(I'll completely understand if you don't read through this entire thing. It's a bit longwinded and doesn't really come to any viable conclusion.)
When it comes to protests and rallies of the sort, San Antonio is not quite high on the list as a hotbead of activity. Sure, groups will gather, chant slogans and march to the Alamo. But it's not a Seattle, or Washington D.C., or even Austin, where there is seemingly a daily protest at the steps of the state capital.
In San Antonio activist groups seem to have trouble finding sheer numbers of people who believe in their cause so much to get them to disrupt their weekend for drive into downtown. So you end up with small to medium sized groups, many consisting largely of anti-establishment types recruited to march. These are the ones that love a good protest, no matter what the cause. Ask them a few good questions about the 'cause' and you'll find they don't know much. But they're out there, ready to exercise their freedom. They get to march through the streets, banging on makeshift bongos, chanting catchy slogans and feeling like they are flirting with the law. They are the ones who yell admonishments about trusting the 'mainstream media' — the same mainstream media they sent press releases to to get coverage of their march. These are the same people who cover their faces with bandanas, as if there is some covert federal operative secretly recording the event for a future bust. They are the ones who, if you ask their name for ID in a caption, they go into a long rant about rights to privacy (yes, the people walking in a group on public streets, carrying signs, yelling through a megaphone at bystanders — they're the ones who want privacy!) Fine, I didn't want your name anyway. Oh, and by the way, nothing says 'poser' more than someone who doesn't want to give their name in support of a cause.
Saturday, I had an opportunity to cover a last-minute march through downtown. The day's topic: the Federal Reserve Bank. They want it abolished.
Cool. More power to them.
They gathered in front of the Federal Reserve, waved signs and chanted slogans before starting their march to the Alamo.
They were a nice bunch. They obeyed traffic signals, came ready with pamphlets to hand out to bystanders.
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There was a young lady carrying a large sign who 'looked the part.' I focused on her for a few moments, making her picture as she flashed a peace sign and chanted slogans.
Later, I approached her and asked her name. She was very pleasant and replied rather apologetically "No, I'd rather not. No offense."
I told her that was cool. I understand. She's exercising her rights.
Then she offered she could give me a fake name. I told her we don't make a habit of running fake names, but if she gave me a name there was not really any way I could know if she was lying. We don't make a habit of asking for official identification. We just do our due diligence.
She was about to give me her name when I told her I would use the camera's built-in audio recorder to record her name. She balked. She didn't want her voice being recorded.
So I got out a pen and paper and after a moment of hesitation she offered her name: "Madeline Cook."
Over the years, I've learned little tricks here and there that help me do my job. One of the tricks: when I think someone is giving me a fake name, I'll butcher it when spelling it out to see if they correct me.
So I start "M-A-D-D-A-I-L-L-A-N-E..."
"No," she said, and corrected the spelling. "M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E."
Now I knew. It may not have been hers, but she was giving me a
real name.
"I didn't know it was possible to mis-spell a fake name," I said.
"It's my grandmothers name," she said.
So, this young lady is skeptical, or fearful, or believes some sort of conspiracy theory to the point the she doesn't want
her name known, or even
her voice recorded, but she's ready to offer up her grandmother's name? Does this make sense? Am I overblowing this whole thing? Probably. But it's been weighing on my mind. Why would someone sell their own grandmother out like that?
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