Occupy Wall Street - Life Imitating Art

So all of this Occupy Wall Street reminds me of a West Wing episode "SOMEBODY'S GOING TO EMERGENCY, SOMEBODY'S GOING TO JAIL" from February 2001 and deals with Toby who is assigned to speak with a group of unruly anarchists protesting the WTO. A sort of life imitating art right now with the protesters and how they are organized/behaving.

As West Wing is VERY dialogue driven, I'm including the text so everyone can follow along (or practice English listening skills) and as such, I didn't want to clog up the other thread :).

West Wing Video Clip

ACT ONE

FADE IN: EXT. THE WHITE HOUSE - DAY

JOSH [VO]
It's a good speech.

LEO [VO]
The Andrew Jackson speech?

CUT TO: INT. JOSH'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

JOSH
Yeah.

LEO
It is a good speech.

JOSH
And it gets better every year. But...

LEO
What?

JOSH
You're not going to give it, right?

LEO
Sure.

JOSH
Why?

LEO
Because it's Big Block of Cheese Day, Josh.

They exit office, walk through JOSH'S BULLPEN AREA.

JOSH
Yeah, see, but we know it's Big Block of Cheese Day. And we know why it's
called Big Block of Cheese Day. So, there's really no need for the speech.

LEO
Except it wouldn't be Big Block of Cheese Day without the speech, now,
would it?

JOSH
Well, let's find out. Maybe it would.

LEO
How did you get to work this morning?

JOSH
I walked.

LEO
Ah.

JOSH
Yeah.

LEO
How is it out there?

JOSH
Uh, it's pretty loud.

LEO
World Policy Studies is holding a forum this morning. I'm going to send Toby.

JOSH
That's a good idea.

LEO
Why?

JOSH
Well, 'cause you're not sending me.

LEO
Look, I...

JOSH
Leo, the World Bank and the WTO are international organizations of which the U.S. is one member. Why isn't Switzerland the one?

LEO
'Cause they're not protesting in Switzerland... they're protesting on 18^th street, and
I don't want to be asked how come no one from the White House ever met with them.

JOSH
Well, that seems reasonable.

LEO
I can't tell you how relieved I am to have your approval on that.

JOSH
But you're still going to do the speech.

They stop outside the Roosevelt Room.

LEO
Got to. Little thing called team morale, Josh. You gotta make people feel good about themselves.

Leo and Josh enter THE ROOSEVELT ROOM. Approximately 35 staffers are standing or sitting at the table.

LEO
All right, shut the hell up, everybody. I've fired more people than you before breakfast.

Complete silence ensues. Leo goes to stand at the head of the table.

LEO
Andrew Jackson,... [staffers groan] ...in the main foyer of the White House had a big
block of cheese. The block of cheese was huge...

C.J.
Leo, who made these assignments?

LEO
I think this will go faster if I'm not interrupted, don't you?

C.J.
I'm meeting with the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality?

MARGARET
Yes.

C.J.
What do mapmakers have to do with social equality?

LEO
I guess you're about to find out.

C.J.
Well, probably not, because I won't really be listening to them.

LEO
The block of cheese was huge...

LARRY
Excuse me, Leo. C.J., I got NIH research funding for cancer treatment using shark cartilage, if you want to trade.

ED
I'll take that.

LARRY
What do you got?

ED
Citizens for D.C. Statehood.

LARRY
Forget it.

DONNA
I've got the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Society, but I'm keeping it.

LEO
You're all keeping it. I'm sure Margaret worked long and hard to make sure that the appropriate petitioner went to the appropriate staffer.

Margaret shakes head 'no', Leo turns to look at her and she nods 'yes'.

LEO
The block of cheese was two-tons, and was there for any and all who might
be hungry...

TOBY
[enters] Excuse me. I was waylaid.

C.J.
By what?

TOBY
30,000 tourists.

LARRY
You know, the protesters.

TOBY
No, don't call them protesters, I've seen better organized crowds at the DMV.

LEO
Two tons this block of cheese weighed...

TOBY
[still muttering] In my day, we knew how to protest.

C.J.
What day was that?

TOBY
1968.

JOSH
How the hell old were you when you were protesting?

TOBY
My sisters took me. [staffers chuckle] Anybody have a problem with that?

LEO
No one has a problem with that.

TOBY
The police are always seven steps ahead of them. The cops know exactly where they're going to be and what's going to happen. You know how they know? By logging onto their website. We had the underground. We had rapid response.

C.J.
And by God, you were home by supper on a school night.

TOBY
These people are amateurs. What's my assignment?

LEO
Meeting with the amateurs.

TOBY
Huh?

LEO
World Policy Studies is having a forum... there'll be about a hundred of them.

TOBY
Doing what?

LEO
Listening to you conduct a free exchange of ideas.

TOBY
Really?

LEO
Josh thinks it's a good idea.

TOBY
Oh well, if Josh thinks it's a good idea, then you bet, I'll do it.

LEO
Look...

TOBY
What else is there?

C.J.
I've got Cartographers for Social Equality.

JOSH
So, now you have two choices... meeting with an unruly mob or meeting with lunatic mapmakers.

TOBY
Or getting paid a lot more money working almost anywhere else I want.

LEO
Seriously, Toby, there'll be security there. But still...

TOBY
What about press?

C.J.
Just wires.

TOBY
No, I mean TV.

C.J.
No cameras.

TOBY
You negotiated that?

C.J.
Yeah.

TOBY
They agreed to it?

C.J.
You want to make out with me right now, don't you?

TOBY
Well, when don't I? [to Margaret] Give me the thing.

LEO
Okay, then. Andrew Jackson in the main foyer of the White House had a two-ton block of cheese.

JOSH
And a wheat thin the size of Lake Tahoe.

The staffers giggle. An aide hands Donna a note.

LEO
It was there for any and all who were hungry. It was there for the voiceless, the faceless...

Donna leaves.

CUT TO: EXT. WASHINGTON, D.C. - DAY
The protesters are on the sidewalks, yelling. Toby is sitting in a car, whistling. The car stops, and he rolls the window down.

TOBY
Toby Ziegler.

OFFICER
Yeah.

Toby continues whistling as he gets out of car.

CUT TO: INT. BUILDING - CONTINUOUS
RHONDA SACHS, another police officer, is standing by the door.

OFFICER
[over radio] Rhonda, this guy coming in is Toby Ziegler.

SACHS
Copy that.

Toby enters.

SACHS
Mr. Ziegler?

TOBY
Yes, ma'am.

SACHS
Rhonda Sachs. They asked me to make sure you go home in one piece.

TOBY
You fully trained?

SACHS
Yes.

TOBY
How many different ways you know how to kill a man?

SACHS
How many different ways do I need?

TOBY
I like you.

SACHS
Thank you.

TOBY
Officer Sachs?

SACHS
Yeah?

TOBY
It's going to be a day at the beach.
ACT THREE

FADE IN: INT. A SMALL AUDITORIUM - DAY
The protesters are gathered, yelling. Toby and Rhonda are on stage in the front.

TOBY
Fire your gun.

SACHS
I can't fire a warning shot indoors.

TOBY
No, I mean fire at them. [beat] Just kidding.

TOBY
[to lead protester Webber] Hey, Solzhenitsyn. Come here. You're the group leader?

TERRY WEBBER
Yeah, I am. I'm Terry Webber.

TOBY
You know what you did today that was really stupid? You gave away the cameras. With cameras in here I've got a problem 'cause I don't want to look like I can't control the crowd. Without the cameras, I can sit here, read the sports section for two hours, walk outside and say we talked. So, if you guys want to talk, that's fine. But you're in charge of crowd control, know what I'm saying?

WEBBER
Yeah. [over bullhorn] Folks. People, let's listen up.

The yelling subsides.

TOBY
Good morning... [microphone doesn't work, raises voice] Good morning, my name is Toby
Ziegler and I'm the White House Communications Director and a senior domestic policy advisor to the President.

PROTESTER 1
Advise him we need clean air more than free trade!

Yelling begins again.

PROTESTER 2
How many 12-year-olds made your shoes, Toby!?

GROUP
Global justice now! Global justice now! Global justice now!

TOBY
[to Sachs] You want to send out for pizza or something?

GROUP
Global justice now! Global justice now!

Toby sits down with a newspaper and puts his feet on the table.

CUT TO: INT. WORLD POLICY AUDITORIUM - DAY
The crowd is still yelling. Toby and Rhonda are at a table on stage.

WEBBER
[to protesters] Look, I'm not saying that we're going to like their answers. I'm saying we're going to give him a chance to talk. Now if you do have a question...

PROTESTER 4
Yeah, my question is who elected his boss the people or Kaiser-Permanente?

PROTESTER 5
He's not my President, let's vote.

PROTESTER 6
Who do you really work for?

More yelling.

SACHS
[to Toby] You're having a pretty good time, aren't you?

TOBY
Well, it's not like being at a Yankee game.

PROTESTER 7
You suck!

TOBY
Well, actually... [chuckles] Yeah, it's like being at a Yankee game.

SACHS
So, Toby?

TOBY
Officer?

SACHS
Since you're not really doing anything right now, I was wondering, what's
this all about?

TOBY
It's about the WTO, Rhonda, the World Trade Organization.

SACHS
Well, I get that from the signs and the newspapers.

TOBY
The World Trade Organization's a group of 140 countries who have agreed to specific trade
policies.

SACHS
So, what's wrong with that?

TOBY
Nothing's wrong with that.

SACHS
What would they say if I asked them the same question?

TOBY
They'd say the WTO benefits corporations and not people.

SACHS
Does it?

TOBY
Benefits both. [pause] Look at them.

SACHS
Yeah.

TOBY
Philistines.

SACHS
Take my nightstick and go kick their ass.

TOBY
Yeah, make all the jokes you want but let me tell you something they claim to speak for the underprivileged but here in the blackest city in America, I'm looking at a room with no black faces. No Asians, No Hispanics. Where the hell's the Third World they claim to represent?

SACHS
Lot of Third-Worlders in the Cabinet Room today, were there?

TOBY
You're starting to bother me.

SACHS
That's 'cause I'm armed.

TOBY
No, I like that. [pause] I'm going outside.

The crowd continues yelling.
CUT TO: INT. WASHINGTON, D.C. STREET - DAY
The protesters are shouting.

TOBY
It's activist vacation is what it is. Spring break for anarchist wannabes. The black t-shirts, the gas masks as fashion accessories.

SACHS
These kids today, with the hair and the clothes...

TOBY
All right, that's it, flatfoot.

SACHS
I got great feet.

TOBY
You want the benefits of free trade? Food is cheaper.

SACHS
Yes.

TOBY
Food is cheaper, clothes are cheaper, steel is cheaper, cars are cheaper, phone service is cheaper. You feel me building a rhythm here? That's 'cause I'm a speechwriter and I know how to make a point.

SACHS
Toby...

TOBY
It lowers prices, it raises income. You see what I did with 'lowers' and 'raises' there?

SACHS
Yes.

TOBY
It's called the science of listener attention. We did repetition, we did floating opposites and now you end with the one that's not like the others. Ready? Free trade stops wars. And that's it. Free trade stops wars! And we figure out a way to fix the rest! One world, one peace. I'm sure I've seen that on a sign somewhere.

SACHS
God, Toby... Wouldn't it be great if there was someone around here with communication skills who could go in there and tell them that?

TOBY
Shut up.

Josh enters through the police line.

JOSH
Toby...

TOBY
What are you doing here?

JOSH
Came down to see how it was going. [to Sachs] How's it going? Josh Lyman.

SACHS
Rhonda Sachs.

JOSH
Any trouble?

SACHS
No.

TOBY
[raises his hand] Josh. The WTO is undemocratic, and accountable to no one, Decisions are made by Executive Directors and the developing world has little to say about institutional policy.

JOSH
What was that?

TOBY
I protested to you.

JOSH
Why?

TOBY
'Cause I'm not allowed to get arrested anymore.

JOSH
Let's go back.

TOBY
No, I hate these people with the heat of a nova. Yet here I go.

SACHS
Attaboy.

TOBY
Shut up.

SACHS
I got your back, man, you know? Or not.

All three enter the building.