Sometimes it’s hard not to hate East Van—not because of the mountains of dog shit, the stench caused by the Westcoast Reduction Rendering plant, or the fact that the back alleys are treated as condom depositories.

No, what makes East Van a drag is the rent-a-protesters who choose to live there.

Three hundred or so came out Friday morning to protest the Olympic torch run. Their message? “I hate the Olympics, and therefore you should too.”

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. Their initial march down Commercial Drive had many messages. The big one found them chanting “No Olympics on stolen Native land.”

That they are all living on stolen Native land seems to be something that they manage to conveniently overlook on a day-to-day basis.

One 50-something dude who looked like something Tom Waits’s alley cat dragged in decided to mix this up a bit by informing the many parents on hand with children that “The Olympics will turn your kids into cheaters.”

Thanks for that enlightening observation.

Others yelled “No Olympics on the Drive.” And the protesters got their way, in the process flipping a giant double bird to the couple thousand people who were actually looking forward to a once-in-a-lifetime sighting of the Olympic torch.

When the protesters set up a barbed wire and concrete barricade at Venables and Commercial, the torch relay was diverted.

Those who manage to live and work in the neighbourhood without acting like a bunch of flaming, fun-ruining a-holes stood around waiting for something that never happened, and then had to turn around and go home with their kids.

There’s nothing wrong with protesting. Is it really asking too much to not ruin things for everyone?

Do you see the rest of Vancouver staging protests that prevent you from entering your favourite patchouli shop?

Do we show up at the Rickshaw every time Propagandhi is playing, screaming “No concerts on stolen Indian land”?

No. Because normal people understand there is nothing more ignorant than shoving your opinion down the throats of others.

In the future, East Vancouver, feel free to scream about everything from the Olympic overruns to the war in Iraq to the fact there are no organic iced soy-milk coffee lattes in the food co-op.

But please, do it from the curb. Or Grandview Park. Or better yet from a barge in the middle of English Bay.

That way you won’t be standing on stolen Indian land, ruining everything for the rest of us.