobody can dispute that fact since this happens at nearly every single one. The protestors get their panties in a wad when somebody who doesn't agree with them shows up.

[CrAz3D]

I think that some of those quotes show the true personality of the extremely active, moronic, leftists.

I MUST say that my favorite LEFT quote I've ever heard was from the ChannelOne Election.  A girl was explaining why she voted for Kerry & said

"I voted for Kerry not because I think he will do a better job..."

This is why I'm glad that they don't let highschool students vote & ALMOST wish that they didn't let ppl vote until later on in their life.  Voting @ 18 is good, if you're competent...however most ppl aren't & the LEFTISTS sure want to show themselves not to be.

[quasi-modo]

I think that some of those quotes show the true personality of the extremely active, moronic, leftists.

I MUST say that my favorite LEFT quote I've ever heard was from the ChannelOne Election.  A girl was explaining why she voted for Kerry & said

"I voted for Kerry not because I think he will do a better job..."

This is why I'm glad that they don't let highschool students vote & ALMOST wish that they didn't let ppl vote until later on in their life.  Voting @ 18 is good, if you're competent...however most ppl aren't & the LEFTISTS sure want to show themselves not to be.

Those people on channel one were a joke. Channel one scrapped up the most uninformend people and had them act as pundits? Give me a break. I do not like channel one, everything from their fruity british guy anchor to the horrible guests the bring on.

[hismajesty]

Not all the guests are horrible.

I think they should lower the voting age if the individual voter can pass a comptence test or something. Like, personally, I think I'm more informed on the stuff that most eligible voters.

[CrAz3D]

Yay for mandatory competency test!  Every 20 years or so...until you're over the age of 60

[hismajesty]

It would never be allowed though, since that's what they did to keep most blacks from voting. And, most likely, it still would.

[Mephisto]

Oh please, you're going to talk specifically how hypocritic the left wing is?  This is getting a little old with the conservatives on this forum constantly trying to attack liberals saying that we're all hippie hypocrits who have no importance in anything.  It's not like there's hypocrits on the right wing.

[hismajesty]

Oh please, you're going to talk specifically how hypocritic the left wing is? This is getting a little old with the conservatives on this forum constantly trying to attack liberals saying that we're all hippie hypocrits who have no importance in anything. It's not like there's hypocrits on the right wing.

Well, according to left, we're all wealthy Jesus loving racists who, in their spare time, like to shoot things (be it a deer, a crazy liberal, or an Iraqi rebel).

[DOOM]

Oh please, you're going to talk specifically how hypocritic the left wing is?  This is getting a little old with the conservatives on this forum constantly trying to attack liberals saying that we're all hippie hypocrits who have no importance in anything.  It's not like there's hypocrits on the right wing.

So because you can point out hypocricy elsewhere means that the first case of hypocricy should be ignored?

"You can't arrest me for murder, Big Steve over there did it and he got away with it!"

[quasi-modo]

Yay for mandatory competency test!  Every 20 years or so...until you're over the age of 60

Until you are over 60??? No, they need to test old people because they get senial.

[quasi-modo]

Yay for protest warrior.

PS: My chapter's first meeting will be this sunday afternoon. I contacted the local golden corral and we are going to be in that back banquette room probably. 
I am expecting a turn out of around 20 members. My chapter has 70 registered members.

[Arta]

Well, according to left, we're all wealthy Jesus loving racists who, in their spare time, like to shoot things (be it a deer, a crazy liberal, or an Iraqi rebel).

Since it seems we're going to have a conversation about right-wing puff-posts, let me say this:

I have never thought that about anyone here. Most of the right-wing contributors to this forum, however, really do seem to think that anyone left of center is stupid, idiotic, hipocritical, perpetually wrong, and in possession of nothing to offer.

I think you, and everyone, should stop using the word 'hipocrite'. It is overused - to a massive degree - and to no effect. The simple fact is that hipocrites exist on the left and the right, and they are generally easily recognisable. I rarely pay attention to any of them. As should be obvious to everyone, it is not true that the word 'liberal' is synonymous with the word 'hipocrite'. Nor is 'conservative', 'republican', 'democrat', or any other ideology. This persistent claim that hipocrisy is an unavoidable attribute liberalism is just silly. It's also silly to claim that every peace rally ends in violence, that all liberals are hippies, and so on.

As for people getting their panties in a wad over other points of view, I've never seen anyone that suffers from that more than Hazard.

I really wanted this forum to be a place for intelligent debate when I requested to become a moderator of it. I love political debates. No offense, but I think it's been hijacked by absolutist teenagers (?) with no sense of perspective, and I find that sad.

[hismajesty]

...but I think it's been hijacked by absolutist teenagers (?) with no sense of perspective, and I find that sad.

I think the same could be easily said of you, minus the teenager part.