At least a dozen of Occupy Kalispell’s hardy advocates for reducing income inequality maintain their good natured vigil near Depot Park Saturday, cold and clouds notwithstanding.
There were two new developments, one good, one bad.
The good? Solidarity with organized labor. You can see clearly the pro-union sign in the photograph below.
The bad? The Guy Fawkes mask on the fellow holding the yellow sign.
He’s within his rights — wearing a mask and protesting anonymously is legal and has a long history. But it’s not reputable. Sometimes masks are worn in self-protection, to foil rogue police surveillance. But usually they’re worn to avoid prosecution for certain kinds of unpleasantness, such as sticking-up liquor stores. The activities of the Klu Klux Klan, the window smashing depredations of anarchists, are other prime examples of wearing masks to escape being held accountable for one’ conduct. The former favor pointy headed hoods made of bedsheets, the latter favor plastic masks of a smirking Guy Fawkes, a terrorist who was hanged 500 years ago.
Fawkes was part of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament (he was caught guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder in the House of Lords). That was state-of-the-art weaponry for that era. Were he plotting to demolish Parliament today, he doubtless would employ jumbo jets and suicide pilots or an atomic bomb, and just might dust the premises with anthrax for good measure. Does that modus operandi remind you of another terrorist?
Now, I think this guy just has a chip on his shoulder. He’s exulting in making people uncomfortable, and rationalizing his behavior as an object lesson in free speech. Rubbish. It’s bullyboy behavior, and it has no place in peaceful protest.