Wisconsin Protests Turn Violent

Civil disobedience has deep roots in American tradition. Some of the most famous American protestors include Dr. Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, and Rosa Parks who join such world renown luminaries as Mohandas Gandhi of India and Lech Walesa of Poland. At the base of the American tradition, however, are Thomas Paine who inflamed the common people with his fliers, Thomas Jefferson who almost single handedly authored the American Declaration of Independence, and George Washington, who led the insurrection against a government that overstepped its bounds and is revered as the Father of our Country.

Of the tens of thousands of men and women who closed in on Madison, Wisconsin, reports of arrests of18 protestors has received little press coverage. The frustrated rush on the Capitol Building that damaged a couple doors and several windows is understandable but passed almost without comment by journalists or politicians. One journalist, Tabitha Hale, is reported by biggovernment.com to have gotten "in a heated exchange while filming a union member outside of her office when she was attacked by the thug." The video provided does not make it clear whether the demonstrator just pushed the camera away or the journalist dropped her camera or if someone else interrupted the interview by pushing the camera.

Considering that on some days the estimated size of the crowds pushed 100,000 people it is absolutely amazing that there have not been more reported incidents of violence and willful property damage. No vandalism, no looting, no rock throwing or even stories of opposing groups shouting vehemently at each other all add up to no real story about the violence that isn't happening in Madison. Can you really blame main stream media for not reporting a non-story?

The protests in Madison have been, for the most part, reported in fairly unbiased stories and commentary, yet some of the faux media on the far right fringes seem bent on making their readers believe the opposite. In a commentary piece on AOL L Brent Bozzel III created a list of items the main stream media failed to report. His list included a lack of photos of demonstrators' signs that carried messages that compared Governor Walker to Adolph Hitler and other viewpoints he personally doesn't care for and comparisons to reporting on Tea Party protests.

In her blog , Michelle Malkin posted a total of eight photographs that showed a somewhat less than tiny fraction of signs carried over the past weeks. Although some of the phrases used are not normally uttered in polite company, there is, again, not much there that indicates violent intent much less violent acts. It is hard to become excited about or impute a violent streak on an overweight, middle aged man with a beard and holding a sign that declares "Tax The Rich."

Even the Christian Science Monitor is on the band wagon headed for the fringes by implying, " "...Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, too, was taking sides." It is fairly certain that if there were more acts of violence than reported by the police the main stream media which is out in force in Madison, would have had a field day reporting them. After all, isn't that why we scrutinize protests, to watch the gratuitous violence perpetrated by either the police or the demonstrators just as we did during the Vietnam War years?

Protesting the unjust has been around in America since our Declaration of Indepence.. The faux media at the right fringe seems to be trying to stir up a tempest over violence that does not exist and is missing the point of the demonstrations which is the real story in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sources:

Unacceptable signs: http://michellemalkin.com/2011/02/19/photo-gallery-what-big-labor-protesters-are-teaching-kids-language-warning/

AOL opinion: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/02/opinion-whitewashing-wisconsin-s-protests/

A stretch looking for the bad: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0312/Wisconsin-protests-democracy-in-action-or-mob-rule

Video of person dropping camera then blaming protestor: http://biggovernment.com/eyeblasttv/2011/02/24/union-thug-attacks-freedomworks-tabitha-hale/