Civil Disobedience is Always Unfashionable

When in 1849, Henry David Thoreau published his landmark essay on Civil Disobedience, he could hardly have envisioned a tiny set-to on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. And what would the man who wrote, "I heartily accept the motto - That government is best which governs least," have made of governments spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars for Greco-Roman competitions and revelry?

I wasn't there the other morning when various protesters interrupted the launching of the Olympic Clock, so I'll have to take everyone's word for it, that some got out of hand and downright unruly. Various of these frightening hooligans - for this is the designation given them by the press - have now been charged with mischief. (Imagine the real list of offenders who should be charged with "mischief": Sam Sullivan, Henry Kissinger, Montel.)

What is so unsettling is how quickly the press has rushed to condemn the few who have opposed the Games and how quick the press has been to enumerate the many marvels of compassion for the poor and homeless emanating from Victoria and City Hall.

I am a life long Contrarian. There is little in the majority opinion that has ever appealed to me, and much that offends.

So I am almost always delighted to see a healthy minority opposition to the Myth of the Day. Of course, rocks and pushing and storming the barricades are unnecessary and inappropriate and counter-productive in a milieu as sleepy and disconnected from the human heart as Vancouver, Canada.

Nevertheless, you have to wonder why the police and the press react so swiftly and so over-the-top themselves to what is a necessary and essential part of the democratic soup - small voices shouting loudly against the pleasant bleeting and mooing of the herd.