Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Giving Up The Pretense

I got an e-mail from Tea Party Patriots.

Many have asked about the news that there may be "infiltrators" at tea parties around the nation. A website (crashtheteaparty.org) was recently set up. The creator, though he tried to hide his identity, has been outed; his name is Jason Levin, and he's a middle school teacher in Beaverton, Oregon. He's on record saying that you might see some of his team in Nazi uniforms at your local tea party pretending to be racists and other offensive characters. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy doesn't it? And one has to ask the question; if tea partiers are racist, anti-Semitic homophobes, and it's so obvious, why does he need to plant people who pretend to be those things at your tea parties?
Good question. The Patriots suggest you be prepared.
1. Be prepared. Make sure your security team knows about the potential for disturbance, and your procedures for dealing with any issues. If you have law enforcement at your event, let them know about the potential threats in advance. Most are happy to remove people who intend to disturb your event.
I must say it is nice to be on the side of law and order from time to time. Keeps me from feeling so all alone.
a. Have a plan. We suggest that you handle every incident in a predetermined manner. Your preparation will allow you to handle any incident in a calm and reasoned manner.
I take slight exception to this. Don't have one plan. Have twenty. Or a hundred. Then mix and match them according to circumstances. Avoid being too predictable. And don't do anything you don't want to show up on nightly news. The world is watching. The Patriots suggest calm and video. I second that motion.
iii. Partner up. If you are going to deal with one of these situations, always have at least one other person with you. It's imperative that any situation not be your word against someone else's. Have a witness and a helper with you at all times.
I suggest 3 person teams. What is the third person for? Video. So we have a 3 person team. A confronter. A runner who should know where to go or who to call for help. (Keep those cell phones charged and handy). And finally a camera operator.
c. Don't worry...be happy. If you weren't so good at what you are doing, and so successful at influencing the debate in this country, people wouldn't feel compelled to try to shoot you down using sleazy tactics. You are dominating the political playing field, and doing so by being honest, operating with integrity and staying within the law. Be proud of what you are accomplishing, and enjoy your day.
And don't forget to buy some buttons. Reminds me of my hippie days but with different slogans. I do miss the incense.

And in case you missed it Andrew Breitbart discusses how to do confrontation. The short version? Just ask questions.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

And DON'T FORGET to bring the most important parts of any Tea Partier's Kit:

- Handguns (minimum two, FN5.7 preferred or Glock 20 with jacketed hollow-points)

- Assault Rifle (minimum of two 30 round clips, preferably armor piercing, frangible, or incendiary rounds)

See all you fellow Patriots™ at the rally!

Neil said...

It seems to me that sending agents provocateurs to these rallies on a large scale is a strategic error on the part of the Democrat party.

They were doing just fine ginning up media reports of racial slurs and violence at Tea Party events. Whether they were true or not, they fit a media template for the Tea Party story and got widely reported. By not-so-secretly sending people to create racist incidents, the Democrats have accomplished two things:

1) Now, any racist signs seen at Tea Party events can be blamed on sabotage, regardless of who really holds them. They've changed the dominant storyline from whether or not the Tea Partiers are racist fascists to the underhanded tactics being used against them by the Democrat party.

2) Now everybody going to one of these events knows not to do stupid stuff like this. It's now a fun game to avoid racist or homophobic statements, all part of beating the Democrats.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. What's the phrase? "Evil will oft evil mars."

Unknown said...

It's fun to see this movement growing up. I've watched leftist demos erupt into violence due to provocateurs (as the organizers of course abhor violence and were only planning for a thousand-masked-people -strong show of solidarity) - and now the tea-parties also needs to fear these saboteurs that will put the movement in a bad light if they are allowed to run riot.

I agree with Neil, the use of 'provocateurs' will only muddle the picture and help excuse the acts of the unwanted participants.

I also partially agree with 99, but I see the need for the participants to go armed to apply more to leftist demos. Violent provocateurs and infiltrators would not be a problem if a number of the legitimate participants were willing to protect not only their own security, but also the security and property-rights of the community they are protesting in with force. I'd love to see some of the masked provocateurs and violence-mongers at a WTO-demo shot by the legitimate and peaceful protesters.

-S

Anonymous said...

A Tea Party Patriot™ says:

I GOT MINE...SO F*@K THE REST OF YA'LL!

Neil said...

Gee 99%, last time I actually heard somebody say that it was a tenured civil servant taking retirement pay at 100% of final salary.

Neil said...

Just for the record, I wasn't complaining, just passing the quote along. As for your 30% number, it may have been true in 1960, but now that number is more like 120% if you count the benefits. That's why civil servants refer to their pay and benefits + lousy job as the "golden handcuffs".

But I wouldn't expect reality to make any dent in your callous self-regard.

Anonymous said...

Are you kidding me Neal? 120%? What color is the sky in your world?

Try being a public school physics, chemistry, or math teacher making $27K a year a starting salary.

Since you're clearly out of touch with reality, you might want to examine a district contract some time and realize that they top out at a fixed level around $60K/yr. That same BS Physics degree will bring $70K starting salary in the private sector. And if the benefits and pensions are so great, why is no one entering these "highly coveted" jobs?

Neil said...

Temper, temper, 99%.

I said "civil servant", not "teacher". You won't find me claiming that teachers are overpaid. The public school system has many problems, but lavish pay scales are not one of them.

Actually, I don't think that good pensions are necessarily a problem in the civil service, either. I don't want them to be tempted by bribery. It's clear we have more civil servants than we can afford, but that's different.

But really, it just struck my funny bone that the only time I've ever actually heard somebody profess the attitude you project on Tea Partiers, was from a government employee.