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If you’ve ever been to a concert, chances are you’ve heard the phrase “mic check” muttered by the stage crew moments before the artist takes the stage to make sure the equipment is in working order. And if you’ve never been to a concert, chances are you’ve heard the phrase used in countless songs from artists like Juelz Santana to Rage Against the Machine.

Now the phrase has become a battle cry for Occupy Wall Street protesters to launch coordinated protests that interrupt speakers.

In the mic-check process, one speaker stands up and starts chanting "mic check." He or she then leads a crowd in a call-and-response fashion. It’s being used all around the country to interrupt speeches from politicians (usually those who lean to the Right) like Rep. Michele Bachmann or simply alert the masses that someone has something to say.

“Mic Check! Mic Check! Karl Rove is the Architect. The Architect of Occupy Iraq. The Architect of Occupy Afghanistan. The Architect of tax cuts for the 1%,” yelled protesters during a speech from Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff to George W. Bush, at Johns Hopkins University. “The 99% think it's time to #Occupy the Architect. To #Occupy the Architecture. Occupy Wall Street.”

Rove was angered by the interruption and yelled at protesters, asking them to wait until the question and answer portion of his speech to share their opinions—as politicians who have been interrupted by protesters have long done.

His pleas were in vain as dozens of students started chanting “we are the 99 percent” while others were escorted from the auditorium. Only after about four minutes was Rove able to address the crowd without being interrupted.

“If you don’t have the courage to sit here and then ask your question, you’re just showing your moral carelessness,” Rove said to a round of applause. “I can do this all night long. You want to keep jumping up and yelling ‘[we] are the 99 percent. How presumptuous and arrogant you think [you] are.”
The video of Rove being mic-checked has collected more than 75,000 views and is the most recent in a line of videos showing OWS protesters interrupting speeches. On Sunday House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was mic-checked at the beginning of his speech at Rice University.

“We find it an outrage to welcome Eric Cantor, who regularly votes against the interests of the people,” the crowd began.

Aside from interrupting politicians at the podium, the mic-check chants have been used to introduce speakers like filmmaker Michael Moore and Muslim Americans. http://www.dailydot.com/politics/mic-check-occupy-protest-speeches/ video on You Tube of Eric Cantor (

), Michelle Bachman (

), Newt Gingrich (

- at 3:34) and Scott Walker (

) and Ron Paul (

) being mic checked, and of course by now everyone has heard/seen Obama being checked. There's also video of Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Alderman Joe Moore in Chicago at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/occupy-chicago-protesters_n_1
107309.html, Wisconsin Republican Robin Vos (

), Blue Cross and Blue Shield President & CEO Scott P. Serota (

).

At Cantor's, they were told "Free speech does not include the right to interfere with the expressions and ideas with which you disagree. You will be escorted away..." Funny, you didn't hear that from the right when the organized and instructed disruption of town halls by the Tea Party happened... The difference? These people mic check a few sentences, then sit down an cause no further disturbance (if they're not hauled out by police first). Some even start out with "this will only take a minute".

I think it's GREAT! It WOULD be a short, cohesive statement, rather than a complete disturbance, if it were allowed to be, as Ron Paul and Obama allowed. I hope we see a lot more of it; it's an effective use of the human microphone; but you watch, it will be decried by the MSM and everyone on the right, rather than recognized for what it is--a finite, coordinated voice by those who want to question or disagree. Of course, few will allow it to run its course, or notice how it differs from the disruption of the Town Halls.