While the fundamental difference between the two movements is the political ideology that motivates them, another key difference is the method of protest. Tea Party protests, in general, are peaceful and law-abiding (or so I hear). OWS protests, on the other hand, are not. Twenty-three OWS protesters were arrested yesterday in New York City for disorderly conduct, only a few days after a much larger arrest (see quotation below). I can't remember ever hearing of anyone arrested at Tea Party protests, nor can I find any evidence in a quick Google search (I do, however, find links about anti-Tea Party protesters being arrested). Keep in mind that the Tea Party movement is several years old, compared to the fledgeling OWS movement. My Google search did result in me finding this fantastic article, however. Here is an excerpt (emphasis added):
One aspect of the Occupy Wall Street and other leftist activism that is a definitive divergence with the tea party movement is disruptive behavior.
On October 1, over 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested — mostly for disorderly conduct — during a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Despite two other peaceful marches across the bridge by other groups earlier that day, the Occupy Wall Street crowd couldn’t resist blocking traffic and scuffling with police.
When not under arrest (approximately 100 other arrests occurred over the weeks of the protest), the Occupy Wall Street crowd is actually occupying the privately-owned Zuccotti Park, whose owners are working with city officials on plans to return it “to its intended purpose.”
This rowdy attitude of the radical left is something that, by mistake or design, is grossly unreported in the media. As the Tea Party must fend off allegations of being violent and racist, leftist protests that are unruly don’t get similar coverage.
I’ve been active in the Tea Party movement since 2009. As a black woman, I define the movement’s political diversity and have always been quick to defend its inclusiveness against those who would try to slur it with racist accusations.
I have had the amazing opportunity to meet thousands of freedom-loving Americans who are involved in the movement on their own time and these individuals are sincere in their efforts to reign in our government gone wild by holding our elected representatives accountable.
As a frequent speaker at Tea Party events nationwide, I’ve never seen the same behavior as described during Occupy Wall Street’s Brooklyn Bridge demonstration. Tea Party activists, in my experience, police themselves. Additionally, I’ve never been to a rally in which the grounds weren’t as clean or cleaner than when the first activist arrived.
Doing a Google search of “tea party activist” and “arrest” brings up nothing of merit. On the first page, I found three articles about people described as tea party activists, but the arrests were unrelated to rallies.
Another article, about the demonstrations outside the U.S. Capitol Building on the weekend of the Obamacare vote in the House, reports one man — one single person — was detained after being accused of spitting on a congressman. But that person was immediately released, and no one has come forward to legitimize the claim and collect conservative Andrew Breitbart’s $100,000 reward for providing proof.
Furthermore, Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa told people waiting to see President Obama speak at a Labor Day rally that they need to “take these [Tea Party] son of a bitches out.” And there was a January 30 rally in Rancho Mirage, California in which progressive protesters, many of whom were attending a nearby conference sponsored by Common Cause, were caught on video saying they wanted to “torture” and “hang” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Salacious allegations against the tea party will get more coverage than actual law-breaking by the left.It is evident that leftist protests embody the negative attributes that conservative protests are wrongly accused of embodying. Not that you would ever be able to tell by watching the news, though. Do we have enough proof now that many leftists are hypocrites?
And, a final note: this is not meant to apply to all leftists. Only the crazy ones.
As an attendee to a number of tea party movement events, I can attest that tea partiers are civil, law-abiding, respectful, and united in love of country and love of the freedoms outlined in the Constitution. Most locations are left cleaner of trash and debris than when the events started. These unruly liberals, on the other hand, are not only are dirty (many have camped out at the protest sites and haven't bathed in weeks, and have trashed the areas beyond belief), but now word is trickling out that many are being paid to attend and that unions are spearheading many of their efforts. Even Obama has embraced them - yet he didn't acknowledge the tea party movement for months.
ReplyDeleteThis is contrived Astro-turf, ladies and gentlemen, not grassroots. And as far as decrying "corporate greed," these clowns want banks, Wall Street, and businesses to go belly up because they're unemployed and they're unwilling to do what it takes to provide for themselves. Whiny crybabies. Pathetic statist sheep, they claim to want jobs and money but want to destroy those entities that can make those dreams realities. They'd rather be babied and coddled by a Nanny State than to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make their own fortunes.
I have read a lot of accounts of tea party protests that people have attended, and they all say essentially the same thing. I find it interesting that there would be such a difference between conservative and liberal protests, but I guess it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteIt really astonishes me that the tea party movement is so widely considered "extremist," considering how civil and inclusive it actually is.