In a recent activist meeting in preparation for <a href = “http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/007125.html”>the protests in Washington</a>, I was advised to wash my clothes and my body with <a href = “http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_386.html”>Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap</a> before the demos. Supposedly tear gas is chemically designed to stick to the oils on your skin and to ordinary soap. I checked the text on the bottle, and amidst the All-One-God-Faith stuff it says that Castile soap is made from vegetable fats and not animal fats, which I suppose is the rationale. Anybody heard about Castile soap’s anti-tear-gas effect? Anybody know the truth? I’ll tell my experiences when I get back from DC.
Dr. Bronner’s Soap: Because with a manifesto like ours, who needs tear gas?
Having been tear gassed a few times, my best advice is to just tough it out and don’t panic. I don’t know what the DC cops use but it’s probably pepper gas which is actually quite mild. But even if they’re using something stronger like CN, CS, or omega, keep in mind that none of this will kill you. About 75% of the effect of tear gas is psychological. You’ll think you’re suffocating, but you aren’t. Stay calm, avoid getting crushed in a crowd (in fact, the safest place to be is wherever the gas is heaviest), and keep reminding yourself that you’re not really as bad off as you feel like you are. And, hey, have fun.
One more thing. Your eyes are going to sting like hell and you’ll be overcome by the urge to rub them. DO NOT RUB THEM because if you do you will now have a new standard in your life for “things I wish I hadn’t done in retrospect”.
It’s the year 2000, and we have to worry about our own government teargassing at a protest? Pretty scary.
Quadell: Hee! Great zing, bar none!
[[In a recent activist meeting …]]
What kind, Matt? I haven’t been to one of those kind in, what, 28 years.
Jill
The teargassing doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) just happen because it’s a protest, but when the protest (for whatever reason) turns ugly. It turns to rioting, or looting, or vandalism, or some other unruly mob situation, then tear gas is used to disperse and subdue the crowd. Nicer than using bullets.
Peaceful protest is one thing, and is guaranteed under the Constitution. A violent protest endangering lives and property is quite another thing.
Anyone remember liquid banana peel? Another good way to take the edge off an unruly crown in a hurry.
Hunter Thompson, in his book FEAR AND LAOTHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72, also says don’t rub your eyes, dab them with a wet cloth. I remembered this to my advantage when some Army schmuck set off a CS tear gas canister he stole from Fort Bragg in the Greensboro Coliseum at a Kansas concert I was attending back in 1979. I hope he’s still in jail.
It was a consensus-building/information meeting prior to our trip to Washington.
Shouldn’t being the operative word. Although in general cops in DC were fairly even-handed (for riot cops) - I saw one officer pull another two officers off of a protester they were beating up - in the video footage I just watched of Seattle, the police fired teargas at peaceful protesters. And then, a dozen or so out of a very large number of protesters began to break things.
Which is why we don’t engage in them. (Picture an entire crowd of protesters chanting “We are peaceful! We are peaceful!”) Not that it seems to help. Apparently, certain police forces have better things to do than respect constitutional rights.
matt–I’ll have you know that I started an MPSIMS thread specifically about you and whether you were arrested etc. at the protest! It’s here and you should at least visit it!
Glad to hear everything went okay for you. (At least, it seems like it did…)
Those who are dancing look insane to those who cannot hear the music.
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