The Poor Man's Improv

from www.stephaniesyjuco.com

One great thing about living in the rich world is knowing when protests will happen. Interest groups, eager for attention, get the word out for a specific time, date and location for when they need to whine about really important things.

What makes this all happen so anti-climactically is the requisite that these protests be registered. Local officials have the right to know when people want to organize and march for zany left- or right-wing issues like human rights or the KKK.

Here's my question: where do those massive protests in the third world come from?? You know the ones - loud, racist chants in favor of a political party, molotov cocktails, people with beards...the kind of clips we see in movies about the apocalypse.

Some ragamuffins in the slums of a developing world megalopolis are most likely not going to register with the government - some shady domestic spy agency would probably chop off their hands if they did. And we know Twitter's out of the question.

a facebook group, perhaps?

So how does it start? An unemployed young man watches Gigli on network TV and decides he can't take it anymore. A friend sees him, instantly gets the message, and grabs his matches. Another friend brings along one of the flags from his burning-only collection...and the snowball effect has begun.

Maybe these start out of boredom? A dare? A double-dog dare?

I'd rather not blame unemployment, low wages or lack of representative government. They always seem to catch flak and, frankly, they're starting to sound like excuses.

Third world - throw me a bone, here.