Merli: Cantor and his laughable scare tactics

It’s precious few times in these unsettling days that I actually laugh out loud. Once in a while when watching “Modern Family” or “30 Rock,” to be sure, or upon hearing a rare good joke. But when I heard Rep.

Eric Cantor, R-Va., the other day voice grave concerns to his fellow uber-conser­vatives over the “growing mobs” in those almost comically underorganized “Occupy Wall Street” sit-ins/ sleep-ins, I literally laughed out loud.

It was either that or cry — and I got all my crying out of the way the last time I opened my 401(k) statement. I’m not totally sure what Eric Cantor’s middle name is, but if his initial is “H,” I bet it stands for Hypocrite. Obvi­ously the young Virginia law­maker has never really seen a “mob” in action before. Mobs storm across public squares in mostly non-democratic countries and wreak seri­ous civil unrest and often bloodshed. Mobs are unruly, ignore the law, and represent imminent danger to all those who come within striking distance. (And in the movies, all respectable mobs carry fiery torches and, on occa­sion, pitchforks.) In sharp contrast, these urban campouts going on right now in Manhattan, Freedom Square in Wash­ington, Chicago, Des Moines and a few dozen other cities, may be a bit rudderless in their myriad causes — and attract all sorts of people of all ages for all sorts of reasons — but they’re as peaceful as a church picnic. These guys seek police permits for their presence, bring their own camping equipment, put up message boards, and the biggest challenge for some of them is finding “power” to charge their laptop batter­ies. For the most part, this is a crowd you can leave your kids with, if the babysitter calls in sick.

Unlike many turbulent 1960s demonstrations over civil rights and Vietnam (some of which truly bor­dered on “mob” mental­­ity), today’s growing outcry against Wall Street has no sin­gle leader, and therefore, no cohesive message. To which I say, more power to them!

I’m only amazed that some form of visible public discord over the gross inequities of the past three years didn’t happen sooner. But holding a fear of “growing mobs,” Eric?

Give us a break. You must have led a very sheltered life down in central Virginia.

We know some of these guys in New York City and D.C. have a lot of time on their hands because they can’t find decent jobs. Some are students, some just curi­ous at what all the fuss (and media attention) is about.

A handful might even be diehard anarchists — with a dash of socialists, Democrats, independents, retired folks, the hyperactive, the highly educated and the totally clueless — all thrown in for good measure. Yeah, and?

What ever their own story or special grip (if any), they have a right to peaceably assemble and squawk to their heart’s content. Weird GOP charges of roving mobs, seeding “divisiveness,” “class warfare” and “pitting Americans against each other” (some of Herman Cain’s words) are both silly and a little big dangerous at the same time. Voicing displeasure over perceived societal ills is as American as apple pie and smartphones, and peaceful demonstrations have always been a popular venue to reach the powerful by the masses.

It’s what we do — and often do well — that many other nations cannot do without serious bloodshed, torture, prison time, and other nasty consequences. And, of course, peaceably assem­bling and shouting to all who would listen were the same tactics recently employed by the Tea Party (another move­ment, endorsed by Eric Can­tor, without any real leader).

This is America, Eric. It’s what we do. And that’s no laughing matter. 

Merli, a Prince William resident since 1984, has been a columnist for this newspaper since 1985. He has worked in the media for more than 30 years.

Email j.merli@comcast.net.