Just Because We're In A Cage Doesn't Mean We Aren't Free

I recently read with interest a story in the Rocky Mountain News that said that Denver law enforcement had done such a good job of policing the Democratic National Convention, that their approach would now be a guide and model for all future conventions.  Before we light our cigars and pat ourselves on the back, however, I think it is important that we hear the other side of the story.  This is my take on the new Denver model.

As I was covering police and protesters for KGNU last week, five questions kept coming to my mind.  By Tuesday night my answers to these questions led me to believe that Denver had developed a new model for policing large political conventions, gatherings and protests, and that this new model was indeed very successful.  Unfortunately, completely and totally successful.  Here are my five questions:

First, why did police keep such a large presence in Denver when it became clear by Sunday night that the number of protesters was vastly smaller than predicted?  The answer is that Denver's strategy was never proportional response, but shock and awe.  From the first day of the convention, Denver presented an overwhelming force of riot police, police on horseback, bike, and foot, as well as an awesome array of police cars, busses for mass arrests, swat tanks, and large SUV's to transport officers.  The clear intention was to show all weapons and forces in overwhelming numbers, sending the message to protester and populace that if anybody gets out of line, they will be crushed.  De-escalating forces to match the number of protesters would have short-circuited this plan of shock and awe.  All forces and weapons would be shown from beginning to end, no matter the number of protesters.  Shock and awe is the first pillar of the new Denver model.

Second, why were even small protest demonstrations surrounded by such large numbers of riot police?  Answer: The Denver model calls for constant intimidation of any group of protesters.  Here are two examples.  On Monday afternoon, in a playful and symbolic protest, about sixty protesters tried to magically levitate the Denver Mint, shaking out money for the poor.  Even though the Mint has heavily fortified walls, with a surrounding fence of sharp black spikes, well over a hundred riot police and police on horses completely surrounded this small protest.  Why so many?  Because police strategy was not to control this gathering, but to intimidate it.  Second example: On Wednesday afternoon a small protest began in Skyline park, which is actually two small plots of grass on both sides of the 16th street mall.  One person pounded a drum, while about fifty others clapped.  In the thirty seconds it took this tiny protest to cross the mall from one plot of grass to the other, at least sixty riot police, with many more on horse and bike, completely surrounded this hand clapping demonstration.  Why so many?  Because police strategy was not to control, but to thoroughly intimidate any demonstration, no matter how small.  Constant intimidation is the second pillar of the new Denver model.

Third question: why were there so many arrests on Monday night of convention week?  Answer: the Denver model calls for preemptive arrests of anyone suspected of plotting mischief.  Everybody knew that some groups were planning to disrupt delegate gatherings on Monday night.  These groups advertised their plans on web sites and hand outs, and they were openly discussing their plans in Civic Center Park on Monday afternoon.  When everybody started putting on bandanas, you knew the plot was afoot.  But before they could do anything, the police strategically corralled many between 15th and 16th streets, and then arrested them.  Arrested them not for plotting anything, but for the fabricated charge of failure to obey a police order.  Now, I completely understand that police have to act on reliable intelligence, and it is their job to prevent acts of violence and disruption.  But is it ethical or legal to arrest everybody before they barely leave the park?  On a bogus charge?  But here is the real problem.  It was not just those corralled that were arrested.   Anyone wearing a bandana that night was rounded up and arrested, even if they were alone, far from Civic Center, and doing nothing illegal.  If you suspect there might be problems, then preemptively arrest and sort it out later.  This is the third pillar of the new Denver Model.

Here is my fourth question:  why were fences put up in Civic Center Park for the Taste of Colorado a day and half earlier than usual, and why were air conditioners in the Steele street detention center turned up full blast twenty-four hours a day?  Answer: the new Denver model calls for harassment, whenever possible, of any protesters.  The fences in Civic Center Park didn't have to go up early Wednesday morning.  They could have gone up at six p.m. Wednesday when the protester's permit expired.  They could have gone up on Thursday afternoon like they always did in the past.  But by putting the fences up far earlier than ever, the city and police were sending a clear message to the protesters that we don't like you, and we are just barely tolerating you.  This is harassment.  Why was the air conditioner kept on full blast at the detention center?  When the protesters found out about the center, they complained that if the warehouse had been too hot to store voting machines in, how could you think about putting voters there?  So the police and city said, "you want air conditioning? We'll show you air conditioning."  So they froze the place, kept detainees there longer than the promised four hours, and then refused to give anyone blankets.  This is nothing but harassment.  Harassment of protesters is, without any doubt, the fourth pillar of the new Denver model. 

Here is my final question: why was the free speech zone, or freedom cage, kept so far from the Pepsi Center, with a large media tent preventing any view of the convention, with no access to delegates and with no water or toilet facilities?  Answer: the new Denver model calls for isolating protesters and demonstrators far from the convention center and far from any delegates.  In my opinion there may never have been a convention in American history where dissent and protest had less access to the delegates and to the convention center than this convention in Denver.  The free speech area was an insulting and ridiculous joke.  Nobody went there.  Many people I talked to couldn't even find it.  Some called it the dead zone, or a free speech deprivation tank.  If you tried to get near the Pepsi Center somewhere else, you couldn't.  The security perimeter was so far from the convention that there was no hope of being heard by a delegate.  Protesters could demonstrate in Civic Center Park, but that is a good two miles from the Pepsi Center.  What happened inside the convention was absolutely insulated from what happened in the streets.  This is because isolation of protesters and demonstrations is the fifth pillar of the new Denver model.

Shock and awe, constant intimidation, preemptive arrests, harassment, and isolation.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new Denver model.

One last thought.  On Thursday afternoon I was in the freedom cage at Invesco Field, and the only people who showed up were the legalization of marijuana group.  By five o'clock only a handful of these youth were left, and they enjoyed the chance to safely curse out, for the only time in their lives, the two policemen who occasionally checked out the cage.  At one point about fifteen police officers on bikes rode into the cage, and they were promptly screamed at told to leave by the angry occupants.  "This is our cage," they joyfully shouted.  One young man yelled at the police, saying, "just because we're in a cage doesn't mean we aren't free."  Just because we're in a cage doesn't mean we aren't free.  What an amazing statement!  Was this young philosopher simply stating a fact?  Was he offering terms of surrender?  Or was he issuing a battle cry?  That is a really good question.  All I know is that for five days last week law enforcement completely locked down protest and dissent on the streets of Denver in an iron clad freedom cage.  

I just keep wondering, are we really free?

CoyoteJ

    

Ghostbusters

Coyote is seeing and hearing way too many ghosts.  Scary.

The ghost of Seattle, in this Coyote's opinion, haunts the streets of Denver.  For the police, the cry is, "Seattle, never again."  And to make sure Seattle never happens again, they have presented themselves in Denver with overwhelming force.  We won't be fooled again.

For the protesters, Seattle was the last great protest.  Their cry is, "remember the Space Needle."  So, they are trying to call up the ghost of Seattle in all that they do.  They are protesting the last protest.

Coyote believes it is time for both police and protesters to get past Seattle already.  Times change.  Seattle was almost ten years ago.  Lets creatively move forward.

Casper the friendly CoyoteJ  

How Low Can It Go?

It looked like a Civil War battlefield.  Coyote could see wounded everywhere, as the protesters were routed, demoralized, and driven from Civic Center Park.  Coyote will call this the battle of Civic Hope.

What happened?  As a few wounded protesters wandered into Civic Center this morning, injured last night in the battle of 15th and Court, spirits were clearly low.  But there was some music playing, a few speeches were given, and a Procession for the Future street puppet march was planned.  There were things to look forward to.  But at ten o'clock the battle of Civil Hope began.  Three or four angry fundamentalist preachers from street preachers.com began shouting awful things about God, women, homosexuals, and America.  A crowd began to form around them.  The hateful preachers eventually moved to another part of the park, but the crowds with them got bigger and bigger, draining almost all the energy from the protester's plans.  Police on foot and horse surrounded the crowds.  When pathological fundamentalists can conquer your energy and steal your agenda, and when the police are focusing on them and not you, the rout is on.

But it got worse.  Recreate 68 pleaded with the police to remove the preachers because R68 had an exclusive permit for the park at that time.  The police no would do.  And then, at the height of  crowd tension, the police rushed in, knocked several to the ground, and arrested Carlo of R68 and a woman from Code Pink.  Complete defeat.  The protesters were spiritually broken.  The battle of Civic Hope was over.  Yes, the parade went on with many beautiful puppets, but half the people in Civic Center were still watching the preachers when the parade left.  After last night's defeat at 15th and Court, it looks like lights out.

Wars are funny things.  The energy and momentum can change in an instant.  Maybe the protesters will rally, and finish the week with optimism and passion.  But as of one hour ago, their cause looks grim indeed.

CoyoteJ

Provocation (Expletive Warning)

Coyote has so much to say.  He will try to make it brief.

I knew things had changed when I saw a very disproportionate police response to the protester attempt to symbolically levitate the mint.  Then ten minutes later a lot more police than yesterday in Civic Center Park.  Then it all fell apart.  Coyote wonders, why?

Here is a theory.  In studying police and protesters this summer, Coyote learned that a new police approach was being formed, an approach designed to be less provocative than usual.  In this new police model, the first level of police presence was regular police being visible, no dogs, horses, bikes, or riot gear.  Away from this first level of presence would be a second level of bikes, batons, and dogs, but they would be kept back, and mostly out of view.  The third level would be police in riot gear, strategically placed throughout a city, ready to go in an instant, but out of sight until, and if, needed.  The whole idea would be for the police to be as laid back, and as minimally provocative, as possible.  Coyote saw much wisdom in that approach.

But the Denver police approach at this convention seems to be exactly the opposite.  The Denver model is show everything you have right from the start, make a strong show of force, make sure everyone sees the batons, dogs, bikes, and riot gear on day one, and, apparently, hope this show of force prevents any problems.  The problem with this model is that it is provocative.  This approach seems to be subtly, and not so subtly, saying, if you F with us, we will respond quickly and with overwhelming strength.  This doesn't lower tension.  It increases it.

What you fear comes upon you.  If you are worried, and you provocatively say don't F with us, then you are setting up a situation where people will F with you.  And you will F with them.  This is not deep psychology folks.  This is psych 101 stuff.  

Coyote wonders, why?  

CoyoteJ

Less Than Zero

Ladies and gentlemen, Coyote proudly gives you your Denver Convention protest area.  The police there are like Maytag repairmen, the lonliest people in town.  I thought it was bad before, but this is, well, nothing. Absolutely nothing.  It isn't awful, or brutal, or humiliating.  It is simply nothing.

Imagine poor old Coyote walking a half-mile from downtown in ninety degree heat, slithering sweatily through the Auraria campus, excited to finally see the free speech zone.  Finally he makes a right turn, and there it is: the giant white tent.  All you can see is the tent.  The walkway where the delegates come in is a good three hundred yards away.  The "freedom cage" is small, isolated, and NOBODY IS THERE!  And Coyote doesn't blame them.  Any good protester worth their salt would never go there.  Honestly, it is a joke.  Nothing but a joke.

But this joke isn't funny.  Coyote could hear music playing as he approached, and it was coming from a Chinese band that was just finishing up.  They were playing and protesting about persecution in their homeland, and nobody was there to hear them.  How sad.  They went there, I'm sure, because that is where the protests are.  They did as they were told.

So Coyote is standing there, all by himself, and all at once he gets this crazy urge to drop his pack and make a sudden, insane lunge at the fence.  Maybe, just maybe, I could get over the first fence.  Maybe, just maybe, I could start climbing the second fence before I got tazered or shot with rubber bullets.  Maybe, just maybe, with a final rush of courage I could fall over the second fence and crawl to the media tent.  If I could just touch the media tent........ But who would see?  Who would know about my last act of profound courage?  Who would tell my story?  What an absolute joke.

But Coyote is more wise than he looks.  He knows this was done on purpose.  This joke was no accident.  In the end, however, the joke is on the city.  This cage at the end of the earth will only force protesters back into the streets, where the city would much rather not have them go.  If this cage almost made a protester out of Coyote, think what it will do to those already fired up and ready to go.

CoyoteJ, growling with canine anger. 

Coyote's first P.S.   Every citizen should go down and see this place, and then think long and hard about what it means.

In the Beginning

Short Coyote thoughts from day one:

It is sometimes hard to tell if there are more protesters or more media.  What does this mean?  It can't be good.

Speaking of not good, the only real altercations were with Fox News (Coyote is always suspicious of foxes).  Who knows who started it, but people almost started punching a Fox News reporter at the Capitol, and during the anti-war march.  When the media becomes the story, too many media.

I think the police did a good job.  Coyote could tell they were going out of their way to give space, not react, be present, and yet not be too present.  I hope this continues.

Only Colorado people have heard of Recreate 68, or Tent State.  Anyone not from Colorado has no idea what you are talking about.

Most shocking was the disappearance of Tent State.  Coyote was told, as were we all, that twenty thousand or more Tent Staters would gather first in City Park, then it was Cuernavaca Park, and that at curfew they would march to the Pepsi Center protester area.  Very, very wrong.  At most thirty people went to the Pepsi Center.  Coyote wants to know, is there a Tent State, and if so, what exactly is it?

Most touching were dozens of pairs of boots at Cuernavaca Park, each with the name of a Colorado soldier who had died in the war.  Those boots brought tears to Coyote's eyes.

What does it all mean?  The union of opposites.  All life is a union of opposites, and more pairs of opposites will manifest themselves this week.  We can't know the light without the dark.  

CoyoteJ, who is always opposite to himself.

 

Morality Play

Time to howl.......

The stage for the play is set.  We have a chorus (the press), we have numerous plot lines, we have heroes and villains, we have Denver as the setting, and we have a very large audience.  Now the curtain goes up, and Coyote wonders, what exactly will we see? What is the title of this play?  Is it a tragedy or a comedy?  Who is the author?  What moral are we supposed to learn?  Why do we put on shows like this every four years?

Here is the most important thing to remember as we watch the play: it isn't personal.  It feels awfully personal.  It will feel extremely personal if we get arrested.  For some it felt very personal that Hillary didn't win.  Many will feel betrayed if Obama keeps moving to the right.  Lots of people will feel thrilled at the spectacle, the pomp, and the excitement of the convention.  Some will feel personally vindicated.  Others will feel abandoned.

But Coyote asks us to keep clearly before our minds this one fact:  it is a play, and it isn't personal.  It will be such a good play that we will, at times, be totally caught up in it.  It will be such a good play that, at times, we the audience will feel as if we are part of the the scenes and acts.  That is what a great play does: it draws us in so well that it makes us forget, for a time, that it is theater.  We get absorbed in the drama.  We become part of the drama.  As we should.

But it isn't personal.  We don't hunt down an actor who played Hamlet, and ask him why he was so mean to Ophelia.  He was playing a role.  It isn't personal.  We don't put the chief Puritan  inquisitor in "The Crucible" on trial for murder.  He was playing a role.  It isn't personal.  The key Coyote fact to remember is that all life is a stage, and we are but actors on it.  All life.  And especially these every four year extravaganzas.  If we take it personally, then we miss the play.  If we take it personally, then we lose perspective.  If we take it personally, then we lose the lessons the author is trying to get us to learn.  Focus on the themes.  Focus on the symbols.  Focus on the plot twists.  Focus on the comedy and the tragedy.  Keep our eyes on the play.  

If we can do that, then maybe,  just maybe, we will learn a bit about who we are.  The drama of the convention is a mirror in which we see our reflection.  Will we see the mirror, or ourselves?

CoyoteJ, reflecting only on his next nap.

Playing the Odds

Quick Coyote thought.........

Both law enforcement and protesters are telling Coyote to watch out for the one or two percent. Ninety-eight percent are fine, but its the one or two percent that will cause trouble.  True and false.

Certainly, almost all police and protesters won't cause any problems, and it is the few on either side that could start something unfortunate.  This is true.  But, it is false to think that one or two percent are bad, and everybody else is good.  As Coyote is fond of reminding us, the one or two percent is me.  The one or two percent are a collective manifestation of something that is true of all of us. When we count ourselves among the righteous 98, and distance ourselves from the awful 2, we are really distancing ourselves from ourselves, and this is never good.  We need to begin to see everyone in everyone.

CoyoteJ, fifty-seven percent wise, and fifty-four percent hungry.

Senseless Provocation

Coyote news from the front......

Coyote drove by the Pepsi Center protest area (freedom cage) today, and things are not good.  This Coyote believes that, given all the media, the location of the protest area is reasonable.  Some may disagree.  But the big problem is not the location, but the enormous tent standing between the protest area and the Pepsi Center.  This is very bad news.  This tent is so big that you can barely see the Pepsi Center from the protest area.  Oh boy.

Coyote can clearly see what is coming.  Thousands of young people will march many miles to the freedom cage, and when they get there, no Pepsi Center.  No chance to be seen.  Just fences and police.  This will increase the protester's sense of isolation, and greatly increase their anger.  What a tremendous blunder by the city, and what a senseless provocation.  Things will be tense enough anyway.  This great white tent will make things much worse.

What we seek to isolate always break loose.  Can nobody see this?  What is the city thinking?  Coyote wonders, why aren't they thinking?

CoyoteJ

Gold Rush

Coyote has his nose to the ground, and he senses on all sides that people are tired.  Like a woman more than ready to give birth after a long pregnancy, people now just want to get on with the convention already.  It is time to put preparations into action.  In other words, time for coagulatio.

Coagulatio is a term from alchemy, which Jung studied intensively.  Jung was wise enough to see that in the medieval endeavor to turn common substances into gold, the procedures that alchemists were using on substances in their lab were actually projections of psychic processes that people use all the time in their lives and relationships.  By studying the symbolic nature of alchemy, we study ourselves.

Coagulatio means to incarnate something, to give it substance, give it flesh, and give it birth.  It is taking potentials and making them real.  It is taking essence and making it literal.  So far, almost everything involved with the convention has been essence.  Law enforcement has plans, delegates have plans, Obama has plans, and the protesters have plans.  These plans have undergone long alchemical procedures in the labs of the groups involved, being slowly formed out the essence of who the groups are, and what they want to do at the convention.  These essences and plans, though long in development, are still unborn.  Next week, however, the gestation is over, and we will see how each group incarnates itself, and what each group really looks like.  

And we will see where the gold is.  The whole point of alchemy was to transform the common into gold, to make our human lives shiny and precious.  Coyote wonders, where will we find the gold at the convention?  Will we see it in the police officer who tirelessly enforces the law with restraint and respect for dissent?  Will we discover gold in the protester who courageously speaks his vision for a better world, while still obeying the law?  Will we find it in the platform of the Democratic Party?  Will we see it in Obama's speech at Invesco?  Will we find gold deep in ourselves?  Coyote suspects the amount of gold born during the convention will truly surprise us all.

Unfortunately, however, not all alchemical procedures yield gold.  In the cauldron of the convention all essence will be born, but not all essence will shine.  Hatred and violence will surely be incarnated from souls resistant to alchemy, souls who do not see the need for their own transformation, souls whose only goal is to prove that someone else does not have the gold.  Their journey will remain common, not golden.  Their journey will only provide contrast for those who truly shine.

To be gold, or not to be gold.  That, Coyote reminds us, is the question.

CoyoteJ

The HeizenCoyote Contingency Principle

Because Coyote recently took his car to the quantum mechanic.........

What will happen during the convention next week?  How will everything play out?  Coyote's answer is, who knows?  It is all a matter of probabilities and contingencies based on quantum theory and Stephen J. Gould.

Interpretation #1, view the convention through the eyes of the Heizenburg uncertainty principle.  If the convention is like a swarm of bees, then if you pin down the position of one bee, you can't know what is happening to the swarm, and if you measure the velocity of the swarm, then you can't know the position of any one bee.  Got that?  Therefore, you can only say that individual bees are probably located here or there, and you can only say that the swarm is probably moving here or there.  All to say that nobody knows for sure what is happening in the build up to the convention, only that there are probabilities that certain things will or will not happen.  Nothing can be pinned down for sure.  If this makes sense, then Coyote moves you to the head of the class.

Interpretation #2, view the convention through the eyes of the late evolutionist Stephen J. Gould's historical contingency principle.  If the convention is like a large amount of dice, one dice for each individual and one dice for each group, then every time you roll all the dice, you get a different outcome.  Looking back you can see how it all played out, but looking forward before the dice roll, you have no way of knowing what will happen.  Nobody can tell what one dice rolling five instead of six will mean, but it will change the whole picture.  Everything is contingent on everything else.

So what?  People have been asking Coyote what he thinks will happen next week, and Coyote responds that there is just no way to know.  There are probabilities that things will go a certain way, but everything could change because of the actions of one individual or one group.  In other words, the convention hangs suspended in a quantum state of perfect freedom. Coyote likes the sound of that:  very democratic, very uncertain, very contingent, and very much up to us.  It doesn't get any better than that.

CoyoteJ, quantumly entangled with himself, again.

 

Focus On Inflation, Part 2

Speaking of inflation, (see part 1), and with sincere Coyote apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan: in short, in all matters animal and vegetable and mineral, James Dobson is the model of a modern major inflation.  Simply unbelievable!

In case you haven't heard, James Dobson The Great, of Focus On the Family, called down wind and water of biblical proportions on Obama's outdoor gathering at Invesco field.  This is the very definition of inflation.  Dobson believes he is the messenger of God.  The archetype of being "God's spokesperson" fills Dobson with power, meaning, purpose, and destiny.  As God's messenger he infallibly knows God's will, and he can infallibly distinguish God's friends from God's enemies.  In fact, being so close to the power of God, Dobson can even command the wind and waves.  The energy and archetype of being the messenger of God have totally consumed him.  He is on a mission from God, and if that doesn't make you blue, brother, then nothing will.

How did Coyote say we fight inflation?  First, we have to realize we all have small roles in a big play.  Dobson believes the precisely the opposite.  Dobson believes he has the lead role in his own play.  Second, we fight inflation by proceeding with humility and reluctance.  Again, Dobson manifests the opposite, acting with certainty, arrogance, and assurance. Inflated individuals, assured of their own importance, and walking in the absolute power of the archetype, will say and do anything.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you James Dobson.

Now Coyote must say something crucial here: Dobson is not just dangerous, he is also tragic, and his tragedy is our tragedy.  We are all inflated at times.  Sometimes transpersonal energies and archetypes posses us all, and we do and say unthinking things, without reluctance and humility, thinking we are God.  James Dobson, in his arrogance and blindness, is me.  

Unfortunately, Dobson seems unable, so far, to see his inflation, or to let any air out of the balloon.  Now he only calls down wind and rain.  Soon he might call down fire.  Coyote prays Dobson's inflated tragedy might be a sobering lesson for us all.

CoyoteJ

 

Fighting Inflation

Two weeks to the convention, so it is time for Coyote to go deep in his psychic explorations.  As you may have noticed, when Coyote speaks, it can get deep indeed.

A political convention energizes everyone.  Because passions and hopes are high, some are energized to speak, protest, and march, while others are energized to protect, defend, and keep public order.  A convention's energy mobilizes all kinds of human activities and behavior.

This intense psychic energy manifests itself in archetypes, which are images and roles that express this energy.  For example, "the protester" is an archetype, as are "the hero," "the enforcer of laws," and "the martyr."  Each of us tap into many of these archetypal roles during our lives, and through tapping into these energies we learn what life is all about, and we learn, hopefully, who we are.  

But there is a danger in these intense energies.  When energy is high, as it is during a convention, there is a great temptation to identify ourselves with one or more of these archetypes, and to think that we are indeed one of these archetypes.  We might come to believe that we are literally the martyr, the enforcer of laws, or the protester.  When we identify with an archetype we feel exhilarated, powerful, and god-like.  The energy of the archetype flows through us and gives us purpose, meaning, and a sense of destiny.  We become the role and we know who we are.  Jungians call this phenomenon inflation.

Coyote believes there are a few too many inflated people hanging around Denver these days, and inflated people can be dangerous people.  Anyone who feels a god-like sense of destiny about their role during the convention is a person who might do anything.  Inflated people who have an exhilarating sense of destiny are people on a mission, and people on a mission can be scary people.  Especially at a convention.

So how do we fight inflation?  First, we must always remember that we are small people in a big world.  Each of us have small roles in a big play.  We are not the roles we play, and we are not the author of the play.  There is no transcendent destiny leading us to pre-determined actions.  We are tiny and humble creatures, not inflated stars.  We are all trying to find our way.

Second, we fight inflation by doing difficult tasks with reluctance, not pride.  If we feel called to protest, or to civil disobedience, we should do it with great reluctance, not with pride that we are willing to act when nobody else will.  If our role is to control crowds and protect property, we should do it with great reluctance, not with pride in our innate goodness as opposed to the depravity of the crazy rowdies.  This is not easy to do, but it is so very important that we do it.

Coyote believes if everyone could be a bit less identified with their destinies and roles, and be a bit more humble, the chances of big problems at the convention would be greatly diminished. Then maybe we could all try to figure out what this strange play is about, who the author is, and what we should be doing about it.  Only in humility will we find wisdom.

The exception, of course, being Coyote.  His wisdom will always come through foolishness.

CoyoteJ

Fluid Dynamics

As promised, Coyote now holds forth on the subject of psychology and bodily fluids.

Coyote has been wondering why urine, and the haunted house where urine is being stockpiled, have frequently been mentioned in the Denver public square.  Here are three possibilities:

1. The scarecrow theory.  The use of urine as a weapon, and especially the urine haunted house, are a fabricated straw man, falsely building up the protesters as crazy in order to easily discredit them.  If they only had a brain.

2. The Iraq build-up theory.  Like Bush's preparation for war in Iraq, urine propaganda is a deliberate falsification of the protester's intentions and a demonization of the protester's character, for the purpose of preparing the citizenry for war.

3. The innocent imagination theory.  Law enforcement is legitimately worried about what might happen, and without malice, are prone to believe speculation and fantasies about what might occur.  Rumors, therefore, are naively built into truth.

Coyote believes there is probably some truth to all of these.  These are objective reasons why bodily fluids have attained a prominent place in public discourse.  But Coyote, being a psychological canine, is much more interested in the subjective reasons why bodily fluids seem so important.  Please indulge Coyote as he engages in some psychological speculation.

For both Freudians and Jungians, urine and feces symbolically represent the unconscious. What we flush away and turn our nose from, what we call stinky and yucky, are symbolically those parts of ourselves that we don't feel able to deal with.  These crappy parts of ourselves we put in our unconscious, hoping they will remain quiet, and that we will smell good.  But, of course, what we try to keep hidden always shouts for attention.  And Coyote believes that is exactly what is happening with the public fixation on bodily fluids.   

There is a lot of crappy and stinking stuff going on.  On both sides.  Both police and protesters have feelings of suspicion, lack of trust, paranoia, hatred, and violence towards each other.  I have talked to both sides and I hear the same story.  It is ugly.  But it also, given this tense situation, very understandable and very human.  Coyote suggests that everyone just be honest with this dark, stinky, stuff.  Don't flush it out of consciousness, don't attribute it to the other side, just own it.  Admit that this is who I am, and that this is who we are.  Very hard to do, but incredibly important to do.

If both sides could do this, then the weird and absurd stories about stockpiling urine would probably disappear.  The stinky and ugly are shouting for attention in crazy ways (urine filled houses) because nobody is owning their own craziness.  If law enforcement could admit that there are a lot of ugly sentiments in the ranks, that police are edgy and scared about what is coming, and that some officers are angry and just might start something bad, if they owned their own crap, then they wouldn't have to make up stories about crap.   And if the protesters could admit that there are a lot of ugly feelings among their people, and that everyone is on edge and worried about what will happen in the streets, and that some of their own are loose cannons who might just start a riot, if they owned their own crap, then they would be less likely to have crappy stories made up about them.  

In the mutual unconscious process that is the drama of police and protesters, both sides are responsible for stinky craziness, however it comes out, and in whatever stories it manifests itself.  On either side.  This is the great mystery of group unconscious process.  

Coyote reminds us, we never make ourselves smell good by insisting that the scapegoat is over there.  

CoyoteJ

Where Will My People Go?

Coyote shares a reading from Exodus:

And Moses said to Pharaoh, "let my people camp in City Park." But Pharaoh hardened his heart, and promised only sprinklers if the curfew was broken. So Moses said, "my people will go by night to the Pepsi Center, and camp there." But Pharaoh hardened his heart again, and said no. So Moses said, "my people will go back and forth, for four days and nights, between City Park and the Pepsi Center, sleeping when we can, and camping where we might." At this Pharaoh only laughed.

But after much discussion, Pharaoh relented, and agreed to allow Moses and his people to assemble in Cuernevaca Park by day, march to the Pepsi Center when inspired, and camp on the hard parking lots of the Coliseum by night. All seemed good, until Moses again cried out to Pharaoh, shouting, "this is not what we agreed to! We will not camp at the Coliseum! We will spend our nights at the shantytown at the Pepsi Center! Let my people go!"

So Pharaoh, seeing red, screamed, "these people wear me out!" Then Moses lifted both his hands toward heaven. The sky darkened, the winds howled, and the earth shook. Moses looked right into the crimson face of mighty Pharaoh, and with a powerful swing of his staff, parted the seeing red.

Seeing red, get it? Parted the seeing red, the red sea! Ha Ha!! Its a Coyote joke, just like this whole Tent State saga is a Coyote joke. Foolishness!! All kinds of build up, and then a joke. And a not very funny joke at that, since Coyote had to explain it. When will it ever end? How will it ever end.

CoyoteJ, whose sense of humor is very in-tents.

Royal Flush

Coyote may be in Crested Butte, but he is still on the prowl.

So, the old joke goes, if you are of African nationality when you enter a bathroom, and you are of Australian nationality when you leave the bathroom, what nationality are you when you are in the bathroom? Answer: European. And Coyote believes if this your-a-peeing person doesn't stop soon, they will quickly stockpile enough fluid to fill an entire Denver house. Wowzerz.

Okay, where have we heard this before? A ludicrous allegation, based on spurious intelligence, concerning weapons of mass urination, with the intention of rallying the citizens to support......war. This is not good at all. Coyote is worried. The propaganda machine is churning, preparing people for battle. Allegations need no factual support, for the allegations reflect not truth, but fearful minds mobilizing themselves for the unpleasant fantasies they think are coming. Not good at all.

But Coyote will not be a potty to this kind of propaganda. We will not be bowled over by fantasies. Everyone on both sides must steady their aim, and stick to reality. Reality.

Here Coyote draws a line in the stream. No apeesment for...............never mind. Reality puts limits even on Coyote.

CoyoteJ, who is still pondering the psychological significance of this prolonged fixation with bodily fluids.

Do You Hear The People Sing?

It has been said that wars are old men sending young men to die. Coyote wonders if political conventions are old people sending young people to protest.

Coyote has noticed that the critical mass of the protest groups are idealistic twenty-something men and women.  Of course, the young leading the way in challenging social ills has always been true.  Universities and coffee shops have always been the seed-beds of passionate social critique. But Coyote is wondering, where exactly are the older people?  What are they doing? Are concerned adults somehow sending young people to protest in their place?  If so, why, and how does this work?  If not, have the chronologically mature been unthinkingly absorbed into the machine?   Have they sold out?  Do their aging souls still rage against injustice?  More darkly, is it true that those who can't protest, teach?  Or worse, is it true that those who can't protest become journalists, and report on protesters? (oh my!)  

Maybe conventions are old people sending young people to protest.  Maybe conventions are every-four-years-ways for those who are a little older, and perhaps see a bit more of the complexities of life, to re-connect with something deeply meaningful, and a bit less complex. Maybe conventions are a stage, where older people send younger people to remind older people to keep on caring.

Coyote asks, do you hear the people sing?

CoyoteJ

I Love A Charade

Sometimes Coyote just loves the spectacle, the pomp, the splendor, and the excitement of a good old fashioned parade. Or is that charade? Sometimes Coyote can't tell.

Coyote drove the protester parade route yesterday, and even though Coyote needs new glasses, he could barely see the Pepsi center from the parade finish at Speer and Larimer.  Will the parade be within sight and sound of the delegates?  Hardly.

And then in court yesterday the Secret Service apparently confessed that the real reason the protesters would not be allowed to get too close to the Pepsi Center is that if a bomb went off there, the protesters might get hurt.  So keeping protesters away from the Pepsi Center is for their protection.  You buying that one?  Neither is Coyote. 

Don't jive the Coyote.  Just be honest.  Honesty is our friend.   If you don't like the protesters and you don't want them anywhere near the festivities, just say so, and let a judge decide if you are right or wrong.  But don't say the end of the parade is near the Pepsi Center, and don't say you are keeping protesters away for their own well being.  That's a lot of Coyote droppings.

Coyote hates a charade.

CoyoteJ

If Billy Joel Didn't Start the Fire, Who Will?

Ethicist and moral philosopher CoyoteJ asks you to consider the following hypothetical situation:

A large apartment building is completely engulfed in a terrible fire, and a huge crowd has gathered at a safe distance to watch this spectacular inferno.  Suddenly, a tall man with wild hair and a crazy look in his eyes stands in front of the crowd, and at the top of his lungs shouts, theater!  People in the crowd turn to one another.  What did he say?  The man screams again, theater!!  The crowd freezes for about two seconds, and then in a complete panic they turn and stampede away, trampling several and injuring many more.  Thus Coyote is forced to ask, is it ever morally permissible to shout theater at a crowded fire?

Good question.  And I think in a roughly analagous way, many protesters are asking this same question in terms of their behavior at the Democratic National Convention.  Walk with Coyote as he examines this interesting and important moral issue.

Of course, one of the first moral principles our parents taught us is you can't shout fire in a crowded theater.  We all understand this.  And many of the protesters I have talked to believe this basic moral message is the message they are getting concerning their protest activities at the DNC.  Look, they are told, things are going to be very tense in Denver during convention week.  There will be gigantic crowds of excited people, and things could get tense.  Please don't do anything stupid. Don't shout fire at this combustible situation, or things could stampede out of control very quickly.  Be good, don't be violent, and everything will be fine.

But many protesters see the moral issues from a different perspective.  They look at the world and everything is not at all fine, there is corporate and state violence all over the place, so, then, what exactly does it mean for them to be good?  What is the proper moral response to this problem plagued system on display at the convention?  Many protesters have turned be good, don't be violent, and everything will be fine on its head.  They are told to not shout fire in this crowded theater, and they ask, well, then, may we shout theater at this crowded fire?

And the operative word here is theater.  Everybody knows they will be on a gigantic world stage for four days in late August.  So, some protesters ask, how can we bring theater to this crowded fire?  In two ways.  First, literal theater.  Street plays, beautiful gigantic puppets, demonstrations, parades, and other creative endeavors.  The second way to bring theater to the fire is to shake things up, disrupt plans, and engage in various levels of civil disobedience.

The key moral question is this: is Denver a crowded theater or a crowded fire?  If you are the Mayor's office, the police, the Democratic Party, or the Secret Service, Denver in August is a crowded theater, and any fires must be stamped out immediately.  If you are a protester, Denver in August is a crowded fire, a blazing inferno of big money corporate interests, do nothing politicians, a war-without-end mentality, and a promise that nothing will change, all doing violence to the poor and the oppressed.  To this fire all forms of theater must be shouted from the rooftops, and acted out in the streets.

So, is it ever morally permissible to shout theater at a crowded fire?  Coyote thinks this is an important question.  A difficult question.

Coyote thinks he needs a nap.

CoyoteJ

A Loaf Of Bread, a Jug of Wine, and a Couch

Coyote has been running the numbers, and things just don't add up.

Mayor Hickenlooper says Tent State won't be a problem, because even though they won't be able to camp in City park, they will have friends who have plenty of couches to sleep on. Really?  Lets say only twenty thousand come.  Putting two or three Tent Staters in a room requires lots of couches, and lots of rooms.  And lots of friends.  Would all these rooms be within a reasonable traveling time from City park?  Probably not.  When the park closes at eleven p.m., where will they go?  Coyote can't help but believe that a group with the name TENT State will probably pitch tents (duh!), which will lead to police confrontations, and lots of other problems.  Do jails have couches?  Coyote smells problems.

But fear not, Coyote has an idea.  If you can't get the people to the couches, bring the couches to the people.  Therefore, change the name of the group.  Call them Sofa State, or Hide-a-Bed State, or Air Mattress State.  Then Jake Jabs can truck thousands of couches to City Park, get all kinds of free advertising, and everyone will be happy.  Sofa Staters won't be camping in City Park, they will be reclining.  There is no Denver law against reclining in city parks after curfew, is there?  See, Coyote can find a way out of every problem.

Can American Furniture also deliver several thousand port-a-potties?

Put it on lay away with

CoyoteJ   

Guns and Blubber

So there won't be goo guns, or sonic guns.  This is good.  And the ACLU will wait until after the convention to pursue its lawsuit. Maybe good.  To some degree the armies are standing down a bit, and that can't be bad.

But at the same time, Coyote can't help but notice that squirt guns are now the big concern.  Squirt guns?  If you haven't followed this story, urine trouble.  Anyhow, when goo and sonic guns fade from attention, and squirt guns become the focus, something isn't right. Coyote thinks the issue is not so much the super-soakers, but trust.  In light of this good faith gesture by the city, will the protesters now lay down their water guns? Coyote asks, can we all just get along?

Or maybe it is just boys posturing with their toys.  Like Freud should have said, sometimes a squirt gun isn't just a squirt gun.

CoyoteJ (who has a water cannon)

Lord, Who Is My Other?

Good Samaritan Coyote keeps wondering, am I my other's keeper?

There is a lot of "otherization" going on before the convention.  The protesters are very other. They are leftist, anarchistic, radical, Seattle inspired, pee-filled-squirt-gun-toting outlaws up to no good.  They are not me.  They are not us.  They are the other.  And because they are the other, we don't have to listen to them.  Their call to change may be safely ignored.  We must simply endure them, and control them.

And Coyote has heard the same thing coming from the other side.  Law enforcement is very other.  They are controlling, aggressive, belligerent, New York and Miami inspired soldiers of a corporatized  state.  They are not me.  They are not us.  They are the other.  And because they are the other, we don't have to respect them.  Their job of policing may be legitimately ridiculed.  We must simply endure them, and outfox them.

When Coyote hears this, he remembers the parable of the Good Samaritan.  In response to the question, "who is my brother?", Jesus said, the Samaritans, the most despised and the most "other" group in the culture.  Jesus said, the other is your brother.  Hard words, but they make a ton of psychological sense.

Coyote thinks humans have a deep need for consigning certain people to the shadowy world of the not me.  By doing this we define ourselves, and we make it okay to ignore those people in the shadow.  But if Jesus is right, then the other is my brother.  The not me is me.  What we have to do, then, is travel into those shadowy worlds of not me, and discover the totality of who we are.  Coyote, in his deep wisdom, believes this is the most difficult journey of all.  (This Jungian moment was brought to you by Coyote Inc. of Zurich Switzerland)

So for the convention, Coyote says, lets stop demonizing the other.  The protesters are not crazies.  They are good people with genuine concerns who deeply desire to see this world become a better place.  Listen to them.  And the police are not mindless robocops.  They are good men and women who are trying to maintain order, and make Denver safe for everyone.  Respect them.  And if the protesters get a little crazy, or the the police get a little hard handed, remember that craziness and hard handedness are not the other, it is all me.  We all have a little police and protester in us, for better and for worse.

Except for Coyote, of course.  All he has in him is his last meal.

CoyoteJ

Thin Lines

Coyote doesn't always see so well, but what he does see seems awfully blurry.

First there is the thin blue line, the fragile police line protecting society from criminality. Makes sense.  Then the line separating concentrated arbitrary power from ganging up on the people.  Call that line the Constitution.  Next, lines defining domestic as opposed to foreign, intelligence gathering as opposed to spying, and prisoners of war as opposed to enemy combatants.  Good, solid, understandable lines.  Except that now when Coyote looks at those lines, he can barely see them.  Maybe he needs bifocals.  Or maybe the lines are disappearing.

It seems the National Guard will be housing over five hundred troops in Denver during the convention.  National Guard troops are usually brought in when there are natural disasters, to provide stability and authority, and to prevent looters from stealing and destroying property. Makes sense.  But in this crazy world of dissolving boundaries, Coyote is very sad to wonder, are there any other reasons why the National Guard will be here?  If protesters get out of control, could the National Guard be used against them?  Could the streets of Denver arbitrarily be declared a disaster zone?  Could domestic protesters be declared terrorists? Enemy combatants?  Who exactly does the Constitution protect from whom?  Again, Coyote is very sad to even be thinking such thoughts, and asking such questions, but in this new world of Guantanamo and FISA, the questions must be asked.

Coyote imagines a can of paint.  When you look inside you see all kinds of colors, totally mixed together.  Pretty like a rainbow, but confusing too.  But then with a magical stick you start to stir the paint, and over time the different colors start to sort themselves out.  Greens, blues, yellows and reds all begin to clump together, and you begin to see boundaries between the colors.  This is what Coyote calls maturity, both for individuals and for groups.  If you are growing in the right direction, you slowly start to sort the mess out, and slowly begin to get a glimpse of how things fit together. 

But our world is going in exactly the opposite direction.  The hard won boundaries that our culture has fought for through its legislative and judicial structures, and its good old fashioned common sense, are disappearing.  The colors are starting to blend together again, and arbitrary power is beginning to reach across boundaries where it ought not go.  We are not maturing as a culture, we are regressing.  Our vision of how important things fit together is getting blurry, and poor old Coyote is left wondering if he is paranoid, or if he is indeed asking wise questions.

How about a thin brown line?  Imagine an army of coyotes patrolling downtown Denver, enforcing boundaries and getting into all kinds of trouble.  Sounds good to me, but who would clean up the streets?

CoyoteJ

Reservation Indians

Coyote has seen this play before, and it isn't a good one.

It seems that the different groups protesting the DNC are not in complete agreement.  Obama has turned too far to the right, so he and his supporters have lost their way.  They have accommodated too much.  Some say Recreate68 is too welcoming to Obama supporters.  They have accommodated too much.  And some say, maybe, Unconventional Denver has worked too closely with Recreate68.  They have accommodated too much.  I guess there is agreement.  Everybody has accommodated too much.

Same old play, just different actors.

Throughout human history, whenever there is an occupying force, those who oppose it can't agree on how much to accommodate, and how much to resist.  The classic example is the indigenous peoples of America.  When confined to an area by the U.S. army, those who accommodated were called Reservation Indians.  Those who didn't want to be Reservation Indians disagreed among themselves about how much to negotiate with the United States, and how much to fight.  Many times different tribes could not work together to form a unified plan of resistance.  Same play.  Only Coyote has noticed that nobody ever seems to realize they are in a play.

Many Americans  believe the Bush Administration has felt like an occupying force of shallowness, thoughtlessness, recklessness, and even lawlessness.  And now those in Denver opposed to this occupation can't agree on how much to accommodate, and how much to resist. Each tribe suspects the other tribe just doesn't get it, or worse, has sold out.

Is there no way out of this age old drama?

Wise Coyote has an idea.  Lets change the script.  Occupying forces are the least likely to change, so a new drama will have to come from the protesters.  How about this for an idea? Instead of protesting, how about if all opposed to the occupation became the front line of Denver's convention hospitality committee.  How about if the protesters made sure the police had plenty of water and sunscreen, made sure busses ran and intersections remained open, and insured that every delegate and visitor to Denver had the best possible time they could have.  And in this new drama of, lets call it "resistant hospitality," maybe the message of deep frustration and a deep desire for change would really be heard.  Maybe the tribes wouldn't fight with each other.  Maybe the world would change.

Or not.  Coyote doesn't know for sure.  But a totally different play would surely shake things up. People would notice.  Coyote reminds us, the play is the thing, in which we catch the conscience of the nation.

CoyoteJ  

Mixed Symbols

Coyote has his ears up, and he thinks there are a lot of mixed symbols these days.

On one hand, there is a lot of energy going into keeping a lid on anything that looks bad. On the radio Thursday, Mayor Hickenlooper said Denver no longer has a homeless problem, just look at the 16th street mall. Wow. He didn't say anything about the homeless on 17th street or anywhere else. Clearly, Mayor Hickenlooper is heavily invested in an image of Denver that is clean, beautiful, and problem free.  Anything that detracts from this image, including protesters, will be downplayed. 

And of course the Democratic Party wants everything to go well and look good.  By managing the convention well they will show that they can manage the nation well.  So they will downplay any protester issues that might make them look bad.   And Colorado Springs will be sending lots of police to help out during the convention. We can count on Colorado Springs police to keep a lid on trouble. They always do. And if they can't, there is always the freedom cage to keep problems contained.   All this energy is directed to keeping the unpleasant contained, bottled up, and off the streets.

On the other hand, Obama's move to Invesco is a symbolic opening up, a move to a bigger place. And Coyote believes that police training for the convention includes a great deal of time on how to protect protester rights and de-escalate problems. In fact, there is a rumor that some police think their convention preparation is weighted too heavily to accommodating protest, to the point of even jeopardizing police safety.  There is clearly some real energy working to enlarge the arena and engage dissent.

Coyote, in his infinite wisdom, believes these mixed symbols give mixed signals, and that this is indeed a very good thing. Mixed messages are the stuff of life. We all give ourselves mixed messages all the time. And the groups we live in are constantly giving us contradictory signals about what they want.  Mixed messages hopefully keep us humble, as we realize that we are often at the mercy of forces, both individual and collective, that are much larger than we are.   Mixed signals confuse, but in a situation like this they can also defuse.

Coyote would be truly afraid if we were getting only one message. An unambiguously unified message, sung by a unanimous chorus, always constellates its opposite, often violently.  This Coyote does not want.  If we begin to hear a consensus about what is coming at the convention, be afraid. Be very afraid.

CoyoteJ