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
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
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