Apparently the revolution will be televised, and live on Ustream, which is better than it sounds. The tired and resolute protestors link arms and solemnly chant, “The whole world is watching!” They are preparing for the Los Angeles police riot division to begin with their prior threats of arrests and possible nonlethal, but still unnecessarily brutal, offensive. They hope to bring their cause to the forefront of people’s thoughts through their suffering. “The whole world is watching!”
Well, I am not sure about the whole world, but my brother and I are, as well as thousands of other anonymous hits on differing Ustream live feeds. And from the scroll bar of comments it is a mix of empathizers, angry malicious irritants with opposing views, and 5 year old children who just learned that if you put a few “equal” signs in-between an eight and a capital “D” you get a text rendering of a penis. Charming.
But through all that, the opportunity to sit on your couch and watch CBS and FOX cover one side of the story while witnessing insider coverage of a peaceful act of civil disobedience is fascinatingly compelling to say the least. Or should I say I found it compelling as a citizen of Los Angeles for 26 years and an avid researcher as-well-as essayist of political philosophy. As my brother, Frederick William Chandler Jr., put it, “You know what goes well with watching two groups of idiots overreact over the others rights or freedoms? Soup.” He is a bit more cynical about the transaction than I am, but I understand the underlying meaning he is expressing.
We are living in a strange time when history can be formed from the clay of those living meaningful existences and your community is directly affected by catastrophes, but it can also be misinterpreted as entertainment. As if you are solely a passive viewer of the goings on in the world. Now I am not necessarily saying that the Occupy Los Angeles movement is filled with Mahatma Gandhis or Martin Luther King Jr.s, but how I came to witness this particular moment of political unrest made me question how others were interpreting the experience. I mean, this is a movement happening pretty much down the street from us and yet we are watching it unfold as if it is a sitcom on Hulu. How many other viewers are just sitting by their computers hoping to see a “dirty hippy” get bludgeoned under the boot of Johnny Law without fully grasping the gravity of the situation? Misinterpreting gravity for levity.
We both, which is to say my brother and me, sat in our respective homes and watched on multiple browser tabs the different angles of the incident as it manifested. Putting the sound down and up depending on which feed we were following. All the while telling the other when one had a particularly good shot of some action, FOX coverage playing silently in the background for overhead helicopter vantage shots and the occasional snarky interview.
Out of the name of journalistic integrity I kept a note pad for inspiring thoughts to hold on to, or at least to write down if anything “good” happens like a violent abuse of power (I still feel dirty for succumbing to the primal craving for violence and a gruesome story, but that is a different article). One specific note I made was encompassing the eeriness of a Fight Club style chant, “His name was Scott Olsen.” I truly believe the irony of using an honorary support and “get well soon” chant for a non-violent movement that is modeled after a death chant from this particular film is lost on them. This is only partially because “Project Mayhem” was the exact opposite style of protest for a similar cause. But alas political types do seem to miss pop culture context and intention more than just on the often occasion.
You must excuse my Tangentitis, where was I? Ahh yes, the absurdity of those who watch a dramatic, and possibly historical, true life event and lose the spark of empathy because of the way in which it has been funneled from a source through a magic entertainment box, where most get their porn, and into an anonymous face that is most likely eating a Hot Pocket.
The way in which this moment of a Common Wealth’s unrest is being presented is ground breaking. FOX and CBS’s camera crew and reporters are corralled into a strategically placed section where most of the officers are on their best behavior. The police in this televised area are smiling and acting as professional as possible, but one glance from the big screen to my computer shows that there is much more going on than what is supposed to be seen by the average viewer. Inside the row, purposefully just out of view of professional cameras, are unaffiliated citizens streaming videos from their phones to the internet. This is the story that my brother and I were privy to: Police, looking like a mix between Darth Vader and an angry Michelin Man, were strong arming protesters and proudly flaunting bright green bean bag shot guns in front of non-violent anti-social types, like neo-hippies, hooded rascals, students, teachers, and grandmothers.
Still most was calm, until the news channels shut down their live feeds at 2 a.m. This is when things became even more interesting. One live stream journalist’s feed went black. We realized he had been tossed to the floor and arrested. Not much of a surprise really. But other live feeds showed protestors being judo thrown to the ground who seemed to be doing nothing more than raising their hands in surrender. Blair Witch style camera footage showed 99%ers fleeing from police as they swarmed the area and kicked over tents and encampments. Shouts of warnings that water hoses and rubber bullets had been used, no proof or footage of either of these however, and visuals of tightly packed marching riot squads could be seen patrolling the streets of down town Los Angeles as they attempted to flank all the remaining disbanded activists.
The final push on the Occupy L.A. movement was perfectly timed with the NEWS cameras being turned off, but luckily for me I was witness to it all from my front line just behind the space bar. The selected media had been escorted by hand select police squads, and told to leave the area and, I can only assume, stop transmission as they all ended the live feeds at the same time. From my vantage point I could easily see the blatant censorship, the revolt and struggle of a people oppressed, the daring of those who believe in their righteous cause, the beauty of Americans enacting the most important part of The Constitution of the United States. A profound movement where people are sacrificing their freedoms for the belief in their cause, whether you agree with their cause or not, is a beautiful and American thing! I looked to the live feed’s scroll bar of comments to see what others who were technologically blessed to witness the same thought.
“8====D”
Really? The right to stand up to tyranny and protest what you see as corrupt in order to ensure the betterment of the Common Wealth is transpiring in front of your eyes by a unique pioneering technological breakthrough of our generation and the first thing you think of to write is a phallic symbol you learned in your 8th grade typing class? I guess George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are just lucky they didn’t have twitter. In the new age of technology, where the vast world of information is open to all, the theater of revolution and civil disobedience will be at your fingertips, if you don’t mind text penis’ scrolling by from time to time.