The Undisruptive Protest

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD

I had a wonderful experience this morning (October 10). Iowans for Life was hosting a prayer rally in the rotunda of the state capitol building and I was asked to deliver one of the prayers, along with a local monsignor, two Protestant ministers, and our new bishop, William Joensen.
However, having just returned from a Marian conference in New York with a head cold and ears that still had not readjusted to Mother Earth (sorry, that was from the synod), it was difficult for me to clearly hear some of what was being said. As a result my eyes wandered around the room and there I spotted them.
There were three protesters standing on one side of our space holding signs that I assume had pro-abortion messages. It was hard to tell about two of them — their signs made reference to kids in cages and the failure of foster care, both of which are, apparently, the fault of the pro-life movement. The third sign said, “My body, my choice,” which speaks for itself.
What impressed me about the protesters was that they stood off to the side and just quietly held their signs, almost in a respectful manner. Although I don’t think they thought of themselves as being respectful, to me, after reviewing all the negative voices going at each other in today’s public discourse, I was impressed that there was no shouting or any attempt at disruption.
To me that was wonderful. In fact, when I was introduced I actually thought about noting their respectful demeanor and thanking them, but then I thought better. I might unintentionally provoke a response and besides, my new bishop was there and I wanted to be on my best behavior; best to just read the prayer, sit down, and take another Halls.
Afterward I got to thinking about those protesters and how different they were from others I’ve seen and written about. They made their point without confrontation and I wondered how our society had devolved to the point where this kind of action is a rarity and that an almost violent “us against them” mentality has taken control of our social dialogue.
Case in point: Left-wing comedian Ellen DeGeneres was photographed at a football game with former President George W. Bush. When DeGeneres posted the photo online, the Twitter world exploded. DeGeneres was pilloried by the Hollywood liberal establishment for being friendly to Mr. Bush.
In reply to the backlash, DeGeneres, who preaches kindness, said on her television show: “I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. Just because I don’t agree with someone on everything doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them. When I say, ‘Be kind to one another,’ I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean, ‘Be kind to everyone, it doesn’t matter’.”
Well it didn’t take long for the Twitter following to take sides. One of Hollywood’s royalties complimented DeGeneres, “Thank you for this important reminder,” then deleted the post after the actress got backlash for that tweet.
And the tweets kept coming. Someone who is apparently famous, an entity named Mark Ruffalo, tweeted, “Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War (including American-lead [sic] torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scars — emotional & otherwise — inflicted on our military that served his folly), we can’t even begin to talk about kindness.” And the vindictive remarks kept rolling in, on and on ad nauseam.
And we’re supposed to be civilized. Yet we are becoming a people who seemingly cannot be friends with those who hold views with which they disagree. The holidays are coming up shortly and I know a number of people who dread meeting their relatives and families for Thanksgiving and Christmas because they have different political views and can’t hold civil conversations with them to talk about anything, much less their differences.
I’m positive that’s why God gave us football, so that at least for Thanksgiving we can enjoy each other’s company without having to talk. Anyway, we can see how this has been taken to the extreme in so many ways. And it’s not just limited to contemporary activities.
The latest variant of this is practiced by Twitter Trolls who rummage through the online postings of those they might disagree with. Even posts from many years ago are now enough for some to use to try to smear those they disfavor or they are suspicious of, such as those eight-year-old posts made by a 16-year-old high school sophomore, now a 24 year old who had the gall to hold up a gag sign at a football rally that resulted in a $3 million windfall for an Iowa children’s hospital.
And these tactics can be dangerous. Recently a rooky police officer in the City of Tulsa was fired after only days on the job when a political activist found four-year-old Internet posts made by the targeted officer. In January of this year, Wayne Brown was hired as a police officer and began a 28-week stint training at the police academy. During the hiring process and the academy training, there was nothing found in his background that would disqualify him from serving in blue.
He completed his academy training and began working as a police officer on August 2, 2019. On September 4 he was fired from the job that he had dreamed of having. The reason: old online posts uncovered by a Marq Lewis, a local activist working for the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Oklahoma (CARE-OK), which were turned over to the police chief with a complaint. Within an hour and a quarter after receiving the complaint, Brown, who had already passed law enforcement vetting, was summarily fired.
What was so egregious about the posts? The three identified by Lewis were a pre-presidential photo of Donald Trump, wearing a police uniform, riding a lion, with a Confederate flag in the background; a second showed a star-spangled fist with the pledge not to convert to Islam; and the third displayed an image created by American war hero and sniper, Chris Kyle, with an American flag and a thin blue line, an image associated with the Blue Lives Matter movement.
The first two images were posted in 2015 and the third in 2016. Naturally there is a federal lawsuit for wrongful termination pending.
It is hard to tell if there were reasons for Brown’s firing besides trying to placate a local activist community or not; just as it is hard to tell if Ms. Hollywood Royalty’s post in support of Ellen DeGeneres was taken down over pressure or not.
The problem, however, is clear: In today’s climate, people will use whatever they can to destroy those they perceive as enemies. That has to stop and those fomenting it or cowering from it (a firing less than 90 minutes after a complaint provides no opportunity to defend oneself) must be called out, regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from.
I don’t know if the silent protesters in today’s prayer campaign considered us enemies who needed to be destroyed or not. I’m just glad they were respectively undisruptive. My prayer is that it spreads.
You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com.