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LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Article Excerpt
Byline: The Register-Guard

Staged protest? So what?

I was disappointed by the glib tone of the article about the Nov. 18 anti-war protest at local military recruiting stations (Register-Guard, Nov. 19). The reporter likened the direct action to a theatrical performance with "the demonstrators, police and media all actors faithfully playing their roles."

She divided the article into acts with an epilogue, a literary device that implied that the acts of civil disobedience were less significant - that participants were play-acting - simply because they carefully planned their action and message and informed the media and police beforehand.

Remember the Boston Tea Party? It was no accident that in 1773 protesters disguised as Native Americans showed up at the same time to board British merchant ships and dump tea into Boston Harbor. That protest was staged in order to convey a message to Parliament: "No taxation without representation."

Know why we remember that message today? Because our nation's founding protesters stuck to their script. Collective action rarely works unless it is planned and participants stay on message. In the information age, the general public and elected decision-makers won't find out that a protest has occurred unless it is covered by the media. The media don't cover civil disobedience unless organizers promise that there will be some sort of conflict and good visuals that will make for interesting TV footage and newspaper photographs.

So the Nov. 18 protests were staged. So what? I say...