that there is a gross inconsistency on treatment of protests, without regard for how peaceful or violent they are, based on who the protesters are and what they are protesting.

Example:

It is getting harder and harder for pro-life protesters to peacefully assemble with signs on public sidewalks. These protests can be completely silent and leave plenty of room on the sidewalk for people to pass, and they are treated harshly, insulted, sometimes threatened, and have cities, courts, and police try to chase them off more and more frequently. (Note: Not all pro-life protests are like this, but some of the most extreme actions (that I have witnessed or read about from credible sources) taken against pro-life protests have been against the quietest and most peaceful protests.)

The TEA Party has rallies that are peaceful, neat, and clean. They collect all the appropriate permits. They obey the laws. They come, have their rally/protest (when applicable), and leave. They proclaim a clear, ideological message. They self-regulate, meaning that people that try to join them proclaiming unacceptable messages of racism and hate are removed as they are clearly NOT what the TEA Party is about. People opposed to the TEA party try to infiltrate carrying unacceptable messages. They try to infiltrate to cause division. They are sometime violent and disruptive in their protest from without. In the Media, the TEA Party is presented only as a bunch of angry, racist, gun-grabbing, (presumably wealthy) white men. It is almost impossible to get a major news report on the TEA Party that doesn’t call them racist, at least outside the blogosphere or Fox News. Those accusations are, of course, based on what the reporters WANT to believe about the TEA Party, not on anything that has actually been witnessed about them.

Now consider OWS. The threats and violence they receive are almost exclusively from their own people. Sure, they get insulted from outside their movement, but most of us seem to appreciate occasionally insulting people that are openly broadcasting their personal stupidity. Of course, most of the insulting also happens in personal or internet discussions, not large groups of people that hate them and what they believe walking up to them and shouting insults at them while trying to intimidate them into leaving. Well, back on point. Rather than peacefully protesting in public areas for a short time (a few hours, etc), they settle down (occupy) areas, frequently illegally, for long periods of time while trying to demand stuff that isn’t theirs. They gather wherever they deem fit, with or without permits, apparently now believing that they can setup their protests on/inside private property without permission or fear of consequence. In spite of all this, they are still generally the media darlings. Most news reporting ignores their ‘little’ problems (like rape, theft, assault, murder), and downplays or fails to report those issues OR other illegal activities. When reported, such reports try to make it appear the unusual exception to the rule AND as if they are counter to the movement. The OWS movement in general is about wanting the persons, property, money, or life of other people without actually having to earn it, and taking it from those people if the OWS members cannot have such themselves. It is an entire MOVEMENT based on taking what is not yours from others just because they have it and you want it. So it is an entire movement based on theft (with the justification for assault, rape, and murder under certain circumstances). Now they are gathering inside private businesses to attempt to disrupt the businesses and the business customers. It was nice to see them being treated in accordance with the law, which all-too-rarely happens with OWS.

Considering this huge double-standard in treatment of protesting, I’d love to see one thing in a news report.

Compare OWS videos like this with a hidden camera of 1 person doing the following in a Planned Parenthood clinic:

1. Sitting silently in the lobby/waiting area.
2. Handing each woman entering a brochure detailing the organizations (and there are such organizations, though still fewer than needed) that will help a girl/woman with carrying a child to term, including handling the medical costs of pregnancy and childbirth, and that will then assist that woman in putting the child up for adoption.

That is it. Never say anything. Hide in a corner when nobody is around. I guarantee a few things would happen.

1. The media that didn’t have the video (and I suggest releasing comparative videos about a week into coverage) would present this action as worse that it was.
2. The person with the brochures would be lucky to get 2 distributed before being forced to leave, possibly with police escort and all that fun booking stuff.
3. If the police were involved and an arrest happened, bail would not happen for at least 24 hours with 48-72 being more likely.

Why do I guarantee those three things? Because people doing little more than that on the sidewalks OUTSIDE such places have been arrested. (By ‘little more’, I mean that rather than being silent while handing out such brochures, they were encouraging people to consider choosing life and noting that they could be helped with any problems that might raise.)

Now don’t get me wrong. Abortion is NOT my pet issue. I believe personally that it is the wrongful taking of a life and should thus be illegal. I also believe that such is an issue that states should decide for and by themselves, not an appointed (not elected) court, listening to perjury and fraudulent claims, making an often misrepresented, misreported, and misinterpreted decision by judicial fiat.

It is just the difference in behavior and treatment of the Pro-Life protesters verses the OWS protesters is one of the best for demonstrating the double-standard being applied.