By Tabitha Hale
Today union thugs descended on the FreedomWorks office. It was the middle of the day and there was some excitement outside as all the buses pulled up and people started to fill the courtyard. We decided to go out and show our support for freedom. Intern Steve was quickly suited up.
We wandered around talking to people and saw the buses lined up on the street. NEA AFT SEIU and CWA signs dominated - a veritable whos who" of union thuggery to be sure. They all had on matching tee shirts and printed signs as is to be expected.
I was taking pictures and video with my phone and I heard my coworker getting into a heated exchange with one of the protesters. I turned on my iPhone camera and headed over to film it.
They were going back and forth the protester called my colleague a little sh*t" just as I walked up which is where the video starts. Then he noticed I was filming.
Heres what happened:
Basically its ridiculous. Im a 5′1 female in a dress and he was standing up on a garden wall above me in the courtyard. He hardly felt threatened. I was stunned because generally protesters are there to you know get their message out.
They dont normally shy away from the camera.
Im very much okay and very appreciative of the support from my fellow bloggers and activists today. I am however shaken up by the level of sheer hatred I experienced today.
The look of fury on his face in the close up is appalling.
I had not exchanged a word with him. He didnt know who I was. He didnt even know my name what I do.
He had probably surmised that I was with FreedomWorks and that was enough.
This just cant be tolerated anymore. Its one thing to be called a violent teabagger. Its another to be called a violent teabagger while youre being assaulted.
Theyve been comparing themselves to the Egyptians ousting Mubarak. Looks like theyre not too far off given that they share the tendency to assault women with cameras.
In addition its disgusting to me that the first response I received from the Left was rationalization.
You were too close respect personal space" and well he obviously didnt want to be filmed!"
Essentially its the her skirt was too short" defense. No one deserves to be hit. The concern from a bystander was that Youll get on the news stop it!" Unfortunately for him he did not know who he was dealing with. I will ensure that this happens.
I was not asking for this. There was no confrontation between the thug and myself prior to this.
He had not asked me to put the camera away. I was not as close as the video implies (it was cropped from a vertical iPhone video so it would fit on youtube).
I was simply filming a protest as I have done for the past two years. Amazingly enough none of those crazy right wing extremists ever hit me.
At this point Im grateful we moved to a higher security building last month. For a bunch of violent racists the Left sure seems to be comfortable threatening and attacking us.
We must really suck as bullies.
