Protesting with Pies Just a Waste of Pastry

How many pies must an activist throw before they can call themselves an activist?

None, because throwing pies at political figures doesn’t make you a political activist; it makes you a jerk. It also makes you a waster of food. Or a waster of shaving cream, depending on your choice of political pie filling. Despite the absurdity of expressing your opinion by smashing a pie in the face of someone you disagree with, or simply don’t like, pies remain the weapon of choice for many so-called political activists. Dave Bronconnier, Jean Charest, Jean Chretien, Stephane Dion and Ralph Klein have all received a pie in the face at some point during their political careers. The act of throwing pies at political leaders has become so popular that “pieing” has become a common term and is even defined on Wikipedia.
The latest victim of pieing is Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea. Shea had just begun speaking at a gathering in Burlington, Ontario, on Monday, January 25, 2010, when an American animals-rights activist smashed a tofu pie in her face. Emily McCourt, a 37-year old from New York City, was allegedly protesting Canada’s seal hunt. It is unclear what McCourt hoped would happen once the pie had been cleared off of Shea’s face. Perhaps McCourt thought Shea would suddenly see the light beyond the tofu-pie filling, renounce her old ways of thinking and tearfully declare that she would not rest until seal hunts were a thing of the past. Instead, Shea wiped the pie off her face and continued her speech. When addressing the pieing incident, Shea commented, “This just strengthens my resolve to support the seal hunt and Canadian sealers. It's unfortunate that people have to resort to this type of behaviour because they are not dealing with the facts of the seal hunt."
Shea obviously realized that receiving a pie in the face is actually a kind of twisted compliment. If someone cares enough to throw baked goods in your face, at least they are aware of who you are and what you stand for. Being completely ignored would be so much crueler than being acknowledged with pie, don’t you think?

Pieing someone is also intended to humiliate the receiver of the crust-and-cream facial. Instead, pieing another human being actually hurts the thrower of the pie more than the person actually being hit with the dessert. Sure, throwing a pie at a mayor, premier or prime minister does send a certain message. It says, “I’m not happy with you but I am too immature to formulate an actual argument as to why you are wrong, so I’ll just throw this pie at you instead.” You know that old saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword”? Well, the same principle applies here. Valid arguments, facts and clear thinking are mightier than attacking someone with pastry. After all, pieing is seen as a form of assault. Shea wasn’t injured from the tofu-pie; however, McCourt has been charged with assault and maybe face jail time. The person who threw a pie at then-premier Ralph Klein during the Premier’s Stampede Breakfast in 2003 received a 30-day jail sentence after being convicted of assault.
And it’s not just pies that are considered deadly weapons. Any sort of political act consisting of throwing inanimate objects can result in assault charges and jail time. When an Iraqi journalist threw both his shoes at then-president George W. Bush, he was convicted of assaulting a foreign head of state on an official visit to Iraq even though both shoes missed Bush. Muntadhar al-Zaidi was initially sentenced to three years in jail but was released after one year in jail.

However delicious they may be, pies are not a reasonable or effective political bargaining tool. It is not only potentially dangerous to pie someone, it must be incredible difficult to sneak a pie past security. When an activist whips a whipped-cream pie at one of our political leaders or fashion designers (both Calvin Klein and Karl Lagerfeld have been pied, although one was accidental and the other one missed the target, respectively) the activist overshadows the message they hope to send. The media and the public tend to focus on the pie-thrower and the pie (What kind of filling? Homemade or bought? ) more than on what the activist was protesting in the first place. There are better ways to express your feelings to the government. The recent Canada-wide protests against prorogation surely sent a stronger message to Stephen Harper than any pie could have.