Comments on: Coverage of the Coach Williams rally http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coach-williams-rally/ "When things speed up hierarchy disappears and global theater sets in." --Marshall McLuhan Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:46:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Adam (Southern California)http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coach-williams-rally/comment-page-1/#comment-444 Adam (Southern California) Sat, 11 Mar 2006 07:31:49 +0000 http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coverage-of-the-coach-williams-rally/#comment-444 When Jen and I visited Vancouver, where there are both a lot of Asians and a lot of white people, we could walk around together in the streets and pretend to be Canadian, and no one was the wiser. I kept my ears peeled for word of a Canuck invasion of the U.S.A., but they kept pretty tight-lipped about that sort of thing. Nobody walked up to us and offered any back bacon or ketchup-flavoured potato chips or anything like that. We look forward to going to Hawaii, where there are also many Asians and many white people, and trying to pass as Hawaiian. Maybe we could get matching muu-muus. When Jen and I visited Vancouver, where there are both a lot of Asians and a lot of white people, we could walk around together in the streets and pretend to be Canadian, and no one was the wiser. I kept my ears peeled for word of a Canuck invasion of the U.S.A., but they kept pretty tight-lipped about that sort of thing. Nobody walked up to us and offered any back bacon or ketchup-flavoured potato chips or anything like that.

We look forward to going to Hawaii, where there are also many Asians and many white people, and trying to pass as Hawaiian. Maybe we could get matching muu-muus.

]]> By: Mike (Worcester)http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coach-williams-rally/comment-page-1/#comment-442 Mike (Worcester) Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:52:12 +0000 http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coverage-of-the-coach-williams-rally/#comment-442 This "Black Like Me" stuff is interesting, I think. The closest I've come is on my hikes, when I often entered a small town tired, filthy, bearded, disoriented, and on foot. If I was able to convince someone I was doing a mega-hike, I was welcomed with open arms, but until then I got a sense of how a homeless bum is treated. This “Black Like Me” stuff is interesting, I think.

The closest I’ve come is on my hikes, when I often entered a small town tired, filthy, bearded, disoriented, and on foot. If I was able to convince someone I was doing a mega-hike, I was welcomed with open arms, but until then I got a sense of how a homeless bum is treated.

]]> By: Adam (Southern California)http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coach-williams-rally/comment-page-1/#comment-440 Adam (Southern California) Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:29:56 +0000 http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coverage-of-the-coach-williams-rally/#comment-440 Did you watch that show on FX called "Black. White." that premiered last night? It's a fairly interesting idea for an experiment--- Hollywood makeup artists turn a black family white and a white family black, but it's hurt by the standard TV search for staged controversy and jumping to conclusions over more thoughtful consideration of the issues. The white man who's being turned black seems particularly creepy, like he's gone into the experiment to prove that racism doesn't exist. I must say that some of the scenes with the black guy in whiteface reminded me of that old Eddie Murphy bit on SNL where he went undercover as a white guy, walked into a bank, and they just handed him a briefcase full of money. Did you watch that show on FX called “Black. White.” that premiered last night? It’s a fairly interesting idea for an experiment— Hollywood makeup artists turn a black family white and a white family black, but it’s hurt by the standard TV search for staged controversy and jumping to conclusions over more thoughtful consideration of the issues. The white man who’s being turned black seems particularly creepy, like he’s gone into the experiment to prove that racism doesn’t exist.

I must say that some of the scenes with the black guy in whiteface reminded me of that old Eddie Murphy bit on SNL where he went undercover as a white guy, walked into a bank, and they just handed him a briefcase full of money.

]]> By: Mike (Worcester)http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coach-williams-rally/comment-page-1/#comment-439 Mike (Worcester) Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:32:53 +0000 http://www.PieAndCoffee.org/2006/03/09/coverage-of-the-coach-williams-rally/#comment-439 I can count 65 heads in the T&G photo. The people milling around near the demo were also part of the demo, not just bystanders. I can count almost 90 heads in the color version of the photo on the T&G's website. At the demonstration, I counted exactly 80 people at one point early on. I think it peaked at about 100. The event was well over an hour long, and people came and went. The <a href="http://worcester.indymedia.org" rel="nofollow">Indymedia article</a> (not written by me) described 150 people being there, and that sounds reasonable as an aggregate figure. The on-line photo is clear enough that the speaker can be identified, and in the <em>T&G's</em> defense, I don't think this was taken "early on." I <em>do</em> think that there were demonstrators milling around to the left of the main group who are not in the photo. I was rather glad that they didn't estimate the crowd size. The <em>Telegram</em> often gets crowd sizes wrong, because they guess without taking the time to actually count. Few people are good at guessing crowd sizes. You gotta take the time to count heads. I can count 65 heads in the T&G photo. The people milling around near the demo were also part of the demo, not just bystanders. I can count almost 90 heads in the color version of the photo on the T&G’s website.

At the demonstration, I counted exactly 80 people at one point early on. I think it peaked at about 100. The event was well over an hour long, and people came and went. The Indymedia article (not written by me) described 150 people being there, and that sounds reasonable as an aggregate figure.

The on-line photo is clear enough that the speaker can be identified, and in the T&G’s defense, I don’t think this was taken “early on.” I do think that there were demonstrators milling around to the left of the main group who are not in the photo.

I was rather glad that they didn’t estimate the crowd size. The Telegram often gets crowd sizes wrong, because they guess without taking the time to actually count. Few people are good at guessing crowd sizes. You gotta take the time to count heads.

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