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Why so scared Republicans?
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Why so scared Republicans? just so you all know....seems to be an issue...i did not write this....this is a reprint of a column i read so comment away but do not attack me personally, 'kay? OP ED COLUMN....on OWS protest.... Far be it from me to accuse Gandhi of missing a note, but in the case of the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests, the Mahatma's famous quote appears to be lacking a few essential words. "First they ignore you," he said, "then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." That's not quite correct. Certainly, the OWS protests began with a great whistling silence from the "mainstream" news media. It is only because of the resources available to the average person in this marvelous technological age we live in that word of the protest ever reached beyond its original location. Thanks to cell phones, video cameras, digital recorders, and of course, the internet - all wielded by patriot citizens - reports, images and video of the protest began to dribble out via Twitter, Facebook and a variety of blogs and alternative news media sites like Truthout. But from the "mainstream" news, there was nothing, and nothing, and nothing. Eventually, however, the OWS protest broke through the "mainstream" news blackout, thanks in no small part to commentators like Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann. Once the "mainstream" news outlets finally deigned to lower themselves to report on the rabble down on Wall Street, their tone and tenor fairly oozed contempt. The New York Times, bastion of the status quo, published an article describing each and every participant of the OWS protest as a moonbeam-riding fuzzbrain, someone reeking of patchouli who couldn't string a coherent thought together if their life depended on it...which was followed up immediately by a barrage of reports defending cops who hosed down defenseless women penned in behind nylon barriers with pepper spray, because those cops were doing exactly, precisely the right thing. Or something. This, as usual, from the same "mainstream" news media that didn't have any problem with the gun-toting "patriots" of the Tea Party and their catastrophically-spelled signs. Well, then again, the Tea Party has corporate sponsorship, while the OWS protesters are doing this on their own. It pays - literally - to have friends in high places. Similar disdain was heaped upon the OWS protest from every corner of the "mainstream" news realm, most especially from Fox News and the long reach of conservative talk radio. These protesters are bums, hippies, losers, anarchists, idiots, communists and fools, a drumbeat which has continued to this very day. So. First they ignore you: check. Then they ridicule you: check. According to Gandhi, the next step comes when they fight you, but here is the spot where his marvelous wisdom could use a bit of enhancement. First they ignore you, then they ridicule you... Then they get scared. And they are scared, now. You can smell it. The criticism being leveled at the OWS movement has gotten far harsher in the last several days. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently deployed the old chestnut about "class warfare" to describe the protest. Rep. Eric Cantor doubled down on Romney's rhetoric with some of his own: "If you read the newspapers today, I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country. Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans." That's pretty rich right there, don't you think? Fellows like Cantor have made turning American against American their bread and butter for the last ten years..."You're with us or against us"...but I digress. Fact: OWS has bloomed in more than a dozen major cities all across the country. It stopped being a protest a while ago. It's a movement now. And they're scared. Know how I know? I know because a friend in San Francisco took the time to transcribe a document he was given by the major bank he works for. The document, titled "Protest Safety Handbook," explains what a bank employee should do when confronted with the horror and terror of an OWS protest. I am leaving the name of the bank out of this to protect my friend. Some tidbits from the handbook: The movement in New York has begun to publish a four page news paper titled "The Occupied Wall Street Journal." The current edition of the published document loosely outlines the group's manifesto and intentions. The group has indicated that they have been inspired by the results from similar groups involved in the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East. The group's publication cites an intention to first protest and then to march, escalating to civil disobedience when necessary. These types of groups are reaching out to the disengaged and disenfranchised population of the United States for members, often encouraging the unemployed and homeless to join the movement. Often these marches and protests are unplanned and result from instant notification on "Social Networks" that produce "Flash Protest Mobs" in a matter of minutes. While this group has not yet resorted to violence the possibility exists that they can. Safety Tips: - Avoid poorly lit areas and isolated locations that may make you vulnerable to an attack. - Keep the cars doors locked while driving in the area of a mob or protest march. - Project an image of confidence and strength. Walk with a purpose and avoid hesitation, keep your head up, shoulders back and make eye contact with people you pass. - Avoid confrontation and unnecessary contact with protesters. - Avoid walking or driving alone. There is safety in numbers. - Carry purses close to the body. - Wallets and cash are best kept in a front pocket. - Avoid wearing Bank ID or logo items outside the bank if possible. - Keep your cell phone charged and close at hand. - Have emergency contact information pre-programmed into your phone. - Have your keys out and ready before you need them. - If you feel that you're in danger or if you observe suspicious or illegal activities, call the police or dial 911. - If confronted or attacked, try to remain calm and cooperate by following the attacker's instructions. - Do not attempt to reason or argue with the protesters. - Cooperate and do not risk your personal safety. - Be a good witness and try to remember as many details of what occurred as you can. Makes it sound like you're walking through a war zone, right? Not a peaceful protest, but some actively dangerous Thunderdome where instant and horrible death might reach out at any time to cut you down. The financial powers-that-be are desperate to paint this peaceful, meaningful movement as some kind of civilization-annihilating upheaval, populated by rogues, pickpockets, mobs and murderers. They need the OWS protest to be seen this way by the general public, so they can discredit it and destroy it. Fear-mongering is an old, old tactic, and they are deploying it once again. Note well: the bank that distributed this hyper-paranoid ball of gibberish is an entire continent away from the nexus of the OWS movement in New York City. I guess San Francisco's OWS chapter has been making some noise. Same with Boston, and DC, and a dozen other cities. First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they get scared. Then they fight you. Then you win. I don't think the Mahatma would mind this small edition to his statement. It fits. And it's true. They are scared. You cannot conceive the many without the one. |
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You are obviously a smart person but even smart people can be blinded by their ideology. "This, as usual, from the same "mainstream" news media that didn't have any problem with the gun-toting "patriots" of the Tea Party and their catastrophically-spelled signs. Well, then again, the Tea Party has corporate sponsorship, while the OWS protesters are doing this on their own. It pays - literally - to have friends in high places." Compare the number of arrests for civil disobedience and general mayhem .. even "catastrophically-spelled signs" .. at all the Tea Party rallies to those at the current "rally" and other "rallies" of the same stripe. Go ahead ... I'll wait. While I'm waiting I'll add. You would think that with all the "gun toting "patriots"" .. as you say .. at Tea Party rallies there would have been gun fights galore. We just can't wait to fire off our guns you know. Especially with all the "left wing" harassment the Tea Party gets at it's rallies. "Thanks to cell phones, video cameras, digital recorders, and of course, the internet - all wielded by patriot citizens - reports, images and video of the protest began to dribble out via Twitter, Facebook and a variety of blogs and alternative news media sites like Truthout. But from the "mainstream" news, there was nothing, and nothing, and nothing." Let me see .. just how did cell phones, video cameras, digital recorders, Twitter, Facebook .. et al.. come to be? They were created by those evil capitalist and entrepreneurs that these people are protesting against. Now that is irony. I'd be willing to bet some of these entrepreneurs even went to an evil bank to get a loan to launch their business. "And they are scared, now. You can smell it. The criticism being leveled at the OWS movement has gotten far harsher in the last several days. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently deployed the old chestnut about "class warfare" to describe the protest. Rep. Eric Cantor doubled down on Romney's rhetoric with some of his own: "If you read the newspapers today, I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country. Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans." That's pretty rich right there, don't you think? Fellows like Cantor have made turning American against American their bread and butter for the last ten years..."You're with us or against us"...but I digress." President Obama 10/25/10: "We can't have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back." Does that mean the Republicans in the middle class have to sit in the back relegated to being second class citizens? From just reading your post, in your mind there probably are no middle class republicans. Republicans are only evil rich people out to screw everybody out of anything they can screw them out of. President Obama 10/25/10: "“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”" That make me feel all warm and fuzzy ..... NOT. Obama is the master of "class warfare" all the while insisting he's not ... it's the "math". Well .. in my "math" .. statement one plus statement two equals class warrior. "Makes it sound like you're walking through a war zone, right? Not a peaceful protest, but some actively dangerous Thunderdome where instant and horrible death might reach out at any time to cut you down. The financial powers-that-be are desperate to paint this peaceful, meaningful movement as some kind of civilization-annihilating upheaval, populated by rogues, pickpockets, mobs and murderers. They need the OWS protest to be seen this way by the general public, so they can discredit it and destroy it. Fear-mongering is an old, old tactic, and they are deploying it once again." Peaceful protest??? This is your idea of peaceful??? And you invoking Gandhi is ridiculous in the extreme. If I'm not mistaken Gandhi .. I could be because I'm not the expert on Gandhi as you appear to be .. believed in passive resistance. Show me where these protesters are engaging in passive resistance? When these protesters break the law and the police arrest them .. they fight back .. then the police fight back and it all escalates from there. I don't believe Gandhi .. once again I'm not the expert on the man ... you are ... fought back. He went to jail peacefully. I'm surprised that a smart person as you would even try to link what Gandhi fought for to these protests. I'd be willing to bet that Gandhi .. again .. I'm not the expert .. you are .. are you channeling him? .. would not approve of these methods .. or your addition. AB No Bozos
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In the absence of a strong and principaled leader like Ghandhi, violence is likely if the movement continues to grow. The police over react and then you have a horrible situation. It takes strong leadership to keep groups of people focused on the goal. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies. For vilest things Become themselves in her, that the holy priests Bless her when she is riggish. ~~ from Antony & Cleopatra
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I have mixed emotions about this protest. I tend to lean towards a libertarian point of view when it comes to politics and government. There is a growing disenchantment with the way our current government is running things. The problem, if it is a problem, is that the disenchantment seems to cross all political hues, from ultra conservative to ultra liberal. There's no real point or focus of the protesters. There are no unified demands, there is no end game. I enjoy the fruits of our corporate society, I like my laptop, my cell phone and my cable television. I don't begrudge someone making money, I don't begrudge them making more money than I make. What bothers me is the attitude that seems to permeate much of the business leaders that they feel entitled to their bonuses after laying off workers, or leading companies to record breaking losses. That makes no sense, it's selfish. That attitude is begging for problems. The vast majority of Americans don't and won't participate in these protests as long as their lives aren't interrupted. When there is no electricity, or water or food, then and only then will the average American care about what is going on in these protests. Right now, the perception of many of the protesters is that they are yearning for some sort of cause or meaning, they want their 60's or Arab Spring. It's not the same thing. If they had some sort of agenda that made sense, then I could support them. Right now, it just seems like protest for the point of protest. It's closer to abstract art than it is anything else.
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To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true! ...H. L. Mencken Ya just gotta laugh it off, oui-oui... Both sides of the equation are rife with faulty constants; and their variables are rather questionable, too. To parrot-phrase the conclusion to it all, by my very dear friend, The Chief-- "The equilibrium therefore being hidden (deliberately, of course) leads to no happy hunting ground for all tribes."  ie: If you're gonna suck eggs, you're gonna have to put up with the empty shells. ...Solar Powered 0 When the truth is released from its stranglehold (on either side), I will accept politics has a shot at resulting in an appearance of equilibrium. Until then... I choose antipathy (note: not to be confused with homeopathy.) I will suck no egg before its time. ...Anonymous Then again, we can read these immortal words of the revolutionary of the Sonoran wastelands in the vein of Graucho Marx... Give me liberty; or, at least, give me a shot of Patron. ...Pancho Villa; upon his being positioned before a firing squad (by attribution only) Solar...
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oui-oui... I cannot see how you draw the conclusion that the "media" is not covering this circus. Seems to me that this is just about ALL that is being covered. And why not? The media is "owned" by the same people who provoked this show. The OWS ain't a movement--it's a distraction. It is intended to draw a mere similarity with the TP... which isn't, of course, a true movement either. It's also a distraction. Just because a bunch of people take to the streets is not evidence of some "movement". It is simply evidence that people are in the streets. Distraction is the ultimate weapon. And who better equipped to wield such a weapon than the "media"? I ain't a TP'r. I did, however, stand in People's Park when I was young enough and stupid enough to believe that merely protesting public (or private) policy would actually get the job done. I am now old enough and smart enough to know that social revolution NEVER comes from the bottom up. Only violent revolution comes from the bottom up... and I ain't young enough or stupid enough to want that scenario played out. This country IS listening to more than one set of ideas. The issue is not that they don't hear the opposition's views... it's that they've heard it for decades and have become numb to it. That's the intended "media" purpose in this and all other public outcry--keep the suckers screamin' and we're safe from bullets whilst we sell air time and page space. People bitch about "right-wing talk-radio"... as if it were some blight upon the social landscape. Actually, it is a sure-fire mechanism for soothing the savage beast. Were the TP types not provided a vent, the steam would build pressure until it popped through the pipes and... well... who do you think has ALL the guns--the left side of the equation... or the right? Be thankful that the right side has that vent... and is (so far) willing to (generationally it would seem) stand down from the fray. Do you really think the OWS would win if it came to blows? Do you think the right would fare better? They surely would win at a contest of arms. But would that be better? It's only scary when you think in terms the "media" uses to define issues at hand. Once you step back and take in the view from the high point (above the fray)... it becomes clear that this is just another in a never ending series of vain attempts by the people-at-large trying to make themselves believe they can change the fact that the rich get richer... whilst the poor get poorer. At this time in the process of human government (where we blew God off and decided we knew best), the "true" power is in the hands of those who can convince the masses that money answereth all things. You can lead a horse to the bank... but you can't get that sucker to take out a loan. Can't likely say the same for the OWS'rs or the TP'rs--can ya? Ya wanna effect some real change? Stop people borrowing "money" from the banks. You'll see some peeps in the streets in no time... and they'll all be wearin' body armor and sportin' M-16s... and answering to the Pres... who works for lil Timmy Geithner. (And we all thought it was the other way 'round--didn't we?)  Solar...
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we the people have the right to gather and make their point and it is good to see this but i am not sure how this is going to play out as i see dailey a police state ...here in canada i see it...hmmm interesting ...they are scared of what...a difference of opinion and by a mass of people of like ideal ....i wish them well in getting the point accross in a wonderful protest and may it keep as peaceful as it can for them.....good for them ... i understand that this is not written by you and i love the different comments on the subject....   []   Seduce my mind and my body
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Hmmm. It wasn't clear to me at first that you didn't write it. I thought it was your own op -ed piece. I'll serve you another shot of Patron. It seems I caused some sort of inadvertent offense by my comment about the group's lack of leadership. You'll have to forgive me for being skeptical of the movement's potential. I'm always skeptical of groups. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies. For vilest things Become themselves in her, that the holy priests Bless her when she is riggish. ~~ from Antony & Cleopatra
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My current bumper sticker reads: "Republicans for Millionares' Rights" I am in the (roughly) 10% class ... maybe the 15%; as the higher tiers have continued to accumulate at an ever increasing rate. Wealth in-equality is a serious problem when the balance swings too far. No one (it seemed) begrudged Steve Job's billions; he created far more value worldwide. When a financier can make billions from simply moving money around, AND get away with only capital gains taxes (15  on those profits, I wonder what value was actually created. It seems to me, Wicked, that your intent in this discussion is to engender exactly that, a well reasoned discussion. I hope I've added slightly to that end. Chas (who is badly jetlagged right now)
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It's good to have at least 2 points of view, sometimes each provides a good basis of argument and something to consider. After all, we'd probably not progress very far in life if everyone agreed with everything everyone said. Differences of opinion (although at times are painful), are a necessary part of life in order to breathe life into living. You may not agree with something but it is still worthwhile to say.
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I've been meaning to post a blog about the protest going on in Minneapolis. The demonstrators spoke first with Sheriff's Dept, police, and government officials and got permission to occupy the plaza that is between City Hall and the county government building. There has been a pretty obvious law enforcement presence patrolling, but they're very hands off and all has been pretty civilized and orderly. Demonstrating "Minnesota Nice" style    
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My guess? Because so many people still want to believe in the vanished myth of the American dream. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies. For vilest things Become themselves in her, that the holy priests Bless her when she is riggish. ~~ from Antony & Cleopatra
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