Bad Cops, Lying Media, and Anarchist Scapegoats
I’m having a really hard time deciding who are worse – police or media.
As you may have already heard. There was a giant snowball fight at the corner of U and 14th in Washington, DC. I was there from about 2:30 to 3:00 and it was fun as hell. Maybe 100 or 150 people were gathered, split between the east and west sides of 14th. Whenever the lights would change, everyone would yell “Charge!!” and start pelting the other side with snow.
Not long after I got there, some hilarious anarchists showed up with a sign that said “No War but Snowball War.” Everyone loved it. They joined the snowball war on the west side. Occasionally, the west side would chant “Whose Snow? Our Snow!” Here are some pics I took.
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Scary right?
Well, apparently some DC cop thought it was scary because, after I left, he pulled a gun at the snowball fight. You can read about it on Gawker and in the City Paper. There is also a good account of what happened over at DCist.
The only thing I will dispute about the DCist account is that I saw lots of snowballs tossed at cars as they rolled through the intersection. I’m sure some cars found it annoying, but it wasn’t dangerous. It was a blizzard. I was walking faster than cars were driving. What was dangerous was driving on roads not cleared of snow. Without a snowplow, you really had no damned business being in a car yesterday. (I included some street pics in the images above to give you an idea of how desolate the streets were.)
As incredulous as I am about that cop pulling a gun, the thing that is pissing me off even more is how Channel 7 news decided to cover the story.
A lively snowball fight on D.C. streets took a dark turn Saturday when anti-war protesters dressed in anarchist garb showed up, and a D.C. police officer pulled his weapon out of his holster.
Channel 7 also claims that the anarchists started pelting cars. That is a lie. That started before they got there. And I saw many snowballs coming from the east side of the street (the opposite side from where they were). More importantly, who cares! They were f’ing snowballs!
So a vile, power drunk cop uses his gun to stop a snowball fight and the papers blame some good natured anarchists with a sense of humor. This is so typical. This is why people aren’t out in the streets about all the BS that happens every day. News media isn’t in the business of watching police and government any more. They just serve as their lying, sensationalist, propaganda arm.
Some of the comments I have seen on the reports are just killing me. I think my favorite was the person who said the cop was protecting his property. WTF! From snowballs?! And why the hell is a cop driving a hummer?
Ugh!
That's crazy because just yesterday I read a whole section in David Graeber's Direct Action about how US news media have a template they use whenever covering stories about anarchists and police. Regardless of the incident, anarchists must be portrayed as aggressors, and police as maintaining public order. The template doesn't allow any other interpretation, and to depart from the narrative would require a full-on investigative report employing an alternative template of the "rogue police officer" who deviates from the norm.
Graeber makes these observations in the context of a broader discussion concerning the strategic implications for Gandhian-style nonviolent civil disobedience in the contemporary US. The anarchist argument is that the game is completely rigged, and this has informed the development of "Black Bloc" actions ever since.
1I'm going to have to put that book at the top of my reading list. Does Graeber think this is laziness on the part of journalists or something more purposeful?
2He sees it as an institutional constraint stemming from the US media's desire to fulfill its "responsible role" within the existing structure of authority — a structure which says that the police exist to maintain public order. Even when street reporters submit accurate accounts, editors rewrite the stories to satisfy this obligation. In other cases, reporters just lie because they have internalized the narrative required to do their jobs. They probably don't see it as lying, but rather as they only way they know to make sense of what they are seeing.
It's a phenomenal book, especially as a window into contemporary anarchist actions and culture. I would also say that becoming a "Friend of AK Press" is a better idea than going to college! I wish I had known about it years ago.
3And another example of what happens when people are incapable of critical thinking
4Having a passing acquaintance with DC (grew up near there as a child, and it was part of my teenage stomping grounds which extended from Richmond to DC, west to Charlottesville, Northwest to Old Rag and east to the 301 bridge), I can see just how FUN that scene must have been!
But, let's see. A million (or 100,000) old farts spitting Skol on the streets and leaving dirty adult diapers all over Metro don't warrant a single f-ing DC or Capital cop in sight, but 4 anarchist kids (rhetorical, don't know how many, but sure it wasn't 100K) show up, and suddenly it's a SWAT Op? And so the hell what if a few cars got pelted? When having a snowball fight in the city, it's hard NOT to pelt a car!
5LOL. I think the city has gotten considerably younger and cleaner. I have most definitely not seen any adult diapers on the metro.
6"This is why people aren’t out in the streets about all the BS that happens every day."
Unfortunately I suspect the real reasons for this go far deeper than a lack of favorable media attention. People in western cultures have become largely stupefied, captured, and made to focus only on their own little game.
7i wrote about this on my blog too. i wrote "…one snowball fighter that looked like he went to “Anarchist’s and Us” Clothing Depot..' you have to laugh at them. don't turn your backs on them, though…
8I'd much prefer turning my back on on anarchists than the police.
What's the link to your post?
9The Smilodon or "Saber toothed tiger" went extinct about 10,000 years ago, and man hasn't seen as big a pussy as that cop since. I mean, pulling a gun on a snowball fight? The irony is that everyone else had a ball, and he had none.
10I really love that he is now infamous worldwide for being afraid of snow. He'll never live that down.
11They'll probably have a memorial service for his pride – the Thin Blue Whine is incapable of seeing when on of its members is a complete fucking douche.
12Ha. I have to say that I did see a thread on a forum for cops where quite a few of the posters criticized him for overreacting, not having a sense of humor, and being a danger to himself. (A few people said that is how a plain clothes cop ends up getting shot by a uniform.)
13He's driving a Hummer because he is an insecure fuckhead… next question?
14A comment on one of the news reports said something about him driving a hummer because "Grinch's penis was three times too small." Wish I could remember where I read that.
15Someone needs to tackle that cop, and stuff a huge snowball down his McGruff Underoos. . . and then taze him when he complains.
16Wait. They make McGruff underoos? I totally want some.
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