rabble rouser of the month :: september 2014

this month's winner...

anthony wunder

photo: adam cairns / columbus dispatch

an ohio state university student goes to a buckeyes football game, runs onto the field, gets body slammed to the turf by an assistant coach. the body slam seemed a little extreme, but basically that's what happens.  a person gets apprehended and escorted off the field to await some sort of disciplinary action.  the disciplinary action in this case was to revoke wunder's scholarship.  seriously?
        anyone can say "break the rules, pay the price."  but you know, so what?  kids do weird things sometimes.  college kids especially get drunk, make mistakes.  i can promise that hundreds of kids at ohio state within this early school year have done something even more careless than running onto the football field without such severe consequences.
        the reason why this is ridiculously severe of a punishment is because it is a football game.  it is only a football game.  i know that buckeye fans live and die for their team.  i know that urban meyer is one of the highest paid college football coaches at $4.6 million and the buckeyes surely spend more than most teams on acquiring talent.  yeah, they probably want to protect that, but still it's only a football game and the fact that they over spend for that prestige needs a lot of criticism. the importance academic institutions place on the athletic programs has gotten way too extreme.
         every student is equal, every program is equal.  an engineering student, like wunder, is as significant as the quarterback for the buckeyes.  that is, he has as much right to access university resources and facilities.  he maybe doesn't have room to be on the field during the game, but still be reasonable with a punishment.  take the guy off the field, give him a fine and threaten him with expulsion.  and while handing out punishments, give assistant coach schlegel a fine for use of excessive force.  i am sure urban meyer could afford to pay his fine if he wants to support his assistant's decision.
        the key thing here is that wunder had a scholarship through the western golf association evans scholars foundation.  ohio state and/or the foundation reserves the right to revoke that scholarship for whatever reason they want.  if they think this hardly newsworthy action is bad enough, so be it.  if i were researching potential schools to attend, it would look bad to me that ohio state cares so much about the football team.  i already graduated from one university that cares too much about football, and though the ducks would rout the buckeyes from the opening kickoff, it's still not an important thing in the grand scheme of life.  priorities need to be set, and ohio state has their priorities a bit too skewed for my money.

runners up:
bryce masters

a teenager in independence, missouri had a run in with the police on september 14.  in neighboring lee's summit at the time, i saw three separate news reports, two on the local abc affiliate and a third on fox news.  the first report said that the officer pulled the car over based on an unrelated warrant for a woman not in the car, but supposedly tied to the license plate, and then tased the boy because he wouldn't get out of the car.  the report was followed by two eyewitness interviews that said the cop was clearly acting out-of-line.  the second report said that the boy was talking back to the cop and merely mentioned the fact that eyewitnesses questioned the excessive force by the cop.  the third, a week after the fact, simply said that the police were saying the car smelled like weed and mentioned nothing about eyewitness reports at all.
       wow! the media can really just make up whatever they want and people seem to buy it.  that story changed each of those three times.  moreover, only the third report seems to be available to read or watch online, although the "struggle" that bryce put up on the fox report is not corroborated by the eyewitness statements.  net neutrality never seemed so important.  i'd like to see an anthology of news reports on this incident just to ascertain what the problem might be.  certainly there is much more to the story, and though more details have come out, mainstream news continues to not ask relevant questions.  bryce ended up in a coma before recovering and has now begun rehab on his brain damage.  bryce is also the son of a kansas city, missouri police officer.  the fbi did their own investigations, which says something by itself.
        even if one were to believe any or all of those reports, the use of force still seems unwarranted. in other words, masters was sitting in his car, unresponsive to officers.  that doesn't sound like a threat.  stun guns are used to combat aggression.  an unresponsive person is not acting aggressively. unless you are a medical professional using an a.e.d., there is no need for high voltage electric shocks.  talking back is also not an aggressive attack, otherwise anyone could be stunned or killed simply for not agreeing with a cop.  a car smelling like weed, unbelievable as it seems being reported several days after the fact, still is no reason to put someone in a coma.  and, the masters' family, which presumably includes his father, asked for a department of justice intervention to deal with the inconsistencies.  i wonder if a black kid with a hooker mother and a father killed dealing drugs would get a department of justice intervention for inconsistencies?  nonetheless, questions were eventually raised.
        a big concern obviously is people watching 30 second clips of news that can not possibly give a complete story, yet basing an assessment off that incomplete information.  the news over the course of a week couldn't even give a complete or consistent story, one newscast certainly didn't.  people still form opinions on small pieces of information, but really need to understand that the story currently airing may not even be 1% correct.
       when does excessive force become necessary?  excessive force should never even be a statement. force should never be excessive.  force should only be relevant to the crime.  if a man is standing in the street with his hands up saying "don't shoot", then shooting him would constitute excessive force because it was not needed.  the same goes for an unresponsive person.  if the kid wouldn't get out of the car, there are numerous options: wait until he does get out, call a tow truck and impound the kid along with the car, etc.  a little imagination, which cops are rarely accused of having, could go a long way.  don't just take out a taser or gun at the first sign of non-compliance.  that's irresponsible policing.

#FloodWallStreet

photo: Jeff Rae / twitter

with a website screaming in bold "Stop Capitalism. End The Climate Crisis" it is clearly apparent that the occupy movement is still living and breathing.  more non-violent direct action protests, sit-ins and marches took place on september 22 and resulted in 100 more arrests, countless people pepper sprayed and the remainder pushed back off of wall street.  meanwhile, countless conservative americans sat in front of their televisions, saw 30 seconds of a biased version of events and said, "what's wrong with these people?"  the answer to that is: these people care, unlike those watching them on television.  it cannot be stressed enough that people who put their livelihoods on the line for causes they believe in are definitive rabble rousers.  the occupy movement is not always cohesive, or well-guided, but the people involved are at least always trying to do the right thing, which is better than trying to do the wrong thing, which is better yet than not trying to be part of problems or solutions.  my question is, what's wrong with a system that prevents people from doing something that is not wrong, nor even illegal, until it happens against rich people?  so people want to protest. they do have that right.  the more they continue to exercise that right, the more i will praise them.

what a field day for the heat

a thousand people standing in the street

singing songs and carrying the signs, oh no

they mostly say "hooray for our side"

- crosby, stills & nash

pyt burger & lesean mccoy
star running back for the philadelphia eagles went to PYT burger, bought a $60 bag of burgers, and left  a 20 cent tip.  it probably shouldn't be news and tips really only matter in right-to-work states, which pennsylvania is not.  however, tipping is a social custom, and when someone in the public eye goes against social customs, then it becomes news.  for example, when a pastor of a church left a tip of 0, chelsea welch won the rabble rouser of the month award for january 2013 for posting the note on reddit.  the bottom line in these instances is that people of all shapes and sizes need to be held accountable for their actions.  because the owner and operator of PYT burger decided to post a copy of the signed check from mccoy, there is some comparison to the chelsea welch incident.  but chelsea went further.  she went against the policy and was fired from her job.  that is, she put her own livelihood on the line for what she believed just.  the pastor was embarrassed. that is, she had to publicly deal with a poor decision she had made.  neither mccoy nor pyt burger were taking a huge chance or making real statements.  mccoy did what he felt was right, pyt burger did what they felt was right.  there was an attempt to make mccoy look bad and his cronies held accountable for poor behavior during their dining experience.  this incident does reflect poorly on him, as will probably happen again in the future.  but in mccoy's position, this is just advertising.  a congregation may care how a pastor carries themselves in public, football fans certainly do not care.  in the end, neither mccoy nor pyt burger deserve anymore attention than they've already received.  mccoy was a jerk, so what.  when i was a waiter, nfl players were jerks to me and left no tip.  i didn't post it online and make them look bad.  their time to shine ended and they are all broke now.  that's justice.

kfc customer refused alcohol based wipe in halal-only branch
some things make no sense, and some things make sense only when understood in a complicated context.  this must be one of those things that only make sense in a complicated context.  what the hell is a "halal only branch"?  obviously it is not something that could exist in a country like the united states, which values equality.  it does exist in the UK apparently.  just because a religion may be opposed to alcohol does not preclude the use of alcohol to such an extreme.  if an amish person is offended by an automobile, they would still take a ride if they were stranded in a snow storm miles from home.  religious causes are trumped by health and safety concerns.  and kfc is done getting attention from ridiculous stunts like this one.


rabble rouser hall of fame:

elizabeth gurly flynn (1890 – 1964)

some people become rabble rousers after years of frustration. some people are born rabble rousers. elizabeth gurly flynn was born a rabble rouser. her father was a socialist, mother a feminist. one of elizabeth’s first speeches was a talk on “what socialism will do for women” at the age of sixteen. she was expelled from high school for radical viewpoints.
        flynn was an activist leader with the IWW. she chained herself to a fencepost in spokane, where she was arrested and jailed, at which time she accused the police of running the jail as a brothel. in turn, image-conscious law enforcement mass censored the copy of the industrial worker newspaper of flynn’s report.
       flynn was run out of the IWW for testifying in court against the interest of bill haywood. she maintained an active labor leader profile as a founding member of the american civil liberties union. she particularly supported the defense of sacco and vanzetti. she was a first-wave feminist, supporter of birth control, women’s suffrage and other rights.
       flynn lived in portland during the late 1920s and 1930s advocating for the west coast longshore strike. later she became a writer for the daily worker newspaper and a national committee and, ultimately, the chairwoman of the communist party usa. this affiliation caused her to be barred from the board of the ACLU. flynn died during a trip to the soviet union on september 5, 1964.
       flynn had a song written for her, the rebel girl, by notorious IWW song writer joe hill. one of the more classic versions was recorded by another rabble rouser hall of famer, hazel dickens.



r.i.p
lonnie lynn (1943-2014)
played two years in the ABA in 1969 and 1970, but is more commonly know as the father of the rapper common.  lynn was a poet in his own right and featured in many of common's tracks, such as this one from 1994...

caldwell jones (1950-2014)
jones played basketball at albany state college in georgia, as did five of his brothers.  in fact, a jones was the starting center for albany state for 18 consecutive seasons.  oliver jones also was the head coach of albany state for 28 seasons.  four of the jones brothers played in the nba for a combined total 37 seasons, but caldwell was perhaps the most noteworthy.  he played 3 seasons in the ABA, the first coached by wilt chamberlain, before becoming a rebounding force for the dominant 76ers in the late 1970s.  he was one of the players traded to houston in the 1982 moses malone deal, which resulted in the 76ers finally winning the championship. caldwell did not win a championship, though he was on the losing side of the 1977 finals to portland.  caldwell played four years with portland as well.  he is currently 32nd on the all-time career blocks list with 2297.  he pulled down 10,685 rebounds (8.2 rpg) and dropped in 10,241 points in his career.

gonsoulin photo from the denver broncos

goose gonsoulin (1938-2014)
goose was chosen by the dallas texans in the first afl draft (precursor to the afc) as a safety out of baylor in 1960.  he was promptly traded to denver, becoming the first denver bronco.  he made the first afl interception and totaled 11 interceptions as a rookie, which is still the broncos single season record.  goose is currently 55th on the career interceptions list with 43.

gonsoulin should not be confused with the legendary baseball player goose goslin (1900-1971). that goose was a subpar left-fielder, but a great hitter who played a 17 year hall-of-fame career.  with walter johnson anchoring the senator’s pitching staff, and goose leading the league with 129 runs batted in (depriving babe ruth of the triple crown), the senators won the 1924 championship.  goslin set the world series record with 6 consecutive hits, broken in 1990 by billy hatcher.  goslin won the 1928 batting title on his final at bat, squeaking past heine manush.  two years later, the senators traded goslin to st. louis for heine manush and alvin crowder.  two years later, goslin went back to the senators, helped them to the 1933 world series, and was promptly traded to detroit, where he helped them to the next two world series.  goslin hit a walk-off single to win the 1935 championship for detroit.  in 1936, goslin hit an inside-the-park-home run after joe dimaggio and myril hoag collided in the outfield, knocking themselves unconscious.  goslin is among the top 50 all-time in doubles, triples and runs batted in categories.