Downtown merchant and blogger Duncan McGeary compared Wednesay’s Tax Day Tea Party with Saturday’s Earth Day Procession of the Species and decided the latter came up short.
“What if they gave a parade and nobody came?” he asks.
“They just did.”
“You know those fainting goats? We just had a fainting goat of a parade. It went by so fast, I didn’t notice. I look out the window and see a vast sea of empty parking spots – and no people.”
“I suppose everyone who liked the parade, was IN the parade.”
“Heh.”
In an afternote, McGeary threw in another sneer: “Score: Angry right-wingers, 10. Lefty Species lovers, 2.”
The Eye has to wonder whether Dunc actually ventured out of his shop on Saturday to see what was going on or just poked his head out the window for a few seconds.
We went to both the Tax Day Tea Party and the Earth Day event. The tea party (as we reported the following day) drew a good-sized and energized crowd, but there were at least as many people milling around Troy Field on Saturday as there had been on Wednesday afternoon.
The Earth Day thing, of course, didn’t have the benefit of a non-stop advance buildup by Fox News and its army of conservative pundits, or the money and organizational clout of well-funded right-wing organizations like Americans for Prosperity. And the tea party no doubt drew participants from all over Eastern Oregon, while the Earth Day event most likely attracted only people from Bend and points nearby.
We know Dunc hates any event that results in the closing of downtown streets, and that might have colored his perceptions, just as our political bias might color ours. But taking all the factors into account, we still think the Earth Day festivities weren’t the flop McGeary made them out to be.
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2009.
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Sneer?
I hope not. Just what I saw, HBM. Seemed pretty quiet to me. But you’re right, I was in my shop, so maybe I missed something.
By the way, I’d much rather have a big turnout for Earth lovers….
The crowd on the streets was small, but about what I’ve seen for other Earth Day parades, maybe a little lighter. There may well have been more people in the parade than watching it. I guess my point was that if you compared the crowd at Troy Field on Saturday (which combined parade marchers and parade spectators) with the one Wednesday, the crowd Saturday was at least as big, if not bigger. So I couldn’t agree with “Angry right-wingers 10, leftie earth-lovers 2.”
Having said that, we’re probably the only two people in town who give a damn about this question. :^ )
Dude, that’s why we’re writers. Everyone else has more important things to do…
Oh, and the Tea Baggers were magnitudes more noisy…
dunc like to stay behind his counter. does not find downtown events very interesting. ask him last time he’s ventured anywhere else beside path between his car and his shop at opening and closing time. low curiosity. thats okay, not necessary to have an opinion about things or blog. but low information provides undependable results.
Since when do you have to be considered a right winger if you don’t like the way our tax dollars are collected and spent? I like the idea of saving the earth and protecting our health and environment. Does that make me a left wing democratic pot smoking hippie?
I think its time we come together as a people. Who is wasting our money through taxation? Who are the main polluters of the world? Who is causing wars? Who isn’t helping the poor countries of the world?
ANSWER: YOUR 2 PARTY CROOKED GOVERNMENT
I went to the tea party, there was a mix of young and old, long hair and short hair, farmers, ranchers, construction workers and white collars side by side for one cause.
I find the coverage of such events by The Source, Fox News, The Oblivious to reality local Rag Paper in Bend,CNN and on and on always divisive trying to put a label on people being unhappy with the Governments agendas and overall performance whether is environmental or unfair taxation.
Isn’t it the papers job and the different TV organizations job to report on facts that happen in the course of a day or week? Since when do you have the right to classify me into you own niche or what people believe in general. The is prejudice on the part of the media.
I believe the powers to be like us to fight over stupid crap. A divided people are not very strong to see what the real issues in our society are.For example do you know that our whole monetary system in the USA and Europe is in the hands of just a few Ultra wealthy family’s? Do you realize the Federal Reserve is not Federal at all? Its a Delaware corporation which has never had an audit since its inception in 1917. The “FED” and the IRS ARE BOTH ILLEGAL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL. These wealthy people who control the central bank of the USA and Europe dictate to our leaders what will and wont happen in our government.
With all of this said… Mr Miller go back to promoting your left wing go no where agenda.. and the right wing can continue with the rhetoric of stupidity they spew but in the end you are all missing the real point. You are slaves to a system.. gerbils on a wheel. The ultra wealthy hold all the cards in the world because you are sheep and they are your master.
People… stop being far right, stop being far left. Meet in the middle and become a stronger people not sheeple.
Dunc says: “But you’re right, I was in my shop, so maybe I missed something.”
I think that pretty much says it all right there. If you won’t get outside of comic world, you shouldn’t comment on anything but comic world.
El Guapo: It’s tough for Dunc to leave his shop because he has nobody else to mind the store.
Tea Party was for everyone.The accusations of it being a right wing show or in competition with fellow Americans of a certain political callings are non truths presented by pro government zombies not wanting you to know the truth.
Duncan might have not seen many people because the parade doesn’t go down Minesota. Is this a gripe that the parade doesn’t do a figure 8. For the record this was the largest Procession according to event organizers.