“Agitators are a set of interfering meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow seeds of discontent among them. This is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary.” Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism,” 1891.
In my last brief treatise I alluded to the courage and conviction of Peggy Hutchinson, a Methodist lay worker, who risked being apprehended and jailed in the mid-1980s for her commitment to transporting Central Americans across U.S. borders who were escaping violence and torture in their country. She ended up a convicted felon. Frankly, I admire anyone who shows up in person to deal with a contentious issue in public; those willing to be judged, lose their job, be humiliated, arrested, incarcerated and/or physically assaulted. There has to be an element of fear and maybe a bit of terror among those who choose to stand up, sit down or step over the line to protest something and remain to face the consequences.
I’m old enough to know about the messy demonstrations in Chicago in the mid-60s, a cultural uprising not unlike the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ phenomenon in some ways. What we may miss in watching the news or reading about demonstrators no matter what we think about them is the personal panic and fear they might be experiencing in those settings. Some may be harboring an element of dread that angry passersby could decide to assault them at any moment. There is always the possibility of a few protestors jumping in on a lark and others creating havoc and causing the police to become overly aggressive. Committed protesters may also sense at some point that there are citizens across the country watching the news that will not care about one’s physical welfare in such situations.
When I was reminded of Peggy’s ordeal while writing about her I thought I had never come near feeling what she may have been experiencing. But then I remembered the fright I felt after attending a Lenten service sponsored by my United Methodist denomination near a nuclear test site in Nevada in 2000. We were protesting future nuclear testing. We figured our country possessed enough missiles. I had not intended to step over a specific line in the sand where an arresting officer was waiting to handcuff trespassers but I did. The panic was minimized by the fact no one who took such action up to that time had ever been jailed. If convicted they could be imprisoned for six months. My concern had to do with a remote possibility of being incarcerated and having to explain to a new church to which I was about to be appointed that I might be delayed for a few months before reporting for duty.
I assumed I had avoided any deep-seated fear regarding my decision to participate in the protest but then two years later the terror set in. A friend of a friend who was being interviewed for a security clearance by a government official within the aircraft/space industry was asked “Do you happen to know a Willard Robert Stevens, Junior, who also goes by Buzz?” For a split second it was a little flattering to know that the country I love had taken notice of me. But in the next second paranoia took hold and in the third second a cold blast of sheer fear hit me.
Anybody – and I mean anybody – who chooses to put their body on the line for any controversial cause has to be prepared to have the absolute bejeebers scared out of them. So, I’d recommend wearing a diaper or a Depend, depending on your age, whenever it feels absolutely necessary to become an agitator. Yeah, that’ll do it, and you might want to consider holding onto the protective wear until you’re pretty certain you’ve dodged a bullet.