Honk to Impeach?

[philbot.livejournal.com]

Did anyone else find the "HONK TO IMPEACH" plackard-carriers in the Square yesterday afternoon irritating?

I'm all for freedom of speech, I'm all for expressing your opinion in public space, and believe me, I loathe the current administration. But can't you express your opinion without all the noise pollution within earshot of my house?

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but in my day, we walked uphill both ways in the snow to impeach somebody! There was none of this hoity-toity honk-your-horn-inside-your-fancy-automobile nonsense!



So I emailed the mayor's office :

Apparently every Monday there's a group of protestors in Davis Square holding up signs that read "HONK TO IMPEACH!" I'm all for free speech and free expression, and I couldn't agree more with the protestors' message, but I can't help but feel they're just causing noise pollution in my neighborhood. (I live a very short walk from the Square.)

There's been a discussion on the Davis Square Livejournal community about this :
http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/949744.html

and so far no one has suggested these protestors are accomplishing anything but
irritating the people who live nearby.

I'm not suggesting the city take action to silence the protestors, because I strongly believe they have a right to express their opinion in public space, but I'm curious to know if
anyone from the city approached them about the noise pollution?


And got this in response :

I just read the posts. You are Philbot I gather. I also really liked the "uphill both ways to impeach" line.

Here is the issue with these particular protestors- they are not the ones actually making the noise. We could enforce a noise ordinance, but technically -they are not violating anything. And as you point out, we do not want to infringe upon anyone's right to freedom of speech or assembly. Therefore, a typical response to send an inspector out would not work.

It seems as though some of your fellow bloggers are going to speak to this traveling band of protesters. Monday is Davis Sq.,Friday on Mass Ave. I will ask the Law Department, but I am at a loss to determine a means to stop these protests. Maybe time (and a reduction in honking) will steal their thunder.

Regards,

Sean Murphy

Comments

[ifotismeni]

oh, they've been there for a while, wasn't just yesterday they hung out in the square with the honk signs.

[philbot.livejournal.com]

Oh, great. I guess I haven't been home during their normal business hours. Maybe I'll suggest they move to Porter, where they love all that honking.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

They're at the intersection of Rt. 60 and Mass. Ave. every Friday.

[spatch]

I think you should go out to the square and counter-protest. Hold a sign that says HONK IF YOU HATE NOISE POLLUTION. I can make the sign for you if you want, but I'm gonna need to steal someone's fence picket for the handle.

[ron_newman]

Not to be confused with the second annual HONK! Festival, returning to Davis Square October 5-8.

[philbot.livejournal.com]

I like the counter-protest idea, but hands off my fence pickets! Damned kids, always stealing my fence pickets....

[philbot.livejournal.com]

Now that, I'm down with.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I wasn't there, and while I'm all for impeachment and even a merry lynching/picnic, I don't see honking as a productive means to that end. A table with postcards for people to fill out would let voices actually be heard where they need to be heard, unlike a local honkfest.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

They've been doing it every Monday for a while now.

[philbot.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

And then I can post "I'm just trying to get to the Diesel without being hassled! Get these damned hippies off the sidewalk!"

I think one of the guys was recording the honking, but I can't imagine how useful that recording would be.

[ron_newman]

Now if I can figure out how to tag this (local landscape? local politics? ...)

[philbot.livejournal.com]

Crotchety neighbors? :)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

It's every Monday, in fact.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

I've biked through this demonstration a few times. It seems completely pointless to me - who will you convince with your honking, other than your fellow far-left Davis Square residents? It just makes the square sound angry for no good reason.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but in my day, we walked uphill both ways in the snow to impeach somebody!

i was wayyy too amused by this line.

sounds like...

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

politics and traffic? (do we have some sort of trafficky tag?)

Multiple tags could work.

honk to impeach

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I also found it annoying, and almost posted myself back when it started up, and I had the misfortune of waiting for the bus while they were doing their little song and dance.

Re: sounds like...

[ron_newman]

We've got "cars", but not "traffic". We had both "transit" and "public transit", but I axed them in favor of "mbta" and "taxi". I'll probably make a separate post about tagging soon ....

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Ah, youth. Such a pity it's wasted on the young.
-Mark Twain

In my 20s I used to do performance art against Ronald Reagan, organized religion, Kmart, etc. Only my friends would come see it, and afterwards they'd say "That was cute" and then go home and ultimately I didn't really accomplish much. If I'd been writing letters to my representatives, it would probably have contributed more to my causes.

Re: sounds like...

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

cars and politics!

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

DANG, I am going ot miss it AGAIN. It looks awesome.

[ron_newman]

Kmart?

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

hey, the Wal-Mart haters had to start *somewhere*.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Going to the Diesel AND complaining about hippies? I thought I was the only one who did both of those things.

Frankly, I think that the "honk protests" of any kind are dumb. They don't generate any productive change. They just annoy people, even those who agree with the message!

[philbot.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only one who did both of those things.

We're trendsetters, apparently.