Thanks to the indomitable Chris Higgs for passing along this news link:
http://asheville.indymedia.org/article/107Clowns
Given this town’s love for subversive humor (cf. Doo Dah parade), this story will undoubtedly find some supportive listeners. Will someone PLEASE write about dark humor and the rhetorical strategies of these avant-garde-esque responses to entrenched ideologies? Is their unusualness their effectiveness? How is it that laughter and dalliance can challenge hate groups? Are demonstrations like these fundamentally different than the satire we’ve become accustomed to (like the Daily Show)?
I should also point out (for those of you who read the article linked above), that the chant “Who’s street? OUR street!” is most likely taken from the Reclaim the Streets movements that happened in the late ’90s. Viewed as rhetorical occasions, these events are fascinating: mobs of people are covertly alerted to a gathering at a specific time and a specific place, where they “flash” on the scene and basically throw a party in the streets. The trick? Pavement is ripped up and trees planted in the middle of the road (while others provide cover). Talk about rhetorical strategy! These events (in my own opinion) were the precursor to “Flash Mobs” which earned notoriety a few years ago.
Alright . . . enough from the kid who is looking to make a dissertation out of the rhetoric of social movements . . .