The Anti-Protester

[March 21st, 2007] About 15,000 Portlanders spent last Sunday afternoon rallying against the war in Iraq. I know of only three people who came out to support the war. I know, because I was one of them.

Carrying a Day-Glo orange sign that said, "Osama loves PDX liberals" and "Real Americans don't cut and run," I posed as a war supporter who wandered into a sea of war opponents at the rally March 18 in the South Park Blocks.

(I wore a freshly ironed blue shirt and tie. The Oregonian, which noted my presence as a counter-protester in its next-day story about the rally, correctly quoted the sign but called the shirt color white.)

Why do it? Because in a town that claims to believe in free speech, WW wanted to see what happens to those who don't parrot the popular line.

What followed was an hour and a half of ridicule, threats and condescension—peppered by a few high-fives from antiwar marchers for "having balls."

Once in the crowd, I easily attracted controversy, constantly approached by people either bemused or irate. No one touched me, and I never argued or shouted back.

But the limits of some Portlanders' tolerance quickly became apparent from protesters' comments:

"I think you should get the hell out of here before you get killed."

"Why are you even here? Just leave."

"Look, kids, that's the guy who likes the war. He's bad."

"Nice shirt. Nice tie. Fascist."

"You look just like a fucking Republican. The only thing missing is your head up Bush's ass."

The most common suggestion was to enlist in the military and go fight the war. Dozens of protesters branded me a "chicken hawk," as did a local blogger who posted photos after the rally.

But some also clearly relished the opportunity to engage the enemy. Lines formed of people waiting to get a piece. They questioned U.S. foreign policy and my morality like they were talking to a stubborn schoolkid. They suggested I "do some reading."

"A lot of people are brainwashed by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, and he's one of them," Peter Wylie, a 59-year-old photographer, told WW intern Nicholas Deshais, who followed me as a reporter to help with chronicling what happened.

Others were more welcoming, shaking hands and thanking me for showing up.

"He has every right under the First Amendment to express himself, but he is so far wrong," said Peter Hamer, a 49-year-old Navy veteran.

I was hugged by hippie chicks, handed free DVDs and hit on by a man in a pink fairy suit.

I was also accused more than once of being an "agent provocateur," planted by police to incite conflict. But conservatives may have found the protesters' signs—like "Hang Bush" and "Fuck corporate America"—just as inflammatory as the protesters found mine.

Deshais and I met two other pro-war protesters, after I changed my clothes, lost the sign and morphed back into straight reporting.

Steve Richards, 32, stood on Southwest Madison Street with a

sign reading, "Hey hippies—peace is not the answer, ask Hitler." As marchers took turns confronting him, Richards said he'd "been personally insulted 11 times."

Karen Addie of Milwaukie stood on Pioneer Courthouse Square with a pro-war sign, screaming at marchers to "remember what this country was built on." A 50-year-old mother of a son fighting in Afghanistan, she said the crowd was "mean," but didn't feel dissuaded.

"I believe in what I'm saying," Addie told the crowd. "I know I'm right. We need to pull together."

WW's day of protesting ended when I stepped out of a portable toilet at the rally and found my sign, which I'd left outside, torn up and stuffed in a trash can. I'll know better next year.