Methinks The Protesters Do Protest too Much

It is not often that I disagree with Blake (William, not Hector Toe) but his adage, "If a fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise" fails when certain types of 'protesters' come under consideration. This thought surfaced when I was considering Sir Harry's request to 'keep an eye on' the British delegation' at the upcoming meetings of the G8 and G20 in Ontario. I agreed, but made the point that these meetings were almost impossible to control.

"Rubbish," replied Sir Harry. "You manage quite effectively to rein in Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives when required. Good God, woman, you nailed Osama bin Laden. What's so difficult about coping with operatives from some rather silly fringe groups?"

I explained that those concerned were not operatives in the sense mentioned, but rather deeply disturbed individuals who were incapable of learning from past experience. Many were scuttling along the edge of insanity, in that one definition of insane behaviour is repeating and repeating actions that continue to fail. (Hence my problem with the Blake quote.)

There were, of course, legitimate, non-violent groups who were rightly concerned that world finances were in a mess, wanted action to correct this mess, and were going to make that point vigorously and very, very loudly. Others were concerned about global warming, and thought that this should be more on the agenda than it was. Again, no problem, and if that's all the protests were about, all would be fine, with the added bonus that because the protest actions were handled with a certain amount of civility, they just might result in success.

But that's not what's likely to occur. Not by a long shot. Instead, various individuals will use the occasion to disrupt proceedings as violently as possible. These are people with "Causes", involving a host of concerns that have nothing whatsoever to do with the G20 discussions. (And many of these groups have been infiltrated by thugs, pure and simple.) Some slogans illustrate the 'causes':

"More hostels for the homeless!" (The homeless hate hostels, but the do-gooders are not into end-user surveys.)

"Troops into (______) now!" (Insert whatever country, state or area a recent immigrant sees as needing regime change.)

"Troops out of (_______) now! See above.

"God is watching!" (Perhaps, but He doesn't seem to do much else.)

"Save the (_______)! Insert favourite fish, bird, insect, flower or whatever.)

Well, you get my drift, and my concern expressed to Sir Harry stands. You cannot predict the behaviour of this lot with any degree of accuracy. All you can do is expect the unexpected, hope that those really over the top are few in number, and adopt a first class sniping position.

Sad, really. All these groups want something done for them, but are unwilling to do anything themselves. They have forgotten an often-stated but still valid truth: "IF IT'S TO BE, IT'S UP TO ME."

Here endeth the lesson.