Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Effective Counter-Protest at Comic-Con

Prior to Comic-Con, a group of Baptists announced their intention to protest.  Okay, it's America, free expression is a right.  What exactly were they protesting?  Oh ... idolatry.  *ponder*  They actually had a point in terms of pouring energy into an image to give it power, although most comic readers would not use the terms "idol" or "worship" in reference to comics.  As we shall see shortly, however, the power and the images may have actually played an active role in this event.

So the Baptist protesters showed up to find ... a fannish counter-protest.  A horde of fans, mostly in costumes and waving magnificently creative signs, demonstrated in favor of diversity and whimsy and good plain fun.  The Baptists quickly left.  There was no violence -- the fans simply weirded them away.  Highly conservative people evidently are not comfortable with brightly colored spandex and signs that say "God Loves Gay Robin."


One of the guest speakers also posted an account of the convention, with a mention of the protest and counter-protest.

Two interesting things occur to me here: 

1) On a practical level, this counter-protest worked.  It is therefore worth remembering in case other groups need to stage a counter-protest later.

2) According to Huna, or Hawaiian shamanism, "Energy flows where attention goes."  Comics are popular; lots of people read them.  Many of the characters are based on archetypes.  A few are even based on deities.  (Note the Thor  sign reading "Odin Is God.")  A prevailing theme in comics is justice: the idea of fighting to make the world a better place.  Suppose we consider for a moment that there might be something to the idol-worship concept.  We have a bunch of people pouring their attention into symbols of justice, valor, and good; those symbols can sometimes take on a life of their own and deliver a boost when invoked.  When challenged, those comic fans dressed up like their heroes and stood up for what they believe in.  So in other words ... they did something heroic.  And it worked.  And nobody got hurt.  That is made of 100% gold-plated WIN.
Tags: activism, fantasy, magic, networking, news, spirituality
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  • 42 comments
ladyqkat

ladyqkat

July 23 2010, 18:55:01 UTC 10 years ago

Considering it was Westboro Baptist Church and only had four adherents who were willing to 'protest' for Phred Phelps' skewed interpretation of the Bible, I think more than justice was done.

WBC and Phred are not highly conservative but radically conservative and vocal in their hate of anyone who is Not Them.

You are much kinder than I.
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

July 24 2010, 02:09:21 UTC 10 years ago

I think they're nuts, but I believe that nuts have a right to express their opinions too, as long as they don't harm other people in the process. On this particular occasion, America's ideals worked. That's a good thing.