Voluntary submission to oppression

Now, before I go into this, a disclaimer. I know many of you will read this and think it’s trite and unimportant, but it’s actually very telling of the way a large number of Americans think, and exemplifies the apathy and ignorance of the population as a microcosm of our policy issues.

My friends and I went to see CAKE play at southwestern university last night, which is located in Georgetown, TX in the heart of Williamson county. Williamson county is oppressive to begin with, and for background you can read about their antics at www.eyeonwilliamson.org.

Anyway, I’ve known about the pitfalls of entering that jurisdiction for some time, but until yesterday, I’d never realized how cultural the oppression was. Sure, we waited in line for an hour because police were searching anyone that beeped when they went through the metal detector. Luckily, I thought ahead and tied my camera inside my jeans so they could not see the strap when I pulled my shirt up. Anyway, the event is not the point of this entry, but how it played after I made it in.

After the cover band, I made my way to the stage. I made it a point to let people know I only needed to get in front of them so I could get footage for youtube, but everyone just said the same thing, that I should have got there sooner. Still, I managed to make it about 5 feet from the stage. The whole time, people kept asking me WHY i had a camera, not how I got it in, but WHY I would sneak a camera in. When I told them I was a photographer I just got rude comments like “why don’t you have a press pass?” and “we have rules for a reason!”. I tried to explain, I asked the girls that were complaining about the camera if they wanted to stand in front of me, but they decided to call the stage manager and try to have my camera confiscated. Keep in mind these are 20 something students at southwestern university, the supposed free-thinkers of our country. Yet, all they could think about was that I was breaking the rules, They completely ignored my explanation that the rules were oppressive and arbitrary.

Anyway, after recording several songs from that vantage point, i decided to move back because i could tell they were conspiring. So i fell back 10 feet to a group of friends and had one hold my camera when i was not filming. I managed to fill my 4gb card and get 5 full songs recorded, and the closer to the end of the set it got, the more brazen i became, finally, with the second to last song i was doing a full hail mary got myself seen. luckily tho, it took them until the end of the song to find me in the crowd and escort me out. So, I missed one song, but I stood up to this subtle form of oppression and accomplished my goal.

I’ll post links to youtube when I get the media online.