On Monday, one participant in the annual Doo Dah Parade managed to upset and offend many people with what was perceived as a message of violence directed at bike commuters. It was not the first time a Doo Dah Parade participant has caused controversy — and probably won’t be the last time either — coming from a parade that proudly touts itself as being politically incorrect.
But is there a line of decency that shouldn’t be crossed when it comes to messaging? Doo Dah Organizer Deb Roberts said that all participants should be acting in the spirit of fun.
“As the Official Starter, Joe would say… Don’t do anything that would embarrass your mother,” said Roberts. “All messages are to be done with humor.”
Whether or not the offending parade participant in this year’s event was meant as humor is still uncertain. Conflicting second-hand reports have both confirmed and denied that the man behind the wheel was acting as a satirist, with several people reporting that he was flipping off the crowd and shouting expletives in a manner that seemed genuinely angry and aggressive. The parade participant has not been identified for followup questioning, and has not come forward with any additional explanation about his message.
“We don’t know the names of 95 percent of the people who march because we don’t require pre-registration,” stated Roberts. “That is one of the beautiful things about the freedom of the Doo Dah Parade.”
While the organizers of the Doo Dah parade have no intention on changing their rules or policies about participation from this year’s concerns, they have asked individual participants not to return in previous years for various other reasons.
“The people marching for John Kerry for President were thrown out, because they were not wearing funny hats,” said Roberts. “Blatant advertiser Red Bull kept getting by our line-up guys because the chicks driving the car were hot. I said, Hey, if you can’t put even a hot chick carrying a red cloth in front of the bull yelling Toro! Toro! or walk around with red bowls on their heads, they just don’t get Doo Dah and please don’t come back.”
While a lack of funny hats and lazy energy drink promotion is a no-no, the content of the message of the parade participant is still pretty much limitless. When asked if infamous hate group the Westboro Baptist Church would be welcome to march in Doo Dah, Roberts confirmed that it would be allowed.
“Yes. But, they would rather stand on the corner and scream stupid things at people,” she said. “Plus, they would have to do something humorous, and I think that might be really hard for them to do. So, I don’t think they’ll enter.”
At the end of the day, it seems that Doo Dah wants to remain relevant as an event where many viewpoints can be heard and open-ended discussions can be had afterward.
“Different people see things differently because of their life experiences,” said Roberts. “The guy who said he thought it was kind of like a live version of a “scare tactic” — as in a “don’t text and drive” type message — had an interesting perspective. I thought it was very dark humor. But, was it any worse than the mothers walking with their children covered in blood from the Sandy Hook entry against guns? Again, it is all a matter of perspective.”
For more information, visit www.doodahparade.com.
To view more photos from this year’s Doo Dah Parade, CLICK HERE.