June 08, 2012
Union Square is a place where crazy people go to kick around a Hacky Sack and scream about war. On September 12th, 2001, protestors held up huge banners that said, “Justice Not Revenge.” Can you imagine people in Pearl Harbor doing that seventy years ago?
There is always someone trying to make a point at Union Square and I recently walked by a stand that had an old baby boomer couple holding signs that said “Liberate Palestine” and “Israel is Apartheid.” The stand behind them looked like something out of a high-school science fair and had maps of Israel with various borders drawn out in fluorescent marker. Despite their age, the boomers were frothing at the mouth and accosting anyone who walked by. When a biker couple ignored them, the hippies accused them of abetting Palestinian genocide with their apathy. This made the bikers so angry one of them spat at the hippies. While the saliva was still in midair, the anti-police-state warriors began screaming PO-LEEEECE!
Within seconds, a mob surrounded the scene and prevented anyone from leaving, including me. They weren”t sure what happened but they knew paperwork had to be filled out and nobody could leave until permitted to do so by the state. I tried to speak some sense into them all, but they turned their head up and away like I was a prisoner in another country pleading with a guard who didn”t understand English. When I realized this scene perfectly sums up everything that’s wrong with my town, I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures.
The PO-LEEEECE! chant continued as the mob thickened and the bikers tried to escape. What was a gentle retaliation was now a potential assault charge and the situation was getting desperate. Everyone was confused and the only thing they knew for certain was that we all had to stay here and keep together until the police told us what to do.
Look at that old hippie’s face. Could he look any more like a baby? And look at the biker chick trying to kill him. Could she possibly be angrier? This picture not only represents what’s wrong with today’s New York, it represents what’s wrong with America. You can either be an old baby who cries for his nanny every time he’s in trouble or you can be the biker who kicks his ass.
New Yorkers pay such incredibly high taxes because it’s filled with more babies than bikers. It’s also why Bloomberg is able to tell us how many soda pops we can drink, how much salt we need, and what type of unsaturated fats we must avoid. Nanny states only work in states filled with babies.
