4 thoughts on “#OWS Signage: Question for Bloomberg”
Doing the raid during the day would have disrupted the tens of thousands of hard-working residents and workers in the neighborhood. This way we were not bothered by the clean-up and associated hysterics. Allowing the media to be in the park would have slowed the process and prevented the city workers from doing their job. There are usually more media and police than protestors on any given day. This whole story is about 3-400 people who are camping in a park, disrupting the lives of thousands, and costing the city millions for no purpose.
The First Amendment protects the right of people to peacefully assemble and of journalists to report on government actions. Do you want to ditch the First Amendment? Should we rewrite it with footnotes indicating which assemblies and which reports are not to be covered?
News stations and individuals were free to report on the entire event. They were simply not allowed in the park during the eviction/clean-up process, which makes common sense. Further, the First Amendment does not allow people to actively infringe upon the rights of others for months at a time. This was an illegal campsite in a neighborhood park. Protest all you want in public spaces– it’s a free country. You can even set up house and defecate on my doorstep 3-4 nights a week– but after 8 weeks? BYE BYE. Find another place to camp– like 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
This protest is not a game or a dress-up party. This protest is about life and death. It’s about changing history, and if you want to change history, historic measures are required.
I’m firmly on the side of the protesters and the journalists on this one.
Tragic Farce 
Doing the raid during the day would have disrupted the tens of thousands of hard-working residents and workers in the neighborhood. This way we were not bothered by the clean-up and associated hysterics. Allowing the media to be in the park would have slowed the process and prevented the city workers from doing their job. There are usually more media and police than protestors on any given day. This whole story is about 3-400 people who are camping in a park, disrupting the lives of thousands, and costing the city millions for no purpose.
The First Amendment protects the right of people to peacefully assemble and of journalists to report on government actions. Do you want to ditch the First Amendment? Should we rewrite it with footnotes indicating which assemblies and which reports are not to be covered?
News stations and individuals were free to report on the entire event. They were simply not allowed in the park during the eviction/clean-up process, which makes common sense. Further, the First Amendment does not allow people to actively infringe upon the rights of others for months at a time. This was an illegal campsite in a neighborhood park. Protest all you want in public spaces– it’s a free country. You can even set up house and defecate on my doorstep 3-4 nights a week– but after 8 weeks? BYE BYE. Find another place to camp– like 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
This protest is not a game or a dress-up party. This protest is about life and death. It’s about changing history, and if you want to change history, historic measures are required.
I’m firmly on the side of the protesters and the journalists on this one.