Here are some of the photos I took during the NATO protests in Chicago. One of the things that really interested me was the media’s focus on a subset of the protesters: people who looked out of the mainstream, or who seemed threatening. For example, I watched the guy in clown make up, Casper, get interviewed by no less than four media outlets, both print and TV. The nice old lady protester, Nan, on the other hand was interviewed by public radio and some journalism students.
You would expect that Casper really must have had something important to say, but he was just some young kid, who rightly has realized that the game is rigged. He was there because opportunities once available to him and his friends have all but disappeared. He has also spent much of his life watching his country be engaged in a perpetual state of war. He wanted to speak out, to do SOMETHING. He was all heart, but frankly lacked the life experience necessary to inform ‘outsiders’ about his cause, or even the reason for his makeup.
After Listening to Nan’s interview with the journalism students, I sat down and talked with her for a while. I was captivated. Her presence alone was inspiring, but even more amazing was the fact that she traveled from Oregon to take part in the protests. She spoke to anyone who approached her and was able to describe in very simple terms why everyone (making less than 300k per year) would be foolish not to participate in this movement. I was honored to have met her and truly inspired by her commitment. It is a sad commentary on the state of the press that such an inspirational figure isn’t newsworthy.
