This past summer at the San Francisco Pride Festival (which happened in June 28th and 29th) anti-circumcision protesters BloodStainedMen were out holding signs. Now, this is America and people have the right to protest where they see fit, however as gay and lesbian couples do not typically give birth I would have focused my efforts elsewhere. At a gay pride event typically the ones holding the signs are the ones protesting the gay lifestyle and I wouldn't want my message confused with theirs. However, protesting is their right and so that is that.
The issue today is they uploaded an interaction with a young lady dressed as a fairy who seemed upset with their protest. Below is the video in question.
Key points of the video include:
0:25: Emily is in view on the right side of the screen
0:30: She notices the protester’s sign and starts in on the men by saying, "That's nasty"
0:36: She confronts the men and says she recognizes them from HER COLLEGE (This is key)
0:41: She makes physical contact with the photographer, who has the legal right to film in a public space
0:43: Her hand was removed from the camera and she responds physically
0:30: She notices the protester’s sign and starts in on the men by saying, "That's nasty"
0:36: She confronts the men and says she recognizes them from HER COLLEGE (This is key)
0:41: She makes physical contact with the photographer, who has the legal right to film in a public space
0:43: Her hand was removed from the camera and she responds physically
0:55: She yells, "Don't F*cking touch me, and attempts to walk away.
At this point here, Emily Hopper is completely in the wrong. Whether or not she likes the protesters, they have the right to be there at the Pride Festival. She is seen clearly as the aggressor first by trying to block the camera and then by hitting the man who simply moved her hand. The video continues.
1:05: She continues to hit the men as they block her exit
1:12: Another white knight comes in
1:18: She punches one of the protesters in the nose and then shoves him
1:31: She continues to try to walk away and continues to act aggressive when the protesters keep following her.
1:12: Another white knight comes in
1:18: She punches one of the protesters in the nose and then shoves him
1:31: She continues to try to walk away and continues to act aggressive when the protesters keep following her.
2:00: When reminded that they had been to her college (remember this is key) one of the protesters wants to know which one, so they can go back.
2:20: He asks if the cameraman got it all on camera and then begins to oversell the attack.
3:30: He says that if her assault had been successful, that she could have seriously hurt him.
In my opinion if any man could be seriously hurt by Tinkerbell, they should turn in their man card. Now, I am not excusing Emily Hopper's initial assault. She was clearly in the wrong. However, the right thing to do would be to find a police officer and press charges. Likewise, if a woman attacks a man I am all for defending yourself, don't let yourself be hit. However, once she decided to leave that should have been the end of the altercation. You had your video, press charges and be done with it. By going after her, even though the men did not hit her, they did provoke the response they eventually got. She was surrounded by a couple of guys who were blocking her path and she pushed and punched her way out. In short, she was in the wrong for starting the fight, the men were wrong for continuing it.
Anyway, despite the video being filmed a few months ago, it was only just recently posted. Much of the comments are about how she is hitting the men, but few so far have noticed what the men did wrong. Hopefully readers of this blog will find my post to be more unbiassed.
The woman has since come out and identified herself as Emily Hopper and is claiming now to be a teenager, whatever. Obviously she is using the literal definition of a teenager: Any age with the word teen at the end such as eighteen and nineteen. Most of the people when they think of teenagers think of something like this.
Not someone who clearly looks 25.
So Emily Hopper aka Tinkerbell has since uploaded a video to her YouTube channel telling her side of the story. Below is the embedded video. As of the posting of this blog the video has 4,502 views with 423 thumbs down and only 11 thumbs up.
0:07: The video opens up stating that this is not an apology. She also says that she never punched him, but rather slapped him. Apparently in Tinkerbells world slapping a man is okay so long as it is with an open hand.
0:13: She states that she slapped him because he grabbed her wrists as she was walking away. Clearly she is talking about the hits she dished out when the men were blocking her exit. I have reviewed the video and already stated the men should have not escalated the situation but I do not see them grabbing her. I will concede there is a part of the video that is obscured by the crowd and she shouts back "Don't f*ucking touch me," as she hits the men. If she was grabbed it was most likely there. Still no excuse is given by her for starting the altercation in the first place with unprovoked hitting.
0:17: She claims the footage of them grabbing her was edited out. I do see video slowed down, but I did not see any jump cuts that would be evidence of parts of the video missing. As said before, if she was grabbed it would have been when the crowd obscured the shot. I say if, because the protesters around her had protest signs in both hands, it would have been difficult for them to grab someone. Still they were in the wrong for blocking her exit.
0:21 She reminds the viewer that these are grown men following a teenage girl. A teenage girl who just happens to go to college, as stated in her own words in the above video. If that is not enough evidence, consider this.
It appears that her facebook is either down or somehow changed as I can no longer find it.
0:45: She says she doesn't care about circumcision, but rather she is just tired of seeing these protesters.
1:08: She says the reason she doesn't like these protesters is because of their behavior, how they dress in bloody pants and scream at people.
It is at this point the internets for the most part are convinced that she is lying. This is because they have only seen the one video by these protesters where they are quiet and just holding signs. Thankfully, I investigate all claims even when they are made by someone I don't like very much. Consider the following.
In this video you can clearly see that shouting at people is part of their act. Therefore it is not a stretch to say that this lady has seen them shouting before, such as at her college. Protesters like this I don't really like. As in the earlier video they are missing their target audience, expecting parents; pregnant people. In the above video they were downtown surrounded by bankers, lawyers, and other office suit type people who were coming and going.
If I were these people I would set up near stores that cater to expectant parents such as Babies R Us, clinics that specialize in prenatal care. Get to them before the baby is born and the child is cut. That is the way to go. However, I wouldn't be shouting at people. I wouldn't even use signs. I would dress professionally, and hand out leaflets giving the facts on circumcision. Or I might do what I have actually done, and that is produce some YouTube videos and you can read the comments on those videos and see that I have actually changed some peoples mind. When you shout at people, the automatic response is to tune out and get away as quickly as possible.
In Short when Emily Hopper says that she has seen these people shouting and making a disturbance, I believe her.
1:13: Emily Hopper says that she objects to people thinking it is okay for protesters to scream at people but when she walks up to give her opinion she gets grabbed. Hopefully in college she takes a history class and learns about the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Speech doesn't have to be popular to be protected. Second, she was the one who started getting physical first by trying to place her hand on the camera and second by hitting them. The men were later wrong when they followed her and blocked her exit.
2:05: She denies that she cried rape, not sure what she is talking about. Perhaps it was on 4chan, I don't go on that site but if I were to guess where that claim came from it would be 4chan.
2:35: Emily Hopper says she doesn't know why this is blowing up now, when it happened months ago. The answer is because the video was only now posted and the internet picked it up. Essentially she is the new internet chew toy and every week or so something or someone comes along that everyone wants to talk about.
Emily Hopper concludes her video telling the protesters and everyone else to move on. Of course that always works right?
What I would do if I was Emily Hopper
Accept that you are the internet chew toy and do your best to cash in. Anyone remember Coppercab? His first video I am certain was sincere. However, he has gone full blown troll and isn't even trying to hide it now. At first everyone jumped on him, including South Park.
There are two ways you can go, the first is to lie low stay off line and the internets will move on. Finish college and get a good paying job and if someone Google's you they will see this as nothing more than a tiny blip in your college years nothing more. The second is to embrace the internet scorn and accept that right now everyone hates you but turn those views into dollars and help finance your education.
You could either go the Coppercab route and go to war with your haters or you can go the Rebecca Black route and turn them over to your side. Remember how everyone hated Rebecca Black and her music video Friday. She has since turned to Twitter and vlogging and even did a cameo with BrocksDub and now almost everyone loves her.
Granted the spotlight that is on you is not as large as the ones CopperCab or Rebecca Black had on them, but it is a spotlight and it is up to you if you wish to embrace it or not. Just remember whichever route you take, your name is attached to this now and thus any future employer will see this.
Finally in closing, I have done several posts on Circumcision but my response to Shaycarl and his decision to circumcise his son and vlog about it I think is my best one.
If you wish to discuss this further follow up with me on Twitter.
