# Protester Climbs Statue of Liberty, Forces Evacuation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 4, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296 "2018-07-04T20:25:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/21 "2018-07-05T00:06:18Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > No shit. She was non violent and protesting. Some people are having a stroke because they think every holiday should be spent singing endless praises of the troops. They’re pissed off the cops didn’t pick her off with a rifle. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/22 "2018-07-05T03:31:28Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Check the statue for toenail polish. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Funny!😉 Come on, admit it. You were thinking she should have painted the statue’s toenails as long as she was up there, weren’t you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/23 "2018-07-05T05:19:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Come on, admit it. You were thinking she should have painted the statue’s toenails as long as she was up there, weren’t you? 😉 Yes, yes I was. I thought of that years ago during my train tagging days. Alas, never got close enough to the great lady. ---
**Author:** ![sweepkick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/24 "2018-07-05T06:15:10Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > The “causes” of the Left are beyond reproach. Whatever their means to get issues resolved in their favor are justified. Lying, cheating, stealing, destruction of property, injury and even death to their opposition, police or even innocent bystanders are all well within the bounds of getting their way. How dare you even consider your inconvenience to be relevant?! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/25 "2018-07-05T06:40:54Z")
The right is having a real hissyfit over what is really a relatively minor incident. I suspect that they’re more concerned about the message than about any violation of government property. Regarding the evacuation of the island; one reason for doing it may be concern over the possibility that there might be more protestors in the crowd preparing to do who knows what. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/26 "2018-07-05T12:20:48Z")
To the folks whining about being inconvenienced… it’s not much of a protest if it’s easily ignored. I’ve also gone from amused to alarmed regarding the way the Right is pearl-clutching and hyperventilating over this incident. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/27 "2018-07-05T12:40:23Z")
According to the link, there were forty-some other members of a group calling itself Rise and Resist, but she climbed the statue on her own. Apparently the protester is an immigrant from the Congo [who complains a lot](https://nypost.com/2018/07/04/statue-of-liberty-climber-identified-as-immigrant-activist/). I suppose it is unworthy of me to suggest leaving her up there next time, and selling water balloons to the spectators. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/28 "2018-07-05T12:52:55Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > It’s just too bad someone can’t manage to instead climb the Statue of Freedom atop the US Capitol and swap out that ridiculous head-dress looking helmet that Jefferson Davis insisted on instead of the original design of a [Phrygian “liberty cap”](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap) and all its freed slave symbology. > I’m only sort of kidding. Details for a confused furriner, please? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/29 "2018-07-05T13:44:36Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > To the folks whining about being inconvenienced… it’s not much of a protest if it’s easily ignored. it’s also not much of a protest if all you do is piss off the people whose minds you want to change and make them despise you more. doesn’t help that most “protesters” are young people who haven’t learned that it takes a lot more than loud chants or just being a pain in the ass to effect change. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/30 "2018-07-05T14:10:34Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > To the folks whining about being inconvenienced… it’s not much of a protest if it’s easily ignored. > > I’ve also gone from amused to alarmed regarding the way the Right is pearl-clutching and hyperventilating over this incident. Maybe they were thinking it was the opening salvo of Alex Jones’ Liberal Civil War that was supposed to begin July 4. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/31 "2018-07-05T14:12:59Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > it’s also not much of a protest if all you do is piss off the people whose minds you want to change and make them despise you more. Haters gonna hate regardless. Maybe all those people back in the 50’s and 60’s shouldn’t have had bus boycotts and sat in the “wrong” seats and go to lunch counters and march because all it did was piss some people off and make them despite the protesters more? A protest that isn’t heard or seen is useless. > [@](#): > > doesn’t help that most “protesters” are young people who haven’t learned that it takes a lot more than loud chants or just being a pain in the ass to effect change. Yeah, but I think the chanting and pain-in-ass aspects are part of the whole. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/32 "2018-07-05T14:35:11Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > According to the link, there were forty-some other members of a group calling itself Rise and Resist, but she climbed the statue on her own. Apparently the protester is an immigrant from the Congo [who complains a lot](https://nypost.com/2018/07/04/statue-of-liberty-climber-identified-as-immigrant-activist/). > > I suppose it is unworthy of me to suggest leaving her up there next time, and selling water balloons to the spectators. > > Regards, > Shodan Would it be unworthy of you to read your own cites? That article mentions exactly one complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/33 "2018-07-05T14:42:18Z")
It depends on what you consider “complaining”, and “a lot”. > [@](#): > > Specifically, Okoumou claimed that in 2005, she was treated “in a demeaning manner” by her bosses and told that she would be fired “for complaining of discrimination.” It’s unclear why her complaint was tossed out. > > In 2011, Okoumou made headlines after she was hit with an astounding 60 violations for illegally posting ads for her services as a personal trainer. > > The Department of Sanitation slapped her with $4,500 in fines that year after she spent five hours one Sunday posting the fliers on Manhattan utility poles. > > In 2017, she was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration, unlawful assembly and trespassing during a demonstration at the Department of Labor building on Varick Street. She had allegedly covered her mouth with tape and refused to respond to police demands. I would consider this “a lot”. YMMV. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/34 "2018-07-05T14:47:33Z")
See, this proves that life is not a video game. If it were, she’d have climbed all the way to the top of the torch and then made a leap of faith into New York Harbor. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/35 "2018-07-05T15:06:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It depends on what you consider “complaining”, and “a lot”. I would consider this “a lot”. YMMV. > > Regards, > Shodan Still seeing just the one complaint there. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/36 "2018-07-05T15:47:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Erring on the side of caution can be a real pain in the ass. > [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > Agreed, but… there’s always a but. I always have to look at it from their perspective. An unknown powder was distributed in a public area. Now you can claim now, with the benefit of hindsight that the security force over reacted. Fine, good on you. Prove to me here and now that the security force knew, at the time that the evacuation order was given, that there was no danger. Can you prove to me what they _knew at that time_? > > Considering the public opinion backlash not to mention the potential for loss of life, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Yeah; I’m not really saying they’re wrong, just a pain in the ass. It’s easy to say “oh, we’re just closing the museum for a while, no big deal.” For me it was a big deal. I went to a fair bit of trouble and expense to be there. That’s probably even more true for the Statue of Liberty. For how many people was this their dream trip, their one chance to visit this famous landmark? In my case, they announced that the museum was closing for the rest of the day. I had several hours until my flight and no place else to go, so I hung around the museum. A few other people must have had the same idea, and also stayed. They did reopen after a couple hours, and I saw most of what I wanted to, but not quite all. I haven’t been back, but I will someday. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/37 "2018-07-05T16:47:45Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > In my case, they announced that the museum was closing for the rest of the day. I had several hours until my flight and no place else to go, so I hung around the museum. A few other people must have had the same idea, and also stayed. They did reopen after a couple hours, and I saw most of what I wanted to, but not quite all. I haven’t been back, but I will someday. Wait a few more years and you’ll be able to take [Metro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Line_(Washington_Metro)). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/38 "2018-07-05T16:50:35Z")
An excellent protest to refocus attention on the plight of the asylum seekers and others having their families separated at the border, delivered in precisely the right place to have the symbolic impact. Over thirty years ago one of my mother’s co-workers, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, hid inside the arm of the statue. On the day after Christmas, 1971, they came out, chained the doors shut, and said they wouldn’t come out until Nixon ended the war. This obviously didn’t happen, but they made their point and made the news. > **[The Statue of Liberty](https://books.google.com/books?id=EQ27eAFqZ2YC&pg=PA157&dq=Vietnam%2BVeterans%2BAgainst%2Bthe%2BWar%2B1971%2BStatue%2Bof%2BLiberty&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5l96OtIjcAhWwmuAKHe1SDKsQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=Vietnam%20Veterans%20Against%20the%20War%201971%20Statue%20of%20Liberty&f=false)** > > A stirring new history of Lady Liberty, from its creation in France to its renewed significance in the post-9/11 yearsA universally recognized icon, the Statue of Liberty is perhaps the most beloved of all American symbols. Yet no one living in 1885,... ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/39 "2018-07-05T16:52:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I disagree with this sort of protest. That said, I wouldn’t mind contributing to her defense fund. Why, she’s a fucking asshole that ruined the day of how many people for what? A stupid and feeble protest that did nothing. There were better ways to protest than screwing around with stupidly like this. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296/40 "2018-07-05T17:30:10Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > The “causes” of the Left are beyond reproach. Whatever their means to get issues resolved in their favor are justified. Lying, cheating, stealing, destruction of property, injury and even death to their opposition, police or even innocent bystanders are all well within the bounds of getting their way. How dare you even consider your inconvenience to be relevant?! [Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.[1] For example, a person who is habitually intolerant may constantly accuse other people of being intolerant. It incorporates blame shifting.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection) > [@What\_Exit](#): > > Why, she’s a fucking asshole that ruined the day of how many people for what? A stupid and feeble protest that did nothing. Yeah, some tourists in NYC had to reschedule their day plans, because this selfish asshole thinks kidnapping children and locking them in cages is, like, wrong or something. You’ve really nailed the true tragedy in this story, **What Exit?**! > [@](#): > > There were better ways to protest than screwing around with stupidly like this. And there’s the stock answer to literally any act of protest, anywhere, in any context, over any subject. Because it’s only a “proper” protest if nobody sees you do it, apparently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protester-climbs-statue-of-liberty-forces-evacuation/817296.md?page=3)