Am I the only one annoyed by protestors getting the Air & Space museum shut down yesterday?

[Anonymous]

http://news.yahoo.com/police-protesters-clash-national-air-space-museum-002625662.html

"It is outrageous that the security guard of a major museum in America pepper sprayed Americans as they entered the museum. The drones housed in this museum and the pepper spraying of Americans at the door are clear evidence of repression in America," Retired Colonel Ann Wright said in the e-mail.

No one is allowed to bring signs inside the museum. This is not new. Why were they shoving guards? They were protesting a drone on exhibit....a drone. It's a effing unmanned plane, and not responsible for policy making. Seriously, WTH?

I feel bad for families that were there yesterday, some tourists, getting tossed out of the museum because these folks couldn't protest outside. It's just an asshole-ish thing to do. And, I've attended my share of anti-war rallies.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the protesters were total a**holes on this one. It does sound like the guards also overreacted, and the museum didn't handle it well, so I wouldn't put 100% of the blame on the protesters. But the protesters do deserve the lion's share of the blame. What idiot thinks that a museum is an appropriate place for a protest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the protesters were total a**holes on this one. It does sound like the guards also overreacted, and the museum didn't handle it well, so I wouldn't put 100% of the blame on the protesters. But the protesters do deserve the lion's share of the blame. What idiot thinks that a museum is an appropriate place for a protest?

So one day of being "inconvenienced" is a hardship?

I wonder if your views would be different if you lost a loved one to war?

I can't believe how ignorant people are.

[Anonymous]

A little off topic but it would be OK if the guards pepper sprayed foreigners?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the protesters were total a**holes on this one. It does sound like the guards also overreacted, and the museum didn't handle it well, so I wouldn't put 100% of the blame on the protesters. But the protesters do deserve the lion's share of the blame. What idiot thinks that a museum is an appropriate place for a protest?

So one day of being "inconvenienced" is a hardship?

I wonder if your views would be different if you lost a loved one to war?

I can't believe how ignorant people are.

OP here. Why couldn't they protest outside? What was the point in protesting a drone?

To the other poster, I don't think it depends on one's country of origin, signs and shoving are not OK in that museum.

[Anonymous]

But why at the Air and Space? Couldn't they think of a better location? I know they can't get near the Pentagon for this stuff, but really.

[Anonymous]

What they were doing was effectively a sit-in, and it is a part of protest from the civil rights era. King did it, Ghandi did it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sit-in

In the case of a sit-in, usually one occupies the building that is the center of the dispute - whether it is a lunch counter or a bus station or a library. But in this case, the target is the government. It would be dangerous and irresponsible to stage such an event in our Capitol Building, and impossible at the White House. They can't do it at Hart or Rayburn or the Supreme Court.

A museum is a public place that gets attention without creating a major security incident. It is an inconvenience.

I am of mixed mind on the use of sit-ins, but I can also understand why they chose Air and Space.

[jsteele]

It turns out that the confrontation was provoked by an editor of the right-wing magazine "American Spectator" who had infiltrated the group with the intent purpose of discrediting them:

http://my.firedoglake.com/cgrapski/2011/10/09/american-standard-editor-admits-to-being-agent-provacateur-at-d-c-museum/

This is what the guy writes himself:

"But as far as anyone knew I was part of this cause -- a cause that I had infiltrated the day before in order to mock and undermine in the pages of The American Spectator -- and I wasn't giving up before I had my story. Under a cloud of pepper spray I forced myself into the doors and sprinted blindly across the floor of the Air and Space Museum, drawing the attention of hundreds of stunned khaki-clad tourists (some of whom began snapping off disposable-camera portraits of me). I strained to glance behind me at the dozens of protesters I was sure were backing me up, and then I got hit again, this time with a cold realization: I was the only one who had made it through the doors. As two guards pointed at me and started running, I dodged a circle of gawking old housewives and bolted upstairs."

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/10/08/standoff-in-dc

Just another "fair and balanced" right-wing media outlet.

[Anonymous]

Jeff, he may have been the only one who made it inside, but he was not the only one acted as if it was a good idea to storm the Air & Space museum.

How exactly do shoving and protest signs fit in to the peaceful sit it idea? There was a nurse-in at another Smithsonian museum and that went well without pepper spray or museum-storming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, he may have been the only one who made it inside, but he was not the only one acted as if it was a good idea to storm the Air & Space museum.

How exactly do shoving and protest signs fit in to the peaceful sit it idea? There was a nurse-in at another Smithsonian museum and that went well without pepper spray or museum-storming.

It sounds like most people did not even try to get inside-- but this guy was egging everyone on to cause problems.

[Anonymous]

It was his idea to go inside? Where did you get that information?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:It was his idea to go inside? Where did you get that information?

Where did you get the information that someone claimed it was his idea?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was his idea to go inside? Where did you get that information?

Where did you get the information that someone claimed it was his idea?

The PP made it sound as if he was the only one trying to cause trouble. Didn't everyone else decide to go there in the first place? It seems as though the decision to cause trouble was made earlier in the process.

[Anonymous]

It sounds as though there was a decision to march there, but it's much less clear about the decision to rush the doors. He says only a "select few" did that, himself included.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was his idea to go inside? Where did you get that information?

Where did you get the information that someone claimed it was his idea?

The PP made it sound as if he was the only one trying to cause trouble. Didn't everyone else decide to go there in the first place? It seems as though the decision to cause trouble was made earlier in the process.

Based on the journalist's own article which is obviously one-sided, there was never a consensus to enter the museum. As the group neared the museum, it split into two groups, the smaller of which went toward the museum doors. Security guards attempted to stop this smaller group, but a few individuals got past them. At the door, these last few individuals were stopped by the guards. There was some pushing and shoving, during which the journalist ran past the guards and into the museum. Simultaneously, the guards used pepper spray, spraying the journalist in the process.

What is clear is that the majority of the group never even attempted to enter the museum. That some portion of the smaller group that did try to go into the museum stopped at the outer security perimeter and did not try to force themselves past the guards. A small number of protesters got past the outer perimeter and confronted guards at the front door. Only the journalist appears to have rushed past the guards and into the museum. According to the journalist, only 10 people were pepper sprayed. The journalist himself mocks the group for being unwilling to confront authority.

The journalist writes that he intended to undermine the protest and wasn't going to stop until he had the story. It is entirely believable on the basis of his own story that his rushing past the guards -- an act only he committed -- provoked the pepper spraying.

It is likely that most people don't have a good understanding of the DC protest, so please indulge me as I give a brief overview. The DC protest was originally organized some time ago by an anti-war group. A website for that group is here: http://october2011.org/ . That group has a permit for a protest that expires either Sunday night (tonight) or Monday. I'm not sure which. Because of the various "Occupy" protests, the October 2011 protest sort of morphed into "Occupy DC". But, there has really been two facets of that protest all along -- one based in Freedom Plaza and the other in McPherson Square. The group that ended up at the Museum is from the Freedom Plaza contingent which is the anti-war rather than anti-Wall Street group (though there is lots of overlap).

So, what happened at the Air and Space Museum involved a small minority of anti-War protesters plus an admitted outside agitator. It really has nothing to do with the larger "Occupy DC" protest.