OWS standing on Danny Chen’s body

I’m sure you remember the tragic case of Private Danny Chen who NSOM wrote about last week or so. All we know for sure is that Chen committed suicide, but eight soldiers are accused of hazing him until he committed suicide. Anyway, Esther Choi writes about her experiences with OWS when she tried to encourage them to help the family get some information from the Army in regards to Chen’s death;

Conflict erupted when one of the OWS-affiliated protesters came with a giant Communist Party of China flag. This white man decided that he was entitled to represent us, at this protest for an American soldier, with a flag that has been used by this country to vilify the Chinese American community. When people began asking him not to demonstrate that flag because it was not the purpose of the event and we were in no way representing China or political parties, he began screaming at us about how we were ANTI-COMMUNIST and trying to take away his first amendment rights. We told him that Danny Chen was an American soldier and we wanted to respect the family and their wishes, but he continued screaming violent accusations at us at the top of his lungs and disrupting the event, until one of Danny Chen’s family members, on the verge of tears, finally convinced him to leave

OWS protesters often make it seem like they are the birth of social justice activism, that they are here to teach us how to protest because none of us know what the fuck we are doing and need their wealth of experience to help us out. I was not at all surprised when that woman so naturally assumed that she, as a white woman, knew better than me….

The actions of these OWS protesters showed that they were at the march and vigil, not to show their support for Danny Chen’s family or the ongoing work on their case, but to provoke and garner attention for themselves and their brand, and then try to turn our strategic work and planning into a nonsensical, self-righteous tantrum. They acted like tourists on vacation in the social justice world, and our efforts and long-term goals were expendable in light of their self-interested pursuit of an interesting experience.

I deal with ignorant bigots every day and am willing to do so as part of my own commitment to my work, but when bigots come posing as allies and then very dramatically play the martyr when we call out their bullshit, it really derails our ability to do our work

Yes, and I’ve always hated hippies because they think that there was no human history before the moment of their birth, that no one understands the suffering in the world without them to tell us about it. That no one cares until they ask us to care. If they cleave to bloody communist tyrants, you must also cleave. And the First Amendment was created exclusively for them…not you. And they’ll piss on your grave if it gets them a moment of attention.

I’d probably never get along with Ms. Choi, but I do sympathize with her in this case, but she should have known that she was inviting trouble when she asked the filthy, self-righteous OWS to participate in an event which had the military as a target.

Sporkmaster: I thought this gem deserves a view.

Another white OWS protester began trying to use the human mic to direct the protest, and told me that I shouldn’t be using the blowhorn because the cops were going to take it away. I told her that, no, we had a parade permit and sound permit, which was why the police were there clearing the streets for our march. She looked confused and stopped yelling.

Category: I hate hippies