We live in a political world

[zyzyly]

Arlina's family came over today, and I was able to check out for a few hours. I drove to midtown and took a walk along my beloved J-K street corridor.

As I approached 15th street, I noted some activity at the street corner. There were a bunch of Bush supporters waving signs and yelling at cars. One guy had a bullhorn: "Four more years! Four more years!"

I snapped a couple of pics as I approached, and then made my way to the corner to cross. As I was standing there, next to the guy with the bullhorn, he looked at me and said, "Four more years!"

I smiled, showed him four fingers, and replied, "Four more days".

I guess he was a little rusty on the niceties of political debate, because his response was to put the bullhorn against my ear, key it, and scream as loud as he could. It hurt. I had my ipod earbud in, and that's probably what saved my eardrum.

I told him to get the bullhorn away from me, and that if he yelled again, I would call the police. He responded by yelling (but not into the bullhorn) "Get off my street corner then, you f****** traitor, or I will do it again.

So I called the police. I have nothing agaisnt people standing on a corner expressing their views. In fact, I think it is one of the most precious freedoms we have. And it needs to be protected from those who think it is ok to attack people who disagree with them--from those who think that dissent and treason are the same thing. It became clear to me in that moment why I will vote the way I will next Tuesday.

While I was waiting, I started to take pictures of the guy with the bullhorn. His friends put signs in front of him, to block him from my view. I just changed positions and kept shooting. After unsuccessfully trying to dodge signs, I stepped back and started taking pictures of all of them. One guy hid his face behind an American flag.

After a few minutes of this, they started talking together. A few minutes later they got in their cars and left. The police never came. I walked on.

The camera is a powerful thing, but not nearly as powerful as a vote. Be sure to get out there and use it this Tuesday.

Comments

[yechezkiel.livejournal.com]

I disagree. Images can change millions of minds. A vote is statistically irrelevant.

[anabug.livejournal.com]

right, so if everyone in the country believed their votes were statistically irrelevant and therefore did not vote, where would we be then?

[yechezkiel.livejournal.com]

If no one votes, no one is elected, either.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Images change minds, but votes change regimes.

[yechezkiel.livejournal.com]

We haven't had a regime change in decades, though.

[waning-estrogen.livejournal.com]

good job!
I'm glad they didn't take an ugly turn on you.
nerve endings are quite raw right now all across the country.
I've voted already. Avoid the crowd and the shut-out.

[adeodatus.livejournal.com]

Keepings one's cool is pretty hard sometimes in the face of such belligerence. It would have been easy to lash out ... good job on keeping your cool. Too bad your break was marred by more undue stress.

[zhenzhi.livejournal.com]

i feel sorry for people like that. they are so lacking.
and thank goodness for your ipod protection!
four more days you think? keep all four of those fingers crossed won't you. i'll cross mine too. :-) xoxo

[courier-iii.livejournal.com]

The problem with this particular election is that some much of it seems to be about how bad the other guy is instead of how good our guy is. This particular group was Bush but I've certainly seen as much or more from Mr. Kerry's supporters.

In one respect they made a good decision by deciding to leave. That bullhorn in the ear was a criminal act of battery. If you had been injured you would also have the right to sue in civil court for damages, including punitive damages. That threat do do it again is assault. If you had been of a mind to do it he could easily have been facing the prospect of about $5,000 worth of legal bills to keep himself out of jail.

Freedom of speech, certainly.
Freedom to break the law, no way.

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

good for you, Mike! he'll remember
that next week. while one vote may
be statistically meaningless,
landslides are made up of a number of
single votes. we voted two weeks ago.
and we did not vote for 'four
more wars!'.~paul

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

i admire the way you handled that. i hope they're very disappointed on wednesday morning.

[detroitfather.livejournal.com]

I am sorry that happened to you. I wonder what the person was trying to accomplish? Certainly not sway people over to vote Republican.

My wife had a milder run-in yesterday whilst jogging in a Democrat neighborhood. Some Kerry people picked on her a bit (as we are both voting for Bush, and she mentioned that to them as she jogged by), but it was not nearly as bad as what you endured.

As a side note, "Four more years" seems an odd phrase, and in some ways very childlike and innocent (if you strip off the unstated implication "of this current administration." I think it is one of the few wishes that most of us could agree on: that, no matter what the outcome of the election, God would grant us four more years of life, as a people and a nation.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I agree with courier_iii, and if you weren't so busy with more important things, I'd encourage you to go get your hearing checked to see if you already DO have damage.

Gosh, at this time in your life, the last thing you need is junk like this.

[fried-pearl.livejournal.com]

I love the way you handled that. Hate is not patriotic.

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

I'm a little shocked at people's behaviors druing this tense time before election. I have another friend who lives in Tenesse and has a bumper sticker that says, if you can read this, you aren't the president, an older couple in a pick up truck (with bush supporting stickers) drove up beside her on the free way flipped her the bird and tried to run her off the road the other day.
what is wrong with people?
It seems that the division is so strong that regardless of who gets in there is going to be caca to deal with.
=/

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

I am (still) what we refer to as an undecided voter.

it's a good thing we have until Tuesday.

One guy hid his face behind an American flag.

That line really disturbed me for some reason.