Comments on: Three Lessons from the Twin Cities’ Response to the RNC Unrest

By: pfhyper

pfhyper — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:14:02 +0000

Excellent write-up, Erica.

What I wonder is what if the police and sheriffs had initiated some dialog prior to the RNC and with the peace groups that would be legally marching and with those who wanted to be peace marshals? I think it would have helped and maybe the police would have backed off. I think the majority had a goal for peaceful protests and would have helped in reining in any violence and then alerting the police if calm deliberation failed.

By: Erica M

Erica M — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:41:40 +0000

This convention seems like it was a major success at only one thing, being a lose-lose proposition for everyone that lives and works in Saint Paul.

True dat.

I keep seeing pictures of empty bars and restaurants. Did any downtown establishment actually see a bump from this?

By: David

David — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:27:21 +0000

Great work putting this together. Now, what I wonder about is the slow burning aftermath.

Many of the trouble makers on both sides of the legal line will be leaving the state. What’s left behind?

A bunch of locals that may be more afraid of the police than ever and a group of police with PTSD that may be more likely to turn violent without provocation.

This convention seems like it was a major success at only one thing, being a lose-lose proposition for everyone that lives and works in Saint Paul.

By: east-lake.net · Three Lessons

east-lake.net · Three Lessons — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:50:05 +0000

[...] Three Lessons from the Twin Cities’ Response to the RNC Unrest | Minneapolis Metblogs: Watching the last few days of unrest in the Twin Cities surrounding the Republican National Convention unfold, a few things have made themselves evident to me in a way that I’d heard of and thought a little about but never personally witnessed before. 1. Law enforcement may be hurting more than they are helping. 2. Our local independent media’s coverage has been a good complement to the traditional media’s coverage. 3. Volunteer opportunities abound. [...]

By: moe

moe — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:47:25 +0000

Excellent write-up Erica, and great point Ang. It seemed like every riot downtown was half rioters, and half media/bloggers/photographers. Sure it’s nice to have it documented, but they certainly didn’t help the situation.

I also noticed that while Twitter was a great place to get info on what was happening, so much of it just wasn’t true. I had a hard time following certain people that would claim apocalypse, when nothing really happened.

I’m just glad it’s over.

By: Erica M

Erica M — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:08:10 +0000

That’s a good point, Ang.

One thing that frustrates me is that the attention-seeking worst of them don’t seem to have an actual message beyond "you guys suck!" If your goal is to get on tv, you ought to be able to articulate what your beef is to the camera. Instead it’s just evidence for your trial.

By: Ang

Ang — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:59:47 +0000

I think it’s a valid argument that the police presence is provoking some of the violence, but I don’t think it ends there, either. As valuable as the media has been in this whole thing, I think their presence is also part of it.

From a handful of quotes I’ve read in articles and heard in videos, there is a lot of concern from these hooligans that their actions are being written about by journalists. I don’t remember where I read it but one of them was asked, "Why are you doing this?" and the response was, "Well, you’re writing about it, right?" Would they have acted a lot less idiotically if nobody was paying attention? Who knows. Some people are stupid for the sake of being stupid.