Patriotic mobs and harbor tea-dumping returned to Boston on Saturday as the city marked the 250th anniversary of the revolutionary protest that preceded America’s independence.
The commemoration of the Boston Tea Party included scheduled reenactments of the throwing of tea leaves into the city’s harbor and community meetings that preceded the defiant act on Dec. 16, 1773 — though this time, the symbolic protest was aided by spotlights and microphones. City officials were expecting thousands of visitors for the celebration.
Crowds who gathered to watch the reenactment quickly joined in, shouting “Huzzah!” along with the costumed actors as boxes of tea were dumped in the harbor. Later, they resoundingly booed an actor who read King George III’s order closing the bay, and they cheered as narrators detailed the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Tea for the reenactment was supplied by the East India Co., the same British company that was at the center of the raucous dispute.
Couldn’t they have protested some other way, without destroying property? At least, that was the question asked by the US oligarchs during the protests in 2020.
Yes the right wing of America today would have sided with the British at the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre. It’s hilarious to confront them with it. Two of my favorite topics to talk about with conservatives because when I inevitably lead them to dig into their position on the relevant subjects, I’ll start describing these events while they maintain their positions and then name the events.
They know from their school days which side they are supposed to be on but cannot reconcile the fact that they aren’t. Morons.
They could have. But they didn’t. Just like the Jan 6 protestors.
The difference is that the Boston Tea Partiers were on the winning side of history. If the British had won the American Revolutionary War, then we’d be talking about those anti-social racists who ruined a bunch of tea because they were pissy about paying for it.
And if the Jan 6 terrorists had succeeded in overthrowing the government, future generations might end up learning about them as revolutionary heroes.