When Portland gets weird, it really leans in. Outside the South Waterfront ICE facility, the city has witnessed a spectacle that even Hunter S. Thompson might have struggled to imagine: inflatable animals, including a full-sized chicken, prancing in protest. On Oct. 8, WW staff writer Rachel Saslow profiled Jack Dickinson, the man behind the Portland Chicken, who regularly dons the costume during demonstrations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices. The story prompted a flurry of reactions from readers across social media.
Humor and Admiration
Many readers celebrated the absurdity of the display as a form of creative protest. Rory Flynn on Bluesky quipped, “The other day, this chicken stared upward at Kristi Noem and did not burst into flames. There is hope for the Republic.” Prester Jawn called it “cosplay as revolutionary praxis,” while Tammi Fox McDonald declared, “Chicken man is my hero! He really brought the contagious and much-needed Portland humor to this otherwise terrible situation! Give the chicken the Nobel Peace Prize!”…