Easily the most entertaining speaker was Bubba, from What Bubba Knows. If you expect sensitivity and tolerance, Bubba does not mind shaking your sorry ass up. I like that.
We arrived a little late, and I'd complain about the sparse signage for road names and numbers, or the repeated instances of signs hidden by foliage overgrowth, but I'd be afraid more so-called stimulus funds would get earmarked for pruning services.
Judging from how far away we had to park, I was thinking the attendance would be over 1,000. I believe it was more like 500-700. Still a good turnout, considering the weather, but who belonged to all those cars? My guess is that many of those vehicles were parked there by the passive resistance crowd: Park in the way...walk off to other parts of the park...discourage attendance? If so, it certainly didn't work, because there were lots of attendees parked further back from us, who walked (and limped) farther to and fro.
My radar was on alert for trouble, but there was none. At least, there was no obvious blatant trouble. There were some curious characters, but even the few that I mentally pegged as such were applauding the same speakers and at the same times as was I.
Whether you had the full re-enactment uniform (which was way cool), or the tie-dye t-shirt, or shirt & tie, or the Veteran's hat (thanks, by the way) or the boonie hat, I was glad to see you and glad you're on the right side.
I wasn't so glad to hear some of you, and that was my only major gripe regarding the event. If you were there to schmooze or carry on your own agenda, you should have the common decency and regard to set yourself up at a little table on the periphery, or even the entrance, and blather on to your heart's content. If you were sitting or standing near me or someone else who gave a shit what the speaker had to say, as a manner of learning what the speaker was all about or to perhaps glean some wisdom, have the good sense to shut the fuck right up. There were some things said that I'd heartily endorse, and some things that knitted my eyebrows, and some things that I missed because I was distracted by your soliloquy.
Especially if you were one of those speakers. There were at least five of you who felt no qualms about being out in the crowd before or after your speech, showing little regard for the one at the podium and droning on and on about the golden friggin corral, or how hot it is, or the epic saga of how you came to acquire this particular firearm. Point one is there's a time and place. Point two is never miss an opportunity to shut up and listen.
And a note to the organizers of the next one: The distrubution of pamphlets and such needs to be limited to the entrance/exit areas to minimize the associated distraction therein. And, if there was a published cast of characters (list of speakers, with maybe a bare-bones bio for each), I missed it. If there wasn't such, make a note of having one for the next rally. I'll be there.
Note to the law enforcement personnel: If you're hiding behind a wall, you appear as if you expect to be a target. On the other hand, those listening to and applauding the speeches are apt to be sorted into the "friendlies" column. Listening has a multitude of benefits. Hiding has comparitively few.
All in all, I enjoyed the rally, and was glad I went. Plus, I wished I'd have planned enough time around the event, before and after, to suitably appreciate the historical markers. Coming soon hopefully, a photo-essay field trip to King's Mountain.
We were there.
III
No comments:
Post a Comment