August 26, 2020

“What was in you that you just couldn’t do this? They all did — all the other tables. You were literally the only one of 20 other people. So there was something in you that was different from all the other people.”

Said Chuck Modiano, who "identified himself as a citizen journalist who writes for @Deadspin," quoted in "Protesters target D.C. diners, triggering backlash after heckling woman/Lauren Victor refused to go along with raising her fist — although she supports the movement" (WaPo). He was speaking to Lauren B. Victor, the woman in this viral video:


"What was in you?" — he asked, and it feels like an accusation of racism. You just couldn't even give us this. But what was in her — I hope — was humanity and personal integrity:

“In the moment, it didn’t feel right,” Victor said... “I felt I was under attack,” Victor, an urban planner, said, adding that she felt there was something wrong about being coerced to show support.... “It just felt overwhelming to have all of those people come at you. To have a crowd — with all that energy — demand that you do this thing. In the moment it didn’t feel right,” Victor said....
She also said, "I’m very much with them. I’ve been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks." She probably felt secure that she was not a bad person — she supported the movement and had shown her support. She agreed on the merits but had a procedural objection. Agreed with the end but not the means.

Good for her. But why was she — as Modiano put it — "literally the only one of 20 other people"? What was the "something in you that was different from all the other people."

The other people were afraid! They were cowed. They were followers. But no one gets in their face and yells at them — What was in you that you just did this? That one woman, she was literally the only one in 20. The rest of you are all the same. Cowering in the shadows!

ADDED: This situation reminds me of something that I experienced half a century ago, blogged about here:
It was Friday, February 2, 1969, at the Fillmore East, and in the middle of the show Zappa — I believe he was wearing red velvet/satin pants — divided up the audience into parts — maybe 4 sections — each assigned to sing out when pointed at. I didn't sing when pointed at, but I was interested in the sound he got flowing through the big audience as he escalated to more and more elaborate pointing patterns. He kept going until the crowd — struggling to respond to his showy conducting — could not keep up and it became cacophony. At that point, as I remember it, Zappa gave the crowd a gesture — perhaps a contemptuous 2-handed get-outta-here — and said something to the effect of, You people were idiots to have followed me in the first place. But I had not followed him, and so my resistance to the ecstasy of crowd merger — which I'd worried was stand-offish and putting me at risk of a joyless future — was vindicated.

165 comments:

Joe Smith said...

What these anarchists are doing to peaceful diners minding their own business should be considered felony assault.

There is all sorts of video evidence...let's start arresting these low IQ fascists.

A man can dream...

Robert Cook said...

Maybe she didn't feel like letting herself be bullied into making a meaningless gesture of solidarity with a gang of nitwits who believe empty, not to mention coerced, gestures constitute something other than play-acting. That probably would have been my reaction.

rehajm said...

yah...real profile in courage that one is...

Drago said...

An army of stupid Inga's and Howard's "peacefully protesting" in order to "persuade" and bring others to their side of a "discussion".....

You know what's most interesting about all this? In about 30 minutes Inga will be telling us a republican/conservative forced this crew of naive, innocent, sweet as honey maoist Howard's Heroes to do this.

Yancey Ward said...

It's called a spine, Chuck.

Temujin said...

Yes, why wouldn't you submit? Submit, dammit? Show you care by submitting to our demands. Raise your fist! Now...touch your nose with your middle finger. Now...make donkey sounds. Now...shout the same lame slogans we shout! Now...march with us. Now...throw bricks. Now...toss molotov cocktails. Now...run. Go downtown and find a restaurant. Find some white people there. Demand that they submit and join. Start over.

Borg.

sparrow said...

It was remarkably brave, the crowd could've turned violent at any minute.

mezzrow said...

The Zappa residency at the Fillmore. It was quite a time, wasn't it?

Zappa was a keen student of human nature.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Resist the leftwing toddler mob.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

A true act of bravery is refusing to give in to this tyrannical garbage. + what Robert Cook said.

Bay Area Guy said...

Andrew Jackson: "One man with courage makes a majority"

In this case, one woman!

Fernandinande said...

"I’m very much with them. I’ve been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks." She probably felt secure that she was not a bad person — she supported the movement and had shown her support.

That makes her a bad person rather than a good person because that destructive "movement" is based on lies and hysteria.

“White silence is violence!”

Perhaps the silly person didn't agree with that VERY silly slogan.

Congrats to her for not kowtowing to the nonsense she claims to support, though.

Beth B said...

"Do you still think you can control them?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDuHXTG3uyY&fbclid=IwAR3MC1_g0wI23PuVy_svi0lAzP8Wsz2-zEGfkPZ0LxdmglpNFDn6y4khNck

Skeptical Voter said...

What was it in her? The civility to resist the temptation to tell this self righteous pompous clown "Sod Off Swampy". Now that's the Aussie version, and here in the states it might involve an F bomb or two.

Meanwhile as Obama might have said, "Can't I just eat my waffle?"

Drago said...

The other people were afraid! They were cowed. They were followers.

See: LLR-lefties from MI

Kate said...

She knew in her heart she was a true believer. She'd already proved it to herself and didn't want to be coerced into proving it to others.

The other diners weren't true believers. They probably couldn't care about any of it beyond surface agreement. That's why they submitted in the moment.

Qwinn said...

Will she continue to support BLM? Will she go march alongside them yet again? Will she learn absolutely nothing from this?

Magic Eight Ball says "Highly Likely".

tcrosse said...

She wouldn't get with the Gleichschaltung.

Drago said...

Remember, the Stalinists/Maoists cannot "win" if even one person with courage stands up to them and refuses to buckle and others see that.....

Paging Vaclev Havel (assuming the democraticals and their fully trained LLR-lefty lap poodles haven't yet outlawed reading him........yet)

pacwest said...

BLM has been outed for what they are for everyone to see by now. They have very little if anything to do with civil rights. So I guess she agrees that America should be torn down, but just doesn't like being coerced to make that admission in public, so it wasn't really a principled stand. Just didn't like being outed by taking the loyalty oath. Big deal.

We have other ways of insuring your compliance comrade.



Joe Smith said...

Deadspin was part of a conglomeration of super-lefty websites owned by Gawker Media.

They are owned by another media outfit now but are still hardcore (as in communist) left.

If you remember, Hulk Hogan, backed by Peter Thiel, sued their asses off a few years ago and won, forcing Gawker to sell off a bunch of their assets (yeah Peter!).

It's too bad because they have a car site that is informative, but they always report news (even auto news) with a liberal bias. The comments section is vomit-inducing.

GingerBeer said...

It must have come as a real shock to learn not everyone rolls over like college faculty and administrators. In the future, they should employ the gaomao high caps favored by Mao's little enforcers. The goal is humiliation, not persuasion.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

What good is deadspin? I’m avoiding the story and even I know she’s a protester on his side but didn’t feel like jumping or fist pumping when told to. The internet really has broken journ o lism like a sonofabitch. Good thing newton minnow ain’t around to asses it.

Rick said...

Doxxed already huh? The program is working at least from the media and BLM perspective.

Amadeus 48 said...

Very good post, Althouse. Very revealing about Lauren Victor and her character--she is a very brave woman who understands the necessity of resisting a crowd--even one she largely agrees with in substance. But as all truly wise people know, substance becomes very quickly entwined with process. My wife worked for a big management consulting firm. She quickly learned that the process was as important as the ultimate recommendations.

Very revealing about you, too, in a good way. Are you a libertarian? No, not really. Are you a contrarian? About some things.

There used to be movies and plays about avoiding lynch mobs--The Oxbow Incident, High Noon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men, In the Heat of the Night. Where have they gone?

Those "mostly peaceful" protesters are at best a mob. At worst, they are something much worse.

My parents drilled into me and my brothers: Think for yourself.

Hari said...

While I don't doubt that this one woman was "very much with them," I seriously doubt that every single one of the other twenty people who were coerced into going along were also with them.

The crowd focused on this one woman who was likely a "false negative" while they were quite pleased with others who were surely "false positives."

Reminds me of the Karens I see holding the railing with their bare hands as they climb out of the NYC subway and immediately start scolding people 10 feet away who aren't wearing a mask.

doctrev said...

Speaking of humanity and personal integrity: why doesn't Melania Trump's headline speech at the RNC last night deserve some attention? When a former first lady talked at the DNC, Professor, you posted about her more than once. Are you saying the current First Lady is less interesting? Less articulate? I mean, you started the DNC saying you had no interest in the convention, yet devoted posts to Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, and even the fake "I love you" security guard.

Yet almost nothing about the First Lady.

5M - Eckstine said...

(From Yeats best poems commentary) a sentiment put forward by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar: ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths. The brave experience death only once.’

Narr said...

I can't recall where I read it, but ISTR that some (all?) of The Beatles were startled and a little frightened by their power over crowds--something they noticed in their first US tour.

Plucky woman, for a while . . . she'll be apologizing soon.

Narr
Bets?

5M - Eckstine said...

Once the power exchange is complete and radicalized then this video will get this woman a "tenner" in the camps.

rcocean said...

So, she "marched with them for weeks, and week" but she just had a FEELING, and couldn't go along with raising her fist. Well, that makes her bravery a weak reed to lean on, doesn't it? 10-1 she recants in a couple days because "I just couldn't sit by and let the RACISTS use my actions to support their dirty, nasty RACISM and Trump"

Once a lefty, always a Lefty. She'll come 'round and see the light. Deadspin, BTW, is the shit-can of sports journalism. Its filled with SJW hacks who use "Sports" as a cover for their leftism. Most of them were too stupid to be Political Journalists, and had to cover Sports. A "citizen Journalist" probably means he's a elementary school teacher who writes for free.

Michael K said...

I still think, as I commented on another thread, that this is DC where 98% hate Trump, including I'm sure all those diners. Of all the places to harass diners who are already on your Nazi team. No wonder Don Lemon is worried.

tcrosse said...

For that matter, why wouldn't Kramer wear the ribbon?

rcocean said...

"There used to be movies and plays about avoiding lynch mobs--The Oxbow Incident, High Noon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men, In the Heat of the Night. Where have they gone?"

I don't think 12 Angry men belongs in that group. But whatever.

NCMoss said...

K Harris could get some points explaining how these are the "stupid" 18-24 year olds she was talking about.

eddie willers said...

She probably felt secure that she was not a bad person

Cue up C.S. Lewis:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Dave Begley said...

I usually think Nazi analogies are absolutely wrong, but some have compared this incident as to how the Brownshirts acted. I agree.

These Libs are going to be shocked when Trump wins 40 states.

D.D. Driver said...

The most 2020 thing ever will be Joe "I don't want my kids growing up in a racial jungle" Biden throwing up the black power fist. That's the upper right corner of my bingo card.

Rabel said...

But what was in her — I hope — was humanity and personal integrity... and 4 vodkas.

Michael said...

Would have head butted the guy leaning in and screaming. That would have triggered me for certain.

eddie willers said...

In about 30 minutes Inga will be telling us a republican/conservative forced this crew of naive, innocent, sweet as honey maoist Howard's Heroes to do this.

The Internet was full of "false flag operation" posts yesterday.

The abyss is staring back at them.

Drago said...

These are the same Howard's Heroes types that tried to incinerate 2 year old cancer victims and their families at a Ronald McDonald House.

I guess Inga and Howard figured their heroes could get in there just in time to harvest the body parts.

tim maguire said...

Joe Smith said...What these anarchists are doing

They're not anarchists. Nihilists, maybe, but not anarchists. The right of every individual to be free from coercion is the central guiding principal of anarchy.

Kevin said...

How many times has a leftist Tweeted this meme only to find out they’re the Nazis, not the dissenter?

traditionalguy said...

If she was Scots Irish, then "Live free or die" mixed with " No Surrender" was in her soul.

Remember, it was a crazy half breed, Scots Irish American and Englishman that was stuck in as English Prime Minister that stood up to Hitler's Blitz , when The pro Nazi Royal Family, and the UK's Parliamentarian Establishment had ordered him to sign their negotiated surrender Treaty in May of 1940. Instead Churchill gave his no surrender speech and ordered the evacuation 250,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk while Hitler halted his attack and waited a week for the agreed surrender.

D.D. Driver said...

Deadspin, BTW, is the shit-can of sports journalism. Its filled with SJW hacks who use "Sports" as a cover for their leftism.

Agreed. But it's not even the really Deadspin. They are like Coy and Vance when the Duke boys left for NASCAR.

The original batch of ninnies quit all at once last fall and Deadspin went silent for many months. I was excited for the return hoping to see some of the trashy, gossipy sports coverage that I used to enjoy before DS went woke. Instead, the new owners hired lame facsimiles of the old woke hacks.

Which makes all of this so delicious because these guys are the thing lefties hate more than anything else: scabs. Pompous, self-righteous, pious scabs.

Anonymous said...

The protesters are dangerous bullies, however, my real anger and outrage is reserved for WaPo and its 'professional reporter' who both named this woman, and included her middle initial and occupation, the better to DOXX and destroy her, lest others develop a backbone.

Reprehensible!

she was a private, passive, non-celebrity person engaged in personal life activities. Her name was absolutely not relevant.

shame on WaPo!

Fernandinande said...

These incidents and this "movement" remind me that -

"The consortium found that the chimp and human genomes are very similar and encode very similar proteins. The DNA sequence that can be directly compared between the two genomes is almost 99 percent identical. When DNA insertions and deletions are taken into account, humans and chimps still share 96 percent of their sequence."

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I'd respect her more if she'd simply said "My views are my own and my right to express them, or not, belongs to me alone. I won't be coerced into speech by anyone or anything, for any reason" rather than that weaselly "I support you!" shit.

That said: she doesn't owe me what I think she should say any more than she owes them.

rhhardin said...

It's like being forced to stand and recite the pledge or listen to the national anthem. You might be the only patiort there if you refuse.

Squints said...

She's an urban planner.

1. The Van Buren Boys had her back.

2. The VBBs have a secret gesture of their own, thank you very much.

Rabel said...

If you open Kunkle's twitter you'll see that shortly before before the scene shown here, the organizer moved the screaming Black men in shorts away from the woman and moved the screaming White girls to the front.

Why?

buwaya said...

"meaningless gesture of solidarity with a gang of nitwits"

Its not meaningless. The point is not solidarity but compliance. When you comply, or better yet comply after violence and humiliation, you give that gang even more power.

"The goal is humiliation, not persuasion."

Correct. That is why the gang at UC Berkely attacked Milo's event in 2017.

If someone, or better a crowd, openly defies them, and succeeds, they lose the ability to force others to conform. That opens a large number of people to dare act according to their previously perhaps never-even-internally-articulated opinions. And the more do so the more copy them. Thats a preference cascade.

These people are not working on their own, they are part of a continuum of gangs, groups, collectives and enormous institutions. If one bit of it wins in one place, it adds to the collective sense of impunity everywhere else.

doctrev said...

Drago said...
These are the same Howard's Heroes types that tried to incinerate 2 year old cancer victims and their families at a Ronald McDonald House.

I guess Inga and Howard figured their heroes could get in there just in time to harvest the body parts.

8/26/20, 2:29 PM

Don't forget trying to seal up a police station and incinerate the cops inside.

Krumhorn said...

What Cookie said.

I suspect that there are more than a few lefties who are beginning to get the picture of what our future looks like if their ideological bedmates ever get real power. The pitchfork mobs have historically always been the most lethal to freedom. Years later, nobody will ever admit to being part of the mob or one of the collaborators. They were always one of the Good Germans.

On top of being nasty little shits, the lefties are dangerous.

- Krumhorn

ccscientist said...

Given how violent the protesters are, I would say what was in her was bravery.

Drago said...

Rabel: "If you open Kunkle's twitter you'll see that shortly before before the scene shown here, the organizer moved the screaming Black men in shorts away from the woman and moved the screaming White girls to the front.

Why?"

That's easy.

They didn't want the image of multiple brothers getting in the face of the chick because video like that will not play well in the suburbs.

Amadeus 48 said...

rcocean--I accept the argument that the jury in Twelve Angry Men is not a lynch mob.

The Henry Fonda character in Twelve Angry Men as the one man out of twelve who initially wants to think for himself--the other members of the jury want to convict and be done with it for a variety of reasons, including some who just want to go along with the crowd. It definitely is a movie about the necessity of thinking things through for yourself.

Drago said...

doctrev: "Don't forget trying to seal up a police station and incinerate the cops inside."

In the end, all leftists throughout history have had to offer is mass death and misery in one form or another.

Earnest Prole said...

The proper gesture is a raised fist with the middle finger extended.

bagoh20 said...

That is exactly what fascism looks like, sounds like, and smells like, because that is what it is. The stupidity of these people thinking they have any right to call other people Nazis and fascists is mind-boggling. Either they have gained no wisdom since birth or something took what they had away. They are still intellectually and emotionally at the toddler stage of development. If I had any sympathy for the movement, it's gone now. I'm anti-them, because I'm anti-fascism, and anti what they want, whatever it is. I simply hate them for how they act, and what that says about how they think.

I expect these kind of people and many Democrats will find multiple ways to ruin the coming election. They ruin everything they can now simply for the sake of ruining things.

Todd said...

You just couldn't even give us this.

I owe you nothing but to leave you alone and you owe me the same. You get to demand not one thing more.

bagoh20 said...

She is simply a brave person of real character, and that's what makes them so angry - her obvious humble superiority to them.

effinayright said...

traditionalguy said...
If she was Scots Irish, then "Live free or die" mixed with " No Surrender" was in her soul.

Remember, it was a crazy half breed, Scots Irish American and Englishman that was stuck in as English Prime Minister that stood up to Hitler's Blitz , when The pro Nazi Royal Family, and the UK's Parliamentarian Establishment had ordered him to sign their negotiated surrender Treaty in May of 1940. Instead Churchill gave his no surrender speech and ordered the evacuation 250,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk while Hitler halted his attack and waited a week for the agreed surrender.
*************

Point us to the "negotiated surrender treaty" you allude to. Then tell us how Parliament can "order" the Prime Minister to sign a "treaty" not yet agreed to by the Germans.

(unless you can provide evidence that Germany and the Brits negotiated that treaty)

Then explain why Parliament didn't declare no-confidence in Churchill and call for immediate general elections. Or why Chamberlain and Lord Halifax resign and bring down the government.

IOW what are your sources?




gilbar said...

What was the "something in you that was different from all the other people."

is it Safe To Say;
that in a year or so, 'all the other people' will be saying, that They Were Just Following Orders?

how about people starting fires, and beating up 70 year olds? Were they just following orders?

how about people loading folk into cattle cars? and into gas chambers? Just Following Orders?

It's Easy to raise your arm in salute, it's just hard to stop

Larry1984 said...

The raised arms kind of remind me of "seig heil."

Larry1984 said...

The raised arms kind of remind me of "seig heil."

cubanbob said...

These clowns are lucky. One day they are going to pull that shit on someone who is armed.

MrEdd said...

Jordan Peterson rose to fame almost entirely because he said that, while he would voluntarily refer to people by their preferred pronouns on a personal acquaintance level, he would not do so when his speech was compelled and coerced by law or social pressure. Resistance to coercion is always the preferred option if you want peace of mind. You can pretend you are going along because you agree with the intimidating crowd, but you will always secretly feel like coward.

bagoh20 said...

You see a perfect example there of the foolishness of masks. If any of those people have the virus, they are spewing it by the millions through those masks. It may not be coming out in spit, but at 1/50th the pore size of even good masks that virus is simply being distributed on the sprinkle setting rather than stream, but just as much virus is getting out, and it's atomized to stay afloat and disperse more evenly in the air for longer. Would people be so comfortable getting that close if they didn't have on the masks, which they touch continuously?

Hyphenated American said...

Do you remember the Nick Sandman affair, when all the media outlets showed the deceptively edited videos of a brave native American Vietnam war veteran surrounded by a crowd of crazed MAGA teens?
Well, do the same outlets show this video over and over, identifying the participants? If not, why not?

This is what fascism looks like. This is what Stalinism and Maoism look like. These are the people who are rushing to be installed in our federal government.

Mark said...

The other people were afraid! They were cowed. They were followers.

The word you are looking for is "collaborators."

That they "just went along" to save their own sorry asses does not reduce their own complicity.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Rabel said...

If you open Kunkle's twitter you'll see that shortly before before the scene shown here, the organizer moved the screaming Black men in shorts away from the woman and moved the screaming White girls to the front.

Maybe she wasn't that heroic after all, maybe she was just scared.

James Pawlak said...

At my considerable age I would consider those critters as presenting "a clear and present danger of death or great bodily harm:. I would call the police. If they did not appear I would fire into those dangerous animals.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

they're also cowed in Wisconsin

Jon Ericson said...

One party discusses God.
One party discusses Darkness.
One party promotes God.
One party eliminates God.
Symbolism will be their downfall.
The Great Deceiver(s).
When was the last time you witnessed a [D] party leader being Patriotic [exhibiting National Pride (love of Country)]?
When was the last time you witnessed a [D] party leader 'speak out against' the riots [violence in the streets]?
When was the last time you witnessed a [D] party leader support those who took an oath to protect and defend?
When was the last time you witnessed a [D] party leader support and call for UNITY across our Nation?
ALL ASSETS DEPLOYED.
INFORMATION WARFARE.
INFILTRATION.
DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA.
Have Faith in Humanity.
Have Faith in Yourself.
UNITED WE STAND.
GOD WINS.

holdfast said...

The first one to stop clapping after Stalin's speech ends will be shot.

Have a nice day!

Sebastian said...

""What was in you?" — he asked, and it feels like an accusation of racism."

Of course. The more pertinent questions are: what was in him, then, and what is in him, as he asks the question.

"But what was in her — I hope — was humanity and personal integrity"

Not a greengrocer just yet.

"Agreed with the end but not the means."

A basic mistake: willing prog ends means willing the means. Real bravery would require opposing the ends because you know that, inevitably, they will be used to justify great cruelty--and that you are complicit from the outset.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

if, in the first act, a fist is raised

... by the third act you have to use it

DanTheMan said...

When the leftys say they want to have a conversation about race, this is what it looks like.


MayBee said...

She is brave and she inspires me.

I think we should all be ready to be asked to raise our fists, and we should all be ready to agree to do it. or to decline.

Unknown said...

The gummint regularly contributes to such cowardliness by staging group pledges, anthems, moments of silence and even prayers and other demonstrations of ovine behavior. West Point graduates and prospective lawyers do it too. So help me god.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

It's like being forced to stand and recite the pledge or listen to the national anthem. You might be the only patiort there if you refuse.

No, it's actually not, even a little bit, no matter how many times you aspie-repeat this.

If you have seen someone scream at and attempt to force another to stand and recite the pledge, our social circles have been widely different (apologies to Oscar Wilde). But I don't think you have.

Krumhorn said...

That's easy.

They didn't want the image of multiple brothers getting in the face of the chick because video like that will not play well in the suburbs.


If you read some of the comments down the Twitter thread, it’s pretty clear that the lefties already know that this is what will get Trump re-elected regardless of the skin color of the bully. They’re already trying to minimize it as not newsworthy. I suspect suburban white ladies won’t find it comforting.

- Krumhorn

Jay Vogt said...

I was under the impression that raising your arm on demand was kind of . . . . . . . I dunno . . . . . . nazi.

Did someone change that?

ga6 said...

did they strike her with their little red books?

Clark said...

Did you really see Zappa at the Fillmore East? I am very impressed.

"Just let me put a little more. Rancid Budweiser on my beard right now, baby."

Haven't we met somewhere before? Woodstock? Toronto? Albany in '69?

Roughcoat said...

"From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now... 16 years old!"

hstad said...

rcocean said..."...I don't think 12 Angry men belongs in that group. But whatever...." 8/26/20, 2:25 PM

Sorry, not sure what you're thinking, "12 Angry men" is a perfect example of Mob actions.

Gilbar said..."...They Were Just Following Orders?..."

Everything you listed was ordered by someone? Surprised you even used the classic "cattle cars?" You think they walked in there voluntarily?

TrespassersW said...

The correct response to these protesters/bullies, and to Modiano, is "Go away and leave me alone."

"Fuck you" and the accompanying gesture is optional.

Wince said...

Her refusal was even braver than “I am Spartacus!” because she went it alone.

Fernandinande said...

'Twas rather smug to compare these incidents to singing along at a rock concert, "rock" used loosely. lol.

Real bravery would require opposing the ends because you know that, inevitably, they will be used to justify great cruelty--and that you are complicit from the outset.

Before any bravery, that would first require the intelligence to minimize the effects of mendacious propaganda by maximizing your knowledge.

wendybar said...

You will be FORCED to comply. You must submit...you must submit....you must submit. do you get it YET????

narciso said...

or bezmenov, included in the latest call of duty cold war, demoralization, destabilization and crisis,

Roughcoat said...

These clowns are lucky. One day they are going to pull that shit on someone who is armed.

A small part of me hopes that someone is me.

MD Greene said...

I hope I would do the same thing she did.

Jamie said...

if, in the first act, a fist is raised

... by the third act you have to use it


Brilliantly said. I sincerely hope not prophetic - but I'm not very sanguine on that point.

RobinGoodfellow said...

“ I can't recall where I read it, but ISTR that some (all?) of The Beatles were startled and a little frightened by their power over crowds--something they noticed in their first US tour.

Plucky woman, for a while . . . she'll be apologizing soon.

Narr
Bets?”

What’s the over/under on how long until she caves and apologizes?

stevew said...

What is the ratio of white to black among the agitators? White guilt morons.

They all should be arrested for assault.

RobinGoodfellow said...

“ 8/26/20, 2:52 PM
Blogger Todd said...
You just couldn't even give us this.

I owe you nothing but to leave you alone and you owe me the same. You get to demand not one thing more.”

Well said!

JPS said...

Like others here I dislike casual Nazi comparisons, but I was thinking of that wonderful photo where everyone in the crowd has their arm outstretched and the one guy is standing there with his arms folded, surrounded by them.

Chuck Modiano would have wanted to know what was in that guy that he couldn't Heil. After all, everyone around him was!

Drago said...

Roughcoat: "From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now... 16 years old!"

(Whispering) "He's gone mad with power..."

Great flick

chuck said...

My experience in high school was that %5 will stand up, 5% are assholes, and many of the rest will go where they are led and encouraged. I expect the armed forces are quite familiar with that pattern.

hstad said...

I just looked at the picture of the "BLM protesters" and "Diners"? Hey Crack, my eyesight isn't as great anymore, but I can't find any 'Blacks' in that group? Mostly, 'White' BLM'rs. And in DC of all places (46% Black 42% White)? Any comment about the irony of such a picture?

donald said...

Chuck Modiano is not in to hygiene or exercise.

CWJ said...

This post and the underlying article are framed to make Chuck Modiano "citizen journalist" seem to be just doing an after the fact interview when in fact he was part of the mob. Things unsaid.

Paul said...

I'd just give them the 'finger'.... F*ck You. And if they don't like it, tough nuts.

Narr said...

I think we should dub it The Pussyfist.

The Fist of Wussdom?

Narr
Roughcoat, I'll bring ammo

Narr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leora said...

I admire the woman for not going along, but I'm disturbed by the 20 people who just raised their hands. You tried that on my 1970 graduating class and you would have had something like 90 hell no's including those of us who were lefties. The remaining 6 folks would have punched someone in the face, mocked them or ignored them.

Also if after an incident like that I found myself talking to a reporter who knew my name, where I worked and where I lived, I might very well claim to be on board because at that point I'd feel endangered enough to lie.

Michael K said...

What’s the over/under on how long until she caves and apologizes?

She already has said she agrees with them. I doubt you could find a person with backbone in DC. Her neighbors will cancel her unless she apologizes to the punk in her face.

Original Mike said...

"Like others here I dislike casual Nazi comparisons, but I was thinking of that wonderful photo where everyone in the crowd has their arm outstretched and the one guy is standing there with his arms folded, surrounded by them."

That should become the meme of the hour.

Anonymous said...

The trajectory of Africans in America is phenomenal. Brought here in chains, they were taught English, and then they were taught the Bible. Why would slave owners teach them the Bible? The Bible is filled with stories of slaves. The Declaration of Independence screams to all men, that God has created them equal. Everyone knew then, there was a problem. Egypt handled it for a while. Rome worked their way around it. And then...God shined his light on these pipsqueaks in America. 3% of the colonials threw off the shackles of the most formidable Empire of the world. Great Britain.

The moment the US Constitution was ratified in 1789, the World shook. It took a generation for men to take up arms and free all slaves, except those who enslave themselves. No man can free them. Only God can free those who enslave themselves.

The descendants of slaves in the US received preference in employment, and educational opportunities. They became a 'protected class' making the same mistake that made their ancestors slaves. Two sides of the same coin. Frederick Douglass explained the conundrum.

Anyway, if you live in an Historic District and think this new fight is not coming to you...well...this fight is coming to you. Folks ignored Frederick Douglass, and we got Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. There's money in discontent if you can 'community organize' it.


William said...

I prefer to eat my waffle in peace, and I'm not one for making scenes. I'd have probably gone along to get through my meal. This would have generated a certain amount of self hatred, but that self hatred would be far exceeded by my loathing for those protesters, both because they disturbed my meal and because they forced to make a gesture alien to my integrity.....Don't these protesters understand the ill will that they're generating. Are they so stupid that they think that their tactics win anyone to their side.....My deep tendon reflexes are fairly honorable. If they had gotten physical with that woman, I like to think I would have gone to her defense. If not, let it go. I generally try to avoid confrontations with assholes. I think that rather than agreement was the motivation behind the diners' acquiescence.

YoungHegelian said...

What will be very interesting to see here is if these "ideological shakedowns" continue, because they are the very essence of a public relations disaster. Unlike the riots in Portlandistan and parts foreign, this is getting lots of play on local DC area media.

If the shakedowns stop, then the Lefties really are in cahoots with the "moderate" Democrats. If they do not, then the Democrats have lost control of the far Left mob, which is what I suspect has happened. I think that the far Left intends to push & push. In their minds I think they are attempting a Leninist forcing of the contradictions and see even the re-election of Trump as a step down that path.

Roughcoat said...

Roughcoat, need ammo?

As a matter of fact, I do.

Waiting for my Indiana carry license to come through. Should be soon. With that I can open carry in Indiana (what a civilized state) and car carry in Chicago.

Trying to figure out how I can order and pay for a firearm I have my eye on but I don't want Mrs. Roughcoat to know about it. I have the cash put aside for it, but ...

Bob Smith said...

Maybe she has principles, I know they are out of fashion but .....

BamaBadgOR said...

I graduated from UW Madison in 1970. The national guard was called out every year (and the last few weeks of my last semester were canceled) because of protesters engaging in mob behavior. I walked through many picket lines designed to keep me from going to class even though I was sympathetic to the anti-war movement. Maybe because a Bolshevik mob executed my grandfather in Ukraine in 1918. I hope more people have the strength to resist mob lunacy.

Original Mike said...

"Don't these protesters understand the ill will that they're generating. Are they so stupid that they think that their tactics win anyone to their side"

They're not trying to convince anyone of anything. They're on a power trip.

pacwest said...

A basic mistake: willing prog ends means willing the means. Real bravery would require opposing the ends because you know that, inevitably, they will be used to justify great cruelty--and that you are complicit from the outset.

Worth repeating.

n.n said...

Now she knows, and it's for a social justice cause, too.

n.n said...

White guilt morons.

Probably white superiority morons who lost their religion and are left grasping at straws.

Jon Ericson said...

DC’s mayor finally condemns protestors, as the DNC’s Bat-Signal continues to flash

Lnelson said...

Can't she just eat her waffle?

Michael K said...

Maybe because a Bolshevik mob executed my grandfather in Ukraine in 1918. I hope more people have the strength to resist mob lunacy.

Try to explain that to Cook. I know. I know.

Michael K said...

Trying to figure out how I can order and pay for a firearm I have my eye on but I don't want Mrs. Roughcoat to know about it. I have the cash put aside for it, but ...<

A prayer; "I hope my wife never finds out after I die how much I really did pay for those guns."

AlbertAnonymous said...

Wasn’t that long ago the left was all “anti-bullying”

I guess they’ve flip flopped again.

madAsHell said...

I have the cash put aside for it, but ...

Everyman's threnody.

wildswan said...

She not raise her fist on demand and she talked to them in rational way. That was courage. The others? Well, she was really a BLM person so she couldn't rally the others. But someday, someone will. Remember the end of Casablanca where Victor Lazlo, the resister, rallies everyone to sing the Marseilles?

Steven said...

If this country had an actual militant antifascist movement, it wouldn't stop beating Chuck Modiano until he had 412 bones.

Narr said...

Roughcoat, I wish I really did have some ammo, but like you I have a gunshy wife and I'll have to finesse rearming myself (after more than 30 years w/o).

YoungHegelian is thinking what I've been thinking--if the stuff continues (my strong bet) despite bleatings from MSDNC, and Biden and Co. not to tarnish the brand--we'll be in for some real trouble.

Narr
Because some people want real trouble

gilbar said...

hstad said...
Everything you listed was ordered by someone?


i'm talking about the guards, but; of course, you knew that

Narr said...

BREAKING! NBA playas pissed off, won't play!

Makes me feel very smug now, to know I pegged roundball as an activity for mere children when I was only about 11.

Narr
Tall and wiry too!

I'm Not Sure said...

"It took a generation for men to take up arms and free all slaves, except those who enslave themselves."

The problem isn't "black" vs. "white", it's "adults" vs. "children". The adults, black or white, figure out a way to make their lives work while being decent human beings. The children stamp their feet and make demands- reparations, for example. Nothing will change until the children grow up. And some never will.

Jamie said...

I hope I would do the same thing she did.

C. Jane, I suggest you announce to someone you care about and who cares about you your intention to do as she did. Helps stiffen your resolve in the moment.

I just told my husband that if that happened to us, I was not going to raise a fist - that it was a sieg heil whether the hands were open or closed - ostensibly just to "discuss" with him the fact that we needed to think out our response in advance of the need... but in fact to make sure that if the need does arise, I would probably be with the person who knew that I had made this commitment. My moral courage hasn't been tested a bunch in recent years; I needed to be sure I would feel accountable to someone.

Oh - And if a "citizen journalist" asks me my name afterward, it's Jane Galt.

tommyesq said...

If only she had raised her fist - I am so sure that one more raised fist was all we need to put racism behind us in America, but no, she wouldn't go along to get along...

LordSomber said...

The Zappa anecdote reminds me of Ian MacKaye's notorious chastising of audiences, of which I've had the misfortune to witness more than once.

Vonnegan said...

When my older son was in 8th grade, a girl got in his face and screamed at him for not signing the No Place for Hate anti-bullying pledge. Really, really screamed - and he still calmly refused to sign. I am a little bit afraid of what happens when these street bullies come for him and his younger brother, because they will likely not be in school and so they will not simply calmly refuse. There will be fists and blood and a beat down (they're rugby players, you have to understand), and then someone will try to "cancel" my kid for standing up for himself or his friends. I think I'll try to keep them here in Texas (and out of Austin) for a little bit longer - at least until they grow out of the urge to take on an entire mob of morons on their own. They certainly have no business being somewhere filled with people like this, and so many cities these days seem to have them in droves.

wild chicken said...

"I would fire into those dangerous animals"

Suuure you would.

donald said...

William, my reaction would have been to get up, get Karen the manager and tell him/her goodbye never coming back, ain’t payin.

phantommut said...

Roughcoat, contact the seller and ensure they will take a money order. Buy one from the post office. (You'll lose the Post Office's cut, but hey.) (And obviously you want to do business with a seller who's been around for a while and has a good reputation, but I guess gun dealers are more honest than most merchants because bad business can literally come back and shoot them in the a**.) Should all go well, get yourself trained in the proper care and use of the equipment. A tool you don't know how to use is more dangerous to you than anyone else.

phantommut said...

If someone tries to force me to raise a fist for any reason, I will do so. Then bring it down hard right at the bridge of their nose. And yes, I'll take the beat-down that follows, especially if it's on camera.

BamaBadgOR said...

p.s. I should have said my great grandfather.

Paco Wové said...

"In their minds I think they are attempting a Leninist forcing of the contradictions and see even the re-election of Trump as a step down that path."

Nancy Rommelmann has a fairly interesting podcast discussing the situation in Portland. The first third or so can be skipped by anyone who has been paying attention, but the last parts are interesting. In short, there is no rational goal or end state. It all has to go. Baader-Meinhof gets a mention.

Nichevo said...

Should all go well, get yourself trained in the proper care and use of the equipment. A tool you don't know how to use is more dangerous to you than anyone else.



I think Roughcoat is some kind of operator. Just has no iron at home.

n.n said...

Bullying, invading neighborhoods, burning stores, cars, flags, etc., trapping people int their vehicles, knocking people out, assault, battery, and shooting them when they can. The anti-KKK, anti-fascists, anti-Nazis, and diversity racket are facing the inconvenient truth of their ideological predeceors that Americans, on principle, do not exercise, and with each trimester grow intolerant, of them exercising liberal license to indulge diversity dogma (e.g. racism, sexism).

Original Mike said...

"I just told my husband that if that happened to us, I was not going to raise a fist - that it was a sieg heil whether the hands were open or closed"

Actually, a vigorous Sieg Heil might be a good response. Make sure to click your heels.

Narr said...

Victim-looter-rioter Huber was White?

Narr
Good kill

Unknown said...

WHAT'S NEXT

BF Skinner, operant conditioning, shaping

You change behavior by "approximations"

Here they use peer pressure to force compliance in "something small"

The subject is relieved not to be the target of harassment

raise your fist is the smallest approximation, the "small ask"

You are not a member of the Tribe!

Next week we ask you to just WATCH a looting, you don't have to participate, just watch

You are one of us, you don't want to lose us

Then the week after...

Classic cult religion

Paul Doty said...

The correct answer to that question is: Fuck you. I do what I want.

Jamie said...

It's a form of grooming, isn't it, really - the "small ask" as someone said? Just touch it. That's all.

Birkel said...

I will never be a Green Grocer.

mikee said...

A college friend told me this story: When he went from 5th to 6th grade, he changed from a private school to public. On his first day there, four of his classmates tripped him and hit him as he tried to get up, because he was dressed nicely. The next day, he dressed sloppily, and in full sight of the bullies of the previous day, knocked over another kid who was dressed nicely. Then he was accepted by his classmate untermenschen. Yes, he used that word. He is now a successful lawyer, go figure.

MikeD said...

She whines "I'm with them, I march with them" when the only logical, self respecting response is GFY! Maybe with a follow up "if you had the gonads to do that you wouldn't be here".

The Crack Emcee said...

You've made your kids hate you.

Good job.

Now go get your crystals and cry about it.

Mr. Forward said...

Never eat at a vegetarian restaurant. No steak knives.

Todd said...

Roughcoat said...

Trying to figure out how I can order and pay for a firearm I have my eye on but I don't want Mrs. Roughcoat to know about it. I have the cash put aside for it, but ...

8/26/20, 5:43 PM


Pre-paid Walmart Visa gift card. It will cost you about $6 to purchase/activate but then done.

Todd said...

Michael K said...

A prayer; "I hope my wife never finds out after I die how much I really did pay for those guns."

8/26/20, 6:16 PM


T-shirt seen: After I am gone, please don't let my wife sell my guns for what I told her I paid!

Todd said...

My good buddy and I have an arrangement, if I go first he helps my wife unload my things and I do the same for him if he goes first. Our wives are well informed of this.

Anonymous said...

It's obviously anti-liberal for a mob to scream at people and demand conformity.

I remember back in 2016, people got worked up about Trump's loyalty oaths. Imagine if they had video of never-Trump Republicans getting screamed at to raise their hands in the air!

So weird how Trump says or does something, and his enemies not only imagine the worst, but start acting exactly that bad. How do they not see this as fascist behavior?

Of course lots of people have very little self-awareness. But when you videotape what you do and put it on-line, how can you not see what you are doing?

And that's a very white mob.

Martin said...

Good for her!!! As a recently retired urban planner, I say doubly so!

https://i.imgur.com/bYYvClE.png

Standing up to Nazis is not a bad thing! (People around here sometimes call Antifa and their ilk "Fascists" but that is wrong; their race-based ideology is much closer to Naziism.

Communism=history is driven by economic class within the means of production;
Fascism=history is driven by nations;
Naziism=history is driven by race.

Antifa in its current form, and the people running BLM, are clearly driven by race and care not a bit for economic class and despise the nation. They are not communists or fascists, and differ from Nazis mainly in which races they favor or disfavor. The anti-Semitism they display and then take pains to deny and cover up, is not a coincidence.

Lee Moore said...

This, from about the 5:00 minute mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwsYWF7TXI

is quite a good explanation for why she was the only one.

Kirk Parker said...

"These Libs are going to be shocked when Trump wins 40 states."

Should that really come to pass, those 40 should start proceedings toward expelling the other 10. (Yes, an amendment at a convention called by the states could do that.) And I say this as someone who would have to move to remain in the US afterward...

Kirk Parker said...

Roughcoat @ 5:43pm,

"One of my recurring nightmares is that I die and my wife sells all my firearms for what I told her I paid for them."

(Substitute "cars", "tools", "sound equipment", "guitars", etc as appropriate.)

Anonymous said...

I hear men talking about consultation with their wives about family protection. Everything in a husband's life should be talked over with wives. Lord have mercy. Except one thing. Family protection. That's on you, boys. We've had it soft and comfortable for a time, now.+

Women can't see what's coming. They want to talk it out.

Men, when it comes down, your wife is going to look at you to protect her. Can you do that? It's...kinda your job.