pointless and bizarre "protest"

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driving for an errand for work yesterday some old bitty was stationed outside the courthouse with a sign which read: "[insert x number here] people are infected with an incurable std every [insert x number of hours.]" i felt like rolling down my window and asking her what exactly she was protesting -for- but she was scary looking so i drove on.

― jess, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

what's the oddest protest sign you've ever seen? and was it always a lone nut? or actually a group of people with mysterious intentions...

― jess, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Anybody here been on Market St. in SF lately? Is that guy still there with all the anti-sex placards? "NO homoes NO masterbation NO lesbians NO sex out of WEDLOCK! NO prostution NO voyerism NO PORNO..." etc., every sexual activity (and some that aren't) known to man. He's got his work cut out for him in SF, that's for sure.

― dave q, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I asked him what was so evil about 'masterbation', as opposed to his other bugbears like 'coperphilia', 'orgys', etc. (This guy knew more terms than Krafft-Ebbing) "Masturbation is the worst of all, it's wasting the seed that must be kept within the marriage bed!" He seemed like a really cheerful sort, as well. I admire people who go against the grain of their environment.

― dave q, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There used to be a man on Oxford St, who had a placard saying that the end of the world was nigh and that we should all repent by basically becoming celibate vegans and that one could buy a pamflet for 10p. He was an institution.

― Ed, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Anyone remember the 'too much consumption of nuts promotes excessive marital passion' (or something similar) guy who used to parade up and down Oxford Street with sandwich board? I bought a pamphlet from him once. I suppose he must be dead now...

― David Inglesfield, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ah...yes the same man.

― David Inglesfield, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

he died abt ten yrs ago i think: he is mentioned in ackroyd's book

LESS PASSION FROM SITTING DOWN!! And yet they called him mad!

― mark s, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the pamphlets cost 11p!!

― mark s, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

there's a photo of him in the Biography of London isn't there?

― chris, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There are always Lyndon LaRouchites outside Hoboken's main post office. Talk about scary!

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There was a man who used to stand on the centre island just by Methodist Hospital's Planned Parenthood clinic, dressed in 'hunter' clothes, waving a 'foetus' placard. Our school bus went by him every day, and every day I saved some kind of food-related rubbish missile to chuck at him from the relative comfort of my window seat. The people who do this kind of 'pro-life' thing are *always* men.

― suzy, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There was a woman here who protested against the camera's in the womens toilets to Executive Board last week. I had already told her that they were overflow pipes, but she believed people wanted to photo her crap.

― Pete, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but suzy, at least with pro-lifers you know what they're protesting for. ;)

― jess, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hace you ever been to Ireland, Suzy?

― Venga, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

when i was in Paris having a pootle around the Musee d'Orsay there was suddenly this terrrible commotion, shouting and fuss outside the gift shop. i thought at the very least that it was a bomb scarre or something. it turned out that the Parisian archaeologists were protesting about lack of government funding, or something. English archaeologists that i have met are nowhere near as militant - i was quite impressed!

― katie, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, Venga, I've never been to Ireland but am well familiar with Spuc. I'm talking about the absurdity/bizarreness of the Lone Centre Island Protestor because he was in front of that clinic every damn day, despite me chucking half-eaten Sno Balls at him whenever I had the chance.

― suzy, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

saw three old ladies outside sheffield town hall with a QUAKERS FOR PEACE placard the other day. seems like a bit of an ambitious goal for three old ladies. but anyway, go Quakers!

― ambrose, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

While waiting for a bus outside a porn theatre in Passaic, NJ, Mister Winters and I were treated to crazy ol sign-waving coot who had not spelled out the things he found so repugnant. Sign read: NO L_ _ _SE, YOU WILL GO TO HELL FOR P_ _ _ _ _ _ER, etc etc. Never did figure out WHAT was being protested.

NB: Purpose of standing near porn theatre was only to catch the bus. I swear.

― Pyth, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

aw, bless the quakers, one of the few religious sects i have much time for (although admittedly i don't know that much about them, but they are responsible for lots of chocolate, so that must be a good thing).

Anyway, some bizzarre grafitti has appeared around oxford over the past week or so, which i assume is some sort of protest or possibly just mentalism. Outside Magdalen College someone has sprayed"the ballad of reading gaol" on the pavement, outside Trinity, "mugabe", and outside the Bod, most perplexing of the lot, the phrase "ted heath is still fiddling with his organ". I assume the first two are reference to alumni, but god only knows what the ted heath one's about. they are all clearly by the same person in the same black spray paint, and there may be more, but these are the ones i pass every day...

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Quaker chocolate WHAT? Explain yourself, Carsmile.

― Pyth, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

San Francisco is unbeatable here. There used to be a millenial-type guy that hung out at Market and New Montgomery WITH A FUCKING BULLHORN. What kind of brass balls do you have to have to be standing on the busiest corner in town with a bullhorn all day long, screaming at people that they're going to hell? I admired him.

Also, some San Francisco residents can tell you about the guy who's covered his rusted-out van with articles he's written that claim author Stephen King murdered John Lennon. He's got photographs and a 50,000 word screed all over the vehicle. They're covered in plastic, like actually laminated to the truck.

― Mark, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

not really a protest per se, but there was a crazy old guy who kind of jigged in place on a downtown corner here and had all kinds of signs all over himself proclaiming himself "RAoUL THee DAnCInG MaCHiNE", but cheated himself out of many liberal dollars with the caveat "NO HOMOSEX!!!" at the bottom of each sign.

Oddly, I spotted him contentedly jigging his little heart out as the Gay Pride parade passed his spot, leading me to wonder how much he really knew or cared about "HOMOSEX".

― fritz, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Surprisingly, I'm gonna be the first NYC-metro area person to bring up the Black Israelites. Dunno exactly what their beef or beliefs are, but I do know that they're a bunch of dreadlocked black guys with big Stars of David running around Times Square who like to shout profanities at passers-by.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

oh laurel, mr cadbury and mr rowntree and mr fry (quakers all, if i remember my GCSE history correctly) all went into the choccie producing business to counter the EVILS of GIN and SLOTH in 19th century england. and then spent all their (if you will) chocolate money on building nice villages (cf bournville in birmingham) for their workers to live in. however as my potential brother-in-law (ie sister's boyf who is good bloke) found out, living in areas built by quakers 150 years ago means there are NO PUBS for miles and miles...

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oo do they park themselves at Herald Square, as well? I think I've seen them on the corner by Korea-town.

― Pyth, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

what's the oddest protest sign you've ever seen?

"DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING!"

Admittedly, only on Father Ted

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

dreadlocked black guys with big Stars of David.

don't Rastas consider themselves a lost tribe of Israel or something?

― fritz, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I saw a fella at a party wearing a badge that said NEVER TRUST A KING.

Badgeman:'And you know I've thought about it a lot and it's true because I'm not a king and you can't trust me.'

Bystander:'Well, in that case, I don't think you've thought about it at all.'

Badgeman: 'Fuck off you cunt.'

― Nancy Drew, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This is my favorite ILE thread ever. It is funny in itself but it is also exciting because i'm finishing up Illuminatus (which could be considered a form of pointless and bizarre protest) and when I first clicked there were 23 new messages. Duuuude.

― Maria, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I've seen this van parked on Telegraph several times. It's the most amazing thing ever.

― Kris, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not a pointless protest but definitely a dogged and partly successful protest of a cobbler in Durham.

― Billy Dods, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

today there were all these signs up that siad a condom cant cure a broken heart , so i cut and pasted the word cynicsm over condom and red markered the t from cant .

― anthony, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The people who do this kind of 'pro-life' thing are *always* men.

theres a lone guy who does that outside the dunedin public hospital too.

― di, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The people who do this kind of 'pro-life' thing are *always* men.

Hang on a minute, that's not true. One of the pro-life leaders in Ireland is a young woman, for example. I'm sure you're right that the majority are men, but saying things like that is counter-productive because people can then turn around and score a point off you by saying "Uh-uh honey, last time I looked I was a woman and I'm a pro-life activist so that's your argument blown out of the water".

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

standing in a public space with electronic amplification for yourself, with nobody else's consent = height of rudeness.

― Alan Trewartha, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nick, Di and I both refer to the 'lone protestor' who maintains his vigil dayafterdayafterday. Women tend to do their pro-life work in packs, and at least they're not the ones shooting the clinic doctors.

― suzy, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My favourite classic loony is the guy who carries a placard down the main street of Sydney proclaiming 'Digital tv is a plot by the government and the CIA to WARP YOUR MINDS (they're also at the tapwater)'. Which, given the copout that is digital TV in Oz (200 sets sold in the whole country) seems a bit of a futile effort by the (omniscient) powers that be...

― charles m, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The pro life people here are the bane of my life. Every time I walk by their permanent Saturday station on College Green they hassle me more than anyone else it seems. I don't know why. I feel unfairly victimised. Also it's not worth getting in a debate with them because I am busy with other things like walking and going home.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh yeah, fair enough suzy. I should have read your post properly. Mind you, lone gunmen in any context are pretty much always men, so that's not really a surprise. I realise that's a tautology, but whoever heard of a lone gunwoman? Men are such idiots.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Aw now I think generalisation in this case is a vvvv bad thing and I don't really want to touch it with a bargepole as I do know one sole woman who is vehemently pro-life and an evil piece of baggage and attitudes saying "it's just men" don't tackle the whole issue as something that seriously affects both genders. I'm sorry, I didn't reply first time as I thought no-one could take that seriously. I'm sure you believe there's a lot of men who protest as a 'moral crusade' rather than 'as a member of xxx' but don't discount women from that. Not at all.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh come on Nick, stop generalising. Some men are such idiots surely? There are those like yourself who berate such men who surely aren't such idiots.

― Pete, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ronan - next time you walk that way carry a bent coat hanger with a tomato stuck on the end of it, and wave it around

― dave q, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i stood outside iceland in clapham high street with a page out of my ink exercise jotter saying prices down written on it and no one noticed except copper fascist bastard who nicked me so yeh that was pontless.

― XStatic Peace, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No Pete, I'm an idiot too. I'm going to stand firm on this one. ALL MEN ARE IDIOTS.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well certainly professing your idiocy is an idiotic thing to do so I cannot disagree with you there. But rest assured, I am not an idiot.

A dolt maybe, but not an idiot.

― Pete, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Then you don't get to be a man.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am not taking that from a whippersnapper.

― Pete, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I realise that's a tautology, but whoever heard of a lone gunwoman?

Valerie Solanas?

― Nicole, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I won't be called a whippersnapper by an idiot.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Valerie Solanas?

I've never heard of her.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm not an idiot, I'm a dolt. You are the one who is keen to be an idiot, whippersnapper.

Good call Nicole.

― Pete, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

keep fooling yourself idiot.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pete is a fool. As are all men. And indeed many women.

― Emma, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

how about the Protest Naked people you see at glastonbury every year? ewwww.

― rener, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Valerie was the one who shot Andy Warhol, N.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nineteen years pass...

https://i.imgur.com/krYJcCq.jpg

― calstars, Sunday, 11 July 2021 15:59 (four years ago)

That’s a dilbert joke from like 30 years ago I’m afraid

― Clara Lemlich stan account (silby), Sunday, 11 July 2021 16:01 (four years ago)

Wow, we sure were always itching for a fight back then, weren't we?

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Sunday, 11 July 2021 20:30 (four years ago)

for real!

compare that to the polite conversation with the cashier while you first step up to the main conveyor belt zone that was The 200,000th Thread Anticipation, Celebration, & Physical Fights Thread

they don't even physically fight these days

― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Sunday, 11 July 2021 20:35 (four years ago)

what's the oddest protest sign you've ever seen? and was it always a lone nut? or actually a group of people with mysterious intentions...

houseless person at Starbucks protest had a sign that said “COFFEE MAKES PEOPLE POOP”

― brimstead, Sunday, 11 July 2021 21:10 (four years ago)

i dunno sounds like a show of support

― maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 11 July 2021 21:29 (four years ago)

there was a dude standing on the sidewalk years ago who listed all of the local radio stations on his sign, wrote that they were "skum" and wrote "PAY ME RESTITUTION" at the bottom.

nobody paid him much attention.

― not up to Aerosmith standards (Neanderthal), Sunday, 11 July 2021 21:40 (four years ago)

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