The Shops at Columbus Circle (NYC’s version of a mall) are a fun place to visit if you’re in the city during the holiday season.
As you come down the escalator from the second floor, you see pretty dangling glass objects against a huge window, through which you can see Columbus Circle, so you get the pleasantly incongruous sensation of being born aloft as you descend.
I dropped in yesterday as I was in the area. As I exited, I realized that I had run into a pro-Palestinian demonstration and my holiday mood deflated. But only for a nanosecond. I decided to check out the proceedings clinically. I took a few pictures and vamoosed but before I left, I did engage with one of the protestors who was circulating among pedestrians and shoppers on the sidewalk. Carefully, no theatrics, nothing provocative.
“What do you think about the situation in Syria?” I asked.
“What situation?”
“Aleppo. It’s fallen to rebels.”
“The Israelis are behind that.”
“No, the Turks.”
“Right,” he said. I think he was trolling me. Or perhaps not. I don’t care. The utter futility of this demonstration juxtaposed with the momentous events of the day became so apparent. I said “thanks,” and walked north to cross Broadway to Central Park.
The photos on X of this demo are misleading. There are ways to photograph crowds so that they look larger, more dense and menacing than they are.
Trust me, this demo was a few hundred jerks confined to a small area. Access to and from the shops (it’s one large building) was unimpeded. I felt in no way threatened or upset. In the mall, or a half a block away, you wouldn’t have known they were there.
My feelings are a total 180 from how I felt last summer, when looking at the same people trying to interrupt graduation ceremonies and rampaging at will made me feel threatened and enraged. This time, I just looked at these pathetic losers and felt close to pity. Almost. I haven’t lost my mind, just my fear.
Finally, a video for those of you who can stomach their inane chanting.
These people are zombies. The fighting in Syria is making them turn on each other. It’s all over X. Pro-Pal crazy accounts are calling each other “Zionists” — Sunni nationalists are turning on Shi’a…. they’ve gone openly batshit.
They’re the ones who are cracking, not Israel.
Before I left the area, I encountered a woman in a keffiyeh handing out leaflets. I smiled at her.
“You’re pathetic,” I said, and walked home.
Thanks for the report. We don’t see much of their foolish behavior in MT.
Your pics reminded me of Michael Savage's poems about leftists. He calls them 'Condo Commies' among other things. They are all True Believers and hate America. That's at the core. They transfer their hatred of life and God and turn it on America and normal people. I had a writer friend, a Vietnam vet friend. He got caught up in 'Move On (from democrat scandals)' and I couldn't stomach him after that.