Well I'm going to be joining the protest in Portland on Oct.6th and I was concerned about the problem of keeping a protest peaceful. How do you keep the protestors and police from having things escalate to the point that people are hurt. I don't know about you but one of the last things I want is for myself or one of my fellow protestors get injured. I don't mind being arrested if I have to be. But being maced can really f*** up your day. A while back my daughter came up with the idea that it would be great to do a flash mob type thing wear a lot of people start spontaneously singing the song "How About You?'. That got me thinking what if you had a group of protestors do that when they have the police lined up what could you do to keep things from getting out of control and things getting violent.
Well based on the premise that humor is the best way of diffusing a tense situation. As well one of the keys of a successful peaceful protest is to not only shame your enemy, opponent what ever you want to call them and to make yourself human to them as well. I’d like to make a proposal.
If we could get out as many copies of the lyrics to the song “How About You” to as many protestors as we can. So that if/when the police start arresting people or the situation gets to a tension level where such arrests are about to made. We get as many people as we can singing this song. There are many points to using this particular song.
1. It’s a Broadway standard and therefore the tune is as least vaguely familiar to a large section of the population. .
2. It’s an easy song to sing with simple lyrics. Also we can change them a bit as well very easily. Substitute “Portland” for “New York” for example.
3. Also the phrase “How About You” come up many times in the song and we may, just may be able to get the cops singing along with us. Thus easing tensions between cops and protestors and making sure no one gets hurt. Or at the very least mitigate that possibility.
4. Just how ridiculous will the cops look arresting several hundred to several thousand people for singing in a public square?
Now I know this may sound ridiculous and frivolous to many people. But it does have I think a psychological impact in a number of ways including keeping up the morale of the protestors in a amusing way that could be quite effective and it’s totally nonviolent. Also it seems like it would be an awesome work of performance art on our part if we can pull it off.
Here’s a copy of the lyrics if you are interested. The song is from the movie Babes on Broadway with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney and directed by Busby Berkeley in 1941.
How About You? Lyrics
How About You Lyrics
Babes on Broadway
I like New York in June,
how about you?
I like a Gershwin tune,
how about you?
I love a fireside
when a storm is due.
I like potato chips,
moonlight and motor trips,
how about you?
I'm mad about good books,
can't get my fill,
and Franklin Roos'velt's looks
give me a thrill.
Holding hands at the movie show,
when all the lights are low
may not be new,
but I like it,
how about you?
Oh yeah one possible line substitution could be "I'd like a fair tax rate" and another possible one is "We are the ninety nine".
And yes for those who recognized it, I got the idea from a scene taken from the movie The Fisher King. So I’m a movie geek what can I say.
1:21 PM PT: I've found a version of the song by Frank Sinatra on YouTube, but I haven't figured out how to embed it.