As we saw in:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/manufacturing-dissent/
The “Progressives” (often called ‘The Left’, though that is a poor term) have created a “protest movement” against {something ill defined} and are demanding {something that isn’t clear} and generally trying to pick a fight with ‘The Man’.
We see this every night now, dutifully reported by the Lame Stream Media. As various police forces have tried, as gingerly as possible, to provide a bare minimum of social order, public health, and some semblance of peace; the ‘protesters’ have basically done everything they can to try to create a catalytic event to mobilize public will. (This is only partly speculative. I’ve seen some of the ‘organizers’ on TV pronouncing how this ‘confrontation’ will finally catapult the OWS Occupy Wall Street movement into being a political movement. They WANT a confrontation to be that catalyst.)
We are treated to scenes of Oakland police clearing a square. Other cities removing tent cities and cleaning up the trash. Now, tonight, “protestors” who refused a police order to leave getting pepper spray to break up their arm-linked-sitting-barricade surrounding the police. This was, if I followed the story right, in Davis California. CNN reporting it with Grave Voice as they interview one of the folks who was sprayed (complaining about the brutality of having her eyes and skin feel bad for 2 hours… while ignoring the fact that she has NO physical damage at all and is not even in custody, but is on TV…)
I’ve had real MACE vapor in my face (as part of Eagle Scout Law Enforcement training – not actual police or military training, and at that, just evaporating from a surface a foot away from me) and I’ve had OC (pepper active agent). While the pepper feels horrible, the nerve agent in MACE caused me to have real problems with lung fluids and can cause physical problems. I couldn’t even stay a foot away from a small dab of MACE on a wall (it WAS just a demonstration). The film shows folks being hosed down with pepper spray and not reacting much. Those cops where using pretty mild stuff compared to what is available.
OK, ‘the game’ is pretty clear. Try to reprise the Good Old Days of cries of Police Brutality at the hands of “The Man” standing up for The Filthy Rich And Powerful… Try to cause the great mass of people to become ‘outraged’.
On. Small. Problem.
Who is The Man?
Dear Mr. Obama, it is you and the Democrats.
Think about it. A Black Progressive is in the White House. Where is the Federal Mandate to stop these police actions?
How about The Man in Oakland, where all those horrible Police Abuses started? (That is, where the police told the protestors to go home and cleared the park)?
Well, that’s Jean Quan.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19219379
Oakland mayor under siege from all sides
By Cecily Burt
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 10/28/2011 07:46:38 PM PDT
Updated: 10/28/2011 10:53:02 PM PDTOakland Mayor Jean Quan has experienced poverty, racism and gender discrimination. As a student she went on strike at UC Berkeley in support of ethnic studies and boycotted grapes to support farmworkers. She fought to prevent the eviction of poor Asian seniors from the International Hotel in San Francisco, and she considers Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr., her heroes.
But after Tuesday’s predawn raid on the Occupy Oakland camp at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, followed that night with police in riot gear shooting tear gas, bean bags and rubber bullets into large crowds of protesters, Quan finds herself in an unusual position. After less than year in office she is being criticized and booed by the working class, underemployed and unemployed — the so-called 99 percent she has supported, fought for and defended her entire life.
“I’m pretty sad, and obviously it’s very painful,” she said Friday. Somebody in the national media “said I should have resigned. But I don’t have time to think about politics. I have to keep people safe.
About as left wing Progressive as you can get. Oh, and “she” is female and Asian…
How about New York? Well, that’s Mayor Bloomberg.
Well, he IS a rich white male. At one time he was a Republican (of a sort of wishy washy kind) for a couple of years. So strong were his right wing convictions that he left the party and became an independent, per the wiki:
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is the Mayor of New York City.
[…]
A lifelong Democrat before seeking elective office, Bloomberg switched his registration in 2001 and ran for mayor as a Republican, winning the election that year and a second term in 2005. Bloomberg left the Republican Party over policy and philosophical disagreements with national party leadership in 2007 and ran for his third term in 2009 as an independent candidate on the Republican ballot line. He was frequently mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election, which fueled further speculation when he left the Republican Party.[
Oh, so sorry, a lifelong democrat who was a RINO (Republican In Name Only) just long enough to get elected in sheep’s clothing…
If you look at the mayor of Davis:
http://daviswiki.org/Joe_Krovoza
you find all the indicia of a liberal.
He moved to Davis in 1991 with his young family to attend the UC Davis School of Law. He graduated three years later, having studied natural resources and environmental law, with a focus on water law in particular.
Joe then got his first legal chops practicing water law, including one special case, the successful Putah Creek in-stream flows water rights case, filed on behalf of the [WWW]Putah Creek Council, City of Davis and UC Davis. In 1996, he joined the UC Davis [WWW]Institute of Transportation Studies as its Director of External Relations and Development, and more recently took on directing development and outreach activities for the [WWW]UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center. Joe works daily with faculty, students, environmentalists and industry on clean transportation, energy efficiency, and community-planning issues. Joe says this is just what he likes to do: “This is the stuff I live for. This is what gets me up in the morning.”
While still in school, Joe joined the Putah Creek Council, serving as chair for seven years. This eventually led to his role as lead council negotiator for the historic [WWW]Putah Creek Accord of May 2000. The accord established deliberate seasonal flows to attract salmon back up the creek, and initiated a permanent restoration program that has since attracted millions of dollars in new projects. “Of all the citizen activist things I’ve done, I am most proud of my work with the PCC. We stood our ground, we found new ways to do things, and we fought to restore a complete environment.” Joe received Davis’ in 2001 Environmental Recognition Award.
Putah Creek is basically a mediocre ditch of no particular merit. Spending millions of dollars on it is worse than stupid. But I’m pretty sure some folks got good resume fodder out of it, and maybe even built a nice park only they can use too… but it will be called ‘research’…
Unfortunately, until houses can be powered by doughnuts, the Krovoza family is forced to rely on solar energy: they were the second family to install photovoltaic panels on their home as part of the Davis Solar Pioneers Program. Keeping things green and local at nearby Arroyo Park, the elder Krovozas have subjected their daughters to the joys of community park work, as the whole family planted trees and native shrubs in support of the city’s Adopt-A-Park Program. Straying a little further from home, Joe has an enthusiasm for almost all things bike. He organizes the [WWW]Davis Bicycles! Film Festival each fall, organizes and edits the bi-weekly [WWW]Davis Enterprise bike column , and serves on the city’s [WWW]Bicycle Advisory Commission.
Can’t get much more green than that… Wonder how much in subsidy money they got for that solar installation and their park work?
But that’s Davis for you…
What’s it all mean?
Pick a city where “The Man” is promoting the horrible enforcement of civil discipline and the law, removing tent cities where the health and welfare of citizen are at risk and where property, both public and private, is being damaged, and you find “Democrat” and “Progressive” written all over it…
So I find myself a bit confused.
Am I supposed to be experiencing my “day of rage” at Democrats? Are the leftist progressives who run pretty much all the major cites where all this stuff is going on supposed to be the “evil” we are to be upset about? Is Obama at fault for not stepping in to ‘quiet things’? Am I supposed to be upset at the 1% who are largely Limousine Liberals? Is it all those women, blacks, and Asians, with a few Token White Guilt Progressives, who are telling the police to clear the parks that are the Evil Oppressors?
Or is it all being planned and coordinated by The Central Planning Committee?
Perhaps the reason that nobody seems to really care about the OWS folks after all this time (other than finding them a bit daft and kind of pathetic) is that we’re actually noticing that by and large they have no message other than Class Warfare, they have no demands other than “give us privileges”, and their claims of being “oppressed and poor” ring hollow when seeing them in their $100 Sneakers standing in front of their new $250 Nylon Tents sucking on a Starbucks… while they demand that the police arrest them so they can get on TV and get some rage going…
And perhaps it’s because we ARE looking at the “oppressors” and seeing well behaved professional police acting with great care to do the minimum possible injury to anyone while keeping folks safe and their voices heard. And seeing the interviews with Progressive Mayors who ordered the police to move…
Perhaps it’s just because we’re seeing through the Stuff and Nonsense. Or perhaps it’s because a lot of us were involved in protests 40 years ago. Protests about things that were a bit more important, and a lot more focused. And perhaps it’s because we know how the game is played (and we see someone not playing it all that well). Or perhaps we’re just fed up with spoiled brats throwing a tantrum to get attention and some sense of self worth.
No matter what it is, these folks are just not ‘resonating’ with Joe and Jane Public. We’re too tired of the scams. Too tired of the taxes. Too tired of the multimillion dollar ‘ditch restorations’ so someone can get to be mayor and suck down a city paycheck and benefits. We’re just too tired of being soaked to pay for the lies and ‘feel good’ stories that never achieve anything of merit. We are broke, we see our government tuning fiddles while the Treasury burns, and we’re just not particularly interested in another vacant Class Warfare argument wanting to suck what little money is left out of the only folks who have a hope of creating some jobs in this country.
In short, we’re not very interested in listening to whining and sniveling when we’re busy trying to figure out how to pay the rent and buy a turkey for next week. Having the Progressives who are in charge and doing all this crap, trying to somehow blame the non-progressives for it, doesn’t build much confidence in them either. They made this mess, and we know it. Now they can fix it or get off the pot. (Either kind…)
Sidebar On Davis
Then there is the demonstration at U.C. Davis where police pepper sprayed some folks. I lived there for a few year while attending U.C. It pretty much is a hard core liberal place. (That is where I attended my one protest Against The War… and no, it didn’t get me in bed with the girl who invited me… I just wasted an evening…) So I’m somewhat familiar with Davis. One of the cops, then, was named “Corky The Cop” and handed out business cards with that name on it (and a cute line drawing of a pig with a big smile). You were invited to discuss things with him with no fear of being busted for things like, oh, letting the cops know if your drug dealer was abusive (while not getting in trouble for the drug issue…) Not a whole lot happens with the Davis Police without the O.K. from a whole host of very liberal folks.
After all, in many cases the children of Very Important People are attending. (When I was there, I was dating the daughter of the director of Lawrence Livermore Labs… yeah, the guys who were making nuclear bombs. We knew that “Clarence Clearance” was hiding in the bushes somewhere.. couldn’t risk a USSR Agent snatching a high value target after all… but never did see him / them. ) So you don’t just go busting a lot of chops without a whole lot of folks paying attention. Most of the Lab Rats Kids went to Berkeley or UCD. It was close and easy to monitor…
I have a long list of stories, but I don’t think I can tell most of them. You never know what’s ‘cleared’ now and what isn’t. But what I can say is that the “protest” I was at was just chock full of ‘managers’ controlling what happened. One of them joined a circle of cops and undercover agents who had formed to ‘discus group dynamics’ (and keep everyone coordinated so no agency stepped on some other agencies dick… er Detective;-). I was surprised to see that he was the RA (Resident Adviser) of my dorm.
I won’t go into why I was in that circle… but the bottom line is that most of the ‘ideas’ the protesting group had were being fed to them by the police and TLAs (Three Letter Agencies). I saw and heard the directions given, then watched the events happen, then saw it on the nightly news. As the event drew toward a close, the next meeting talked about when the good kids would leave and only the hard core rabble rousers were left: Then, and only then, would they arrest the selected few who were ‘outside agitators’. They were VERY careful that the entire event be choreographed and that only the bad apples get any grief.
So, when you watch that news about protests at Davis and the police hosing down a group of folks with pepper spray, keep that in mind. I’m pretty certain that nothing has changed. That every one of them was known by name and background prior to the spraying event being given the OK. That no son or daughter of a senator, lab management, or even corporate donor was in that group. Heck, I’d even put some money on it that a few of them were ‘agents’ getting some street cred via their chops being busted by their fellow officers. For the simple reason that I lived through that same dance in the 1970s. From both sides of the Thin Blue Line.
For the terminally curious, no, I was not an agent of any agency. And no, those events have not warped my point of view. In many ways it was comforting. It was, though I was surprised to realize it, more or less what I would have done were I in charge. Things were managed such that folks could express their views, while the professional trouble makers were identified and arrested, and while nobody got hurt in the process; and ‘good kids’ where not tainted by the process with something that might make it hard to get a clearance to work at The Lab after they graduated with their Ph.D in Physics ;-) They carefully charted the best path for all concerned. I was a bit dismayed that the “spontaneous” demonstration was so easily managed by external agencies, though. And highly dismayed that only I and my ‘wing man’ noticed it.
So whatever “story” is being presented about that particular event: I’m quite sure the reality is far more managed and choreographed. No ‘rogue’ cops. No unexpected over reaction. Everything ‘just so’.
It sure looked like it on the film…
Musings from the Chiefio 
Goal 1: Obtain/keep power.
The OWSnap protesters were becoming unpopular, threatening Goal #1.
I suspect that it is not any bigger than that. They were originally there based on the progressives’ (naive) assumption that they would resonate and cause the real main part of America to “Rise Up!”
I think the Tea Party in any major city drew comparable crowds to the entire US “occupied” movement combined. The OWie crowds were thin, and blatantly being bolstered by union folks. The numbers in major cities were getting down into the dozens, and it does not appear that they ever reached tens of thousands; even thousands were rare.
The police roundup allows the thinning crowd to exit the field with some semblance of dignity; much better (from their perspective) than giving a protest and having people stop coming.
===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle
I’ve been watching these for several generations. The singular feature these gatherings have in common is bad hygiene. Is personal filth a consequence of sloppy political thought, a precondition for it, or merely a coincidence. Inquiring minds want to know …but from a distance upwind.
Perhaps the neoluddites are merely trying to give use a demonstration of what life will be like in their modern, fully green environment?
Then again, most in my generation found it compulsory to read Lord of the Flies somewhere along the way. Maybe these folks are just acting it out.
I do note that with the attention now being given to the “near poor” the progressive goal of “equality at the bottom by tearing down achievers” is moving along nicely. We’ll know in a year whether this demonstration of the consequences of “progressive thought” as applied to actually governing has sufficiently disgusted enough folks to change course. Otherwise my adivce would be “Don’t drink the Kool Aide”.
Chiefio,
Thanks for your insight and for sharing your experiences – very enlightening. Please consider writing a book. Any topic of interest to you would do. I would buy it as soon as it was available.
Let me share with you and your readers for your general entertainment, a couple of vignettes on public protest and confrontation from the perspective of someone who was in service to “the Man”.
I was active US Army from 1972 to 1975 in the armored corps (Tanks) and then spent 23 years in Reserve Military Bands.
Vignette 1: US Army in Europe 1972 – 1975:
There was a fellow, a typical “career corporal” type who avowedly “hated” the military, but was serving what was then an extended tour of duty of six years. We’ll call him “Skeeter”. He was a great guy. Knew his job, didn’t do drugs (a big problem in the 70’s in the military), was outspoken in a kind of hilarious-on-occasion kind of way. He would just say anything to anybody. Not a military-type at all.
I asked Skeeter why he volunteered for six years if he hated military life. Here’s his story. Blue-collar type guy got drafted. Was sent to Viet Nam in a combat unit. Survived and make it home in one piece and not mentally screwed up.
Since he had only served two years active, he had to report to a National Guard unit. Immediately found himself called to duty to quell riots and anti-war protestors. That was just too much for Skeeter. He then volunteered to serve out the remainder of his time in an active duty unit – Skeeter confided in me that he would rather face the Viet Cong than kids like him.
Skeeter made it through his military stint without arousing too much ire from the authorities and rotated back home, safe and sane. I never kept up with him, but wherever he is I wish him well.
Vignette 2: California National Guard circa mid ’80s:
As a member of a Military Band you are by job description in the public’s eye. I loved it, and loved being in the military – probably my favorite job of all the types of works I’ve done. Anyhow, I could tell a thousand tales but one really stands out for me.
We were marching in a parade in a small suburb of LA with a high concentration of defense industries. Not Davis CA I can assure you. Every year we marched this parade – it celebrates “Armed Forces Day” May 21st. Very routine parade – not a big operation like the Rose Bowel in Pasadena or anything like that – a small community affair.
Well. One year, the protestors showed up with bull horns, leaflets, you name it. Naturally, they attempted and interference with the festivities including our marching and playing – to no effect. I vividly remember have a protestor shouting in my ear (I marched that parade on the outside rank) “Don’t glorify war you pig!” Confrontation was just below shoving. We utterly ignored them.
Anyhow, after the parade, we were packing it all in and getting on the bus. What do you think everybody was talking about in the band? The protestors? Bah! Instructions on the next drill, correct uniform to have ready, criticism that some haircuts were not up to snuff, etc. Not a word about the public’s behavior. Not a complaint, not even a comment.
Next year, bedroom community police were on hand, highly visible with police dogs on short leashes. They chased the protestors off. I didn’t see anyone get bit – personally I would not have gotten within 25 yards of one of those dogs.
Next year protestors showed up with platoons of small children they surrounded themselves with as attack-dog repellants. But they couldn’t raise as much ruckus because, well, they were surrounded by platoons of small children – who incidentally seemed to be having a great time. I think they really liked having there parents and guardians bring them to a fun parade – they were having cotton candy and all. It was fine. No one got hurt or anything.
Next year the protestors must have gotten some kind of permit or something, because they were cordoned off in a bleacher area, where they could be surrounded by police, (probably to protect them as much as anything) and as the floats, displays, and bands went by they could jeer and I guess, “protest”.
If you have never been to a military parade, here’s how it works: at the end of the parade, there is the military reviewing stand where the generals, politicians, local celebrities, and honored guests sit. Military bands have to ceremoniously render honors as they pass, and God help us if the band screws it up, doesn’t stay lined up perfectly etc. To help the band collect itself just prior to rendering honors, there is a spot on the parade route called the “quiet zone” where a band has a chance to stand at ease, get a breather, and psyche up for a perfect execution of honors. Well, just before the quiet zone was where they placed the protestors – so if you can imagine the hilarity of psyching up to do honors while a group of people shout in unison how bad you suck – I still chuckle when I recall that day.
Next year there were no protestors. Honestly, I missed them, I’m sure the community did not.
I tell this story at parties and to friends and the inevitable response is to bash the protestors; but I always argue that they are simply exercising their right to free speech and the right to assemble, granted by our governing constitution. I took great patriotic pride in defending these rights during my term of service.
Now we have OWS protests. Personally, I see them as nothing other than street theater like my story above. Have these malcontents written hundreds of letter to their congress-critters? I have. Have they called them on the phone? Met with them? Screamed at them? Shown up at their offices surrounded by children? Shown up at their office with their college degrees and resume and evidence of the hundreds of job applications they have sent out and still no job? Hmm. How’s that voter turn-out percentage?
Have they stared their own business? I have. I employ people. What is really their gripe; their point…
And if the local police agencies clear them out of a neighborhood after a time, isn’t that just protecting the local communities right to have a business and a civil decent commons?
In my book, they can have their say; then they need to go home and work the political system. Most of them just look like they need a job.
There is more than enough insanity to go around. OWS is to a great extent being supported by unions, whose bosses are clearly in the 1%. Did you hear the stories coming out of Chicago in which union bosses, by virtue of working 1 day in a government job, were able to secure full government pensions.
@Too late for an “Arab Spring”, OWS will freeze under several feet of snow and ice…(at least, during cold weather OWS won´t smell so bad) :-)
I have always assumed that Occupy Wall Street uses the word occupy in the same way that an invading power will illegally occupy someone else’s territory.
Have you copyrighted “Lame Stream Media” ? If not I will be using it liberally!
I like the use of the term TLA.
@…or ocuppy the toillete?
@Tom Bakewell:
TLA can also mean Three Letter Acronym, so for those who are ‘agile’ on swapping meaning with context… TLA is a TLA for TLA, as well as a TLA for Three Letter Agencies ;-)
I think it was hanging out with Lab Rats Kids that I first heard ‘TLA’ about agencies…
@tckev:
Lame Street Media is in common use in selected enlightened places… I picked it up from the society at large (i.e. TV I think) so Use With Pride. ;-)
@Adolfo:
Someone ought to have told them that a sequel is rarely as good as the original and that “timing is everything” (except when context is everything or when …) So yeah, they are going to discover what real suffering is like. Not from the police, but from Mother Nature, who cares not what you think…
@R. Shearer:
I’ve not followed those stories. Then again, I long ago figured out that unions had passed their time of utility and that union bosses were just into self aggrandizement… so I’ve not focused on gathering more data points for an already settled understanding (it’s just how my brain works, not a choice).
FWIW, I’m a Teamsters Union Member. Didn’t want to be, but had to join in order to stack boxes of canned peaches for a smidgeon over minimum wage back in my college years. Never ‘took a withdrawal’ at the end of my working term, so I’ve supposedly got a few zillion dollars of back dues due. I’ve still got my union book in a box somewhere… (Never know when I might need it to avoid having my car trashed – just press to the window and drive in peace…) Near as I could tell, about 1/10th of the folks wanted to be in the union, the rest just saw it as a pain in the ass, but one not worth fighting.
@GregO:
Great stories!
FWIW I have talked with a lot of friends who have been on both sides of the Green Line of the military. (Lots of my friends got drafted or enlisted to avoid the draft – I managed to avoid it by getting a great number in the lottery. 342 if I remember it right. ) Then went off to hang out with Lab Rats Kids and hear stories from inside the covert business of bombs. (Some of that stuff I can’t share).
The most interesting thing to me has been how the very same personalities and political orientations can be on both sides of the green, yet the stereotypes drive the demonstrators actions.
From a friend (Lt.) who filled his jeep with ‘confiscated’ marijuana in Viet Nam, and proceeded to take it back to his unit to share ;-) to another friend in the Guard who was nose to nose with protestors when ‘on duty’ and helping them when not on duty. To cop friends who busted folks for doing things they themselves do.
Sometimes folks forget that we’re the same folks despite the clothes we wear…
@Keith:
Sounds about right to me…
@Richard Ilfeld:
I think there are several things that converge to give the ‘style’ of hygiene seen at the OWS style events. I don’t have any idea what the ‘weighting’ would be between them, so I’ll just make a list.
1) Desire to look like the ‘poor’ they are representing. Hard to be ‘poor protesting the rich’ in your business suit. Some may well be doing it as deliberate ploy, others as subconscious identification.
2) Desire to “suffer”. Some of these folks have very expensive apartments and lots of money. They can ‘atone’ for their ‘sins’ to some extent by ‘suffering’ enough. This lets them tell stories at their cocktail parties about “how hard it was living on the street, with no showers and no heat and… please pass the oysters, you wouldn’t believe how my hair looked without conditioner, it took Enri a week to get the tangles out! ” If you want ‘street cred’ you want as much as you can get from the smallest investment of time and effort. If you want absolution, the more pain and suffering the better.
3) Emotion driven thinking rarely bothers with logistics. The rational Tea Party sorts have a clear goal (state “foo”, be heard) and once they have done that, go home to where the logistics are complete. They also have stellar logistics for things like getting to the place and cleaning up after. Emotion based thinking (like ‘day of rage’) is not very interested in things like porta-potties and portable showers. (They do have the structure of committees and such to deal with focused areas; but committees do not work as well as everyone bringing a water bottle and wanting a shower when the day is done so heading home or to the hotel.)
4) Wanting to make a symbolic statement. Tea Party folks are more about substantive statements (like “no new taxes” and “stop the spending”) than about symbolism void of substance (like “occupy Wall Street” — what good is done by filling a particular street with bodies?; or “we are the 99%” – Isn’t almost everyone? Including almost all of the Tea Party folks? Rather confused in substance…) When you want to be “symbolic” it’s the image that matters. Images of polite folks well dressed being polite is not as “symbolic” as ragged folks who are obviously “suffering” having ‘rage’ about the 1%. Never mind that the ‘symbolism’ is vapid. (Not to mention vaporous). The effect in the mind of those susceptible to symbolism is all that matters. So you need to be ragged, scruffy, unshaven, and generally looking like you are suffering for your ‘symbolic suffering’ to be effective. Even if they do not realize that is why they are doing it.
(BTW, I think that is part of why the Tea Party is not favored by the news. Even if only a small part. There isn’t much drama in polite folks, nicely -if modestly- dressed, quietly stating “we would like you to be more fiscally responsible”. The ‘symbolic thinkers’ know this and want more ‘drama’ and juice…)
5) You make an interesting point about sloppy thinking and sloppy habits. Would be interesting to explore…
6) In many ways these folks have self selected for poor understanding of the logistics of life. They are not interested in the hard work of making things work. They just want someone else to give them stuff. That is not the kind of person who is prepared to take responsibility for arranging shower facilities or for arranging rotations out of the park to home shower visits. So we have a ‘selection bias’ in the sample.
7) Emotional Excess. The Progressive and Loony Lefties are much more prone to emotional decision making. “If it feels good, do it”. They are very much against having reason rule over emotion. “You can’t cut entitlements!” even though if you cut 100% of everything else we still have a budget crisis as entitlements grow to consume it all in short order. “Think of the poor folks it would hurt!” – never mind that they will be hurt worse when the whole thing collapses. Such folks will not want to let go of the moment. They want to stay submerged in the emotional soup of the day. Taking time out to go home and shower would be risking “missing the big moment” of the bust and it would be risking having your emotional buzz killed by some reality immersion. Better to ‘hang out’ and build the buzz… shower be damned.
8) Kinship with the myth. They are living out a myth of the kinship with movements like The Arab Spring and demonstrations from The 60s et. al. Demonstrations where there WERE problems getting any logistics in place for showers. (Hard to bring in portable showers when the place is surrounded by the Egyptian Army…) How can you be ‘true to the myth’ if you are missing the decorations of it? Don’t want a faux myth after all, so you need to make your myth building experience as ‘realistic’ as possible. That means recreating things like the ‘hardship’ of no showers…
That’s about all I’ve got right now. I’m sure there is more.
Spain today threw out the Socialists who in seven years time managed to take Spain from the best economy in the Eurozone to one of the worst. They realized too late that their Green Energy program that Obama held up as a model for the US cost more jobs than it created and was an epic waste of money.
Chavez has taken Venezuela on the same path. There is not a case in history of which I am aware where socialism or becoming more socialistic improved anyone’s quality of life. Socialism creates equality in poverty. It perpetuates a political class by making a larger portion of the electorate dependent on them through poverty and cronyism.
We have a UC Berkeley protestor striking a woman on campus in the face with a stainless steel water bottle when she refused to join the demonstrations. What we have here is a group of children who have been handed everything in their lives demanding the things they want for the simple reason that they want them. They apparently have a “right” to things simply because they “want” them. It is a collective mass tantrum.
Santa Cruz must now remove 200lbs of human waste that they discovered at the Veterans Building http://www.verumserum.com/?p=33789
That just about sizes up this movement. They are pigeons. They crap all over the place and produce nothing.
A well dressed asian man got on a plane and sat next to a well dressed black man. After an engaging conversation the asian man asked the black man, how come the black population in this country has not prospered as the asian population has? The black man looked at him directly and said, “you were hungry, we’re owed.”
The OWS movement is that simple and ignorant, They think they are owed. Our community “Organizer in Chief” has made a living from convincing people they are owed. When 99% think they are owed, then 100% have a difficult road to travel. Obama, the most devisive President ever.
E.M., the myth can be enticing. My Uncle, Lenorard Wessel, authored a book found in scholastic circles, occasionally still cited, “The mythopoetic origins of Marxism”
People need something to believe in. Once they have accomodated themselves they’re on track. After that, it’s just a matter of getting up in the morning.
Many but not most people prefer to be in the middle. Some prefer to be on the edge. Most prefer to be to one side of those in the middle.
Some love self over all others. Many but not most are in the middle and tend to love self and others about the same. Most love self more than others but only certain others.
Everyone likes to win. Some like to win at all costs. Many have scrupples and only prefer a certain kind of winning. Once most people have “accomodated” themselves, they much prefer that their side win over all others.
If people are happy they generally don’t listen to anyone with a picket sign. If people are not happy they not only listen to people with picket signs, they may be inclined to pick one up.
Politicians are like people, only more so. People who re-elect a politician to the same position more than once are stupid.
When people are stupid, bad things happen.
@ Pascvaks “When people are stupid, bad things happen.”
That ought to be displayed on highway billboards and inside public school rooms!
I get frustrated when the MSM constantly tries to equate the Tea Party with the OWS groups. The Tea Party loves America and wants a smaller less intrusive government. The OWS hates America, Capitalism, and wants a larger more intrusive government. IT IS THAT SIMPLE.
When you look at the groups that are supporting OWS (the American Neo Nazis for Christ’s sake, Communist Party USA, Leaders of Iran, etc.) and the rampant anti-Semitism you would think the usual suspects on MSNBC and other MSM outlets would be all over these guys as they are always trying to portray the Tea Party as Nazis. The hypocrisy is at levels that are unbearable. Instead they go out of their way to cover up all of the fringe ideas that make up the movement and focus on the few “average” people who show up to protest. Mostly, these are not everyday people. They are professional agitators and subscribers to Marxist ideologies.
The first amendment guarantees free speech. It DOES NOT guarantee you have a right to disrupt other people’s livelihood and ability to get their work done. As most of these people have most likely never held a stable job that concept almost always seems to escape them.
I like what I heard an Italian American say once, “Sorry I’m not out protesting, I’m too busy working.”
@George – your comment is my new bumper sticker “Socialism creates equality in poverty.” Love it.
While it’s horrible thinking about “grandma” getting a face full of mace, she knew what she was doing there. The video that I saw showed the “officer” spraying the line about three times and I still didn’t see anyone react to the pepper spray. Where they using red water???
You can have your 1st Amendment rights but they pretty much end with the lawful command to disperse.
As far as the OWS idiots, it is not grassroots, it was not spontaneous and it will accomplish little other than wasting resources to baby sit and clean up after them.
The good side of the political story is that the longer it goes on, the worse the joker Democrats that support them look.
Yes, the media is definitely looking/waiting/encouraging a Kent Sate moment.
@MatthewW:
I kind of suggested that they were using some awful weak stuff in the posting. I’ve had MACE. It was just a wiff from a spot that was sprayed onto a door. At about 1 foot from it, I ended up with burning eyes and watering burning nose so bad I had to stumble to a wash fountain IMMEDIATELY to wash it off. Still took a couple of hours to be ‘normal’. No Way you could take that stuff in the face and not run screaming from the area (sans drugs…)
Similarly I’ve had simple hot pepper juice on my lips (from an over zealous Chili making episode) that resulted in a mad dash to the wash room and vigorous scrubbing… A face full off THAT and you would not just sit waiting to be pulled off…
So whatever pepper spray they were using, IMHO, was not a very strong blend… To be able to just sit like that after a spray that heavy either means that the protesters were drugged up, had self control beyond belief, or were not being sprayed with the strong stuff…
IMHO, of course.
The great thing about California is that they take dumb ideas to the extreme so that the rest of us won’t have to.
Agree with so much in Chiefio’s thread and the comments. Also, Chiefio, do write the book(s), you’ll find a ready market!
Regarding the false equivalence between Tea Partiers and OWSers, agree to the max. It would be helpful if somebody simplified the difference, but nobody in MSM wants to do so, or could be bothered. And who else is going to do it in the limited/shrinking arena of “public discourse”?
The difference as I see it is this. OWSers are saying “Give Me!” Wheras Tea Partiers are saying “Stop Taking From Me!” Between those two statements is a wide, wide world.
When I moved to the USA in 1982 the lack of regulations was awesome compared to the United Kingdom that I used to consider a “Free” country.
One of the things that puzzled me was the lack of appreciation of native born Americans for the superiority of their government, limited as it was by the design of the Founding Fathers.
I expected to find a sturdy individualism born of the “Frontier Spirit” but instead I found the same yearning for “Entitlements” that was the norm in Europe sixty years ago. The “Politics of Envy” became a corrosive influence in the UK for several decades, yet in the 2008 election we saw John Edwards making this the backbone of his campaign and Barack Obama appears to be adopting this idea as the basis for his 2012 campaign.
Why does the USA have to emulate the mistakes of Europeans? Surely we are smart enough to understand that the quaint American idea of a limited government was our greatest strength. Where else does anyone dare to suggest that government should serve the people rather than the people serve the government?
@gallopingcamel
Oh, it’s just that old, slowly swinging Pendelum. It’s nearly “stopped” at the end of the present swish and is now chock-full of ‘potential’ energy, ready to be turned to momentum as it starts another. I swear, I look into the eyes of this New Century/New Millenium Generation and I see a lot of discontent and anger at all forms of authority, and anyone they think is a Freeloader. If you thought the 60’s were wild, I have a feeling they won’t hold a candle to what’s coming.
PS: For the Web Cops at Homeland Security: No I don’t “know” anything, it’s just my old bones telling me something very different is right around the corner.
Going viral:
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/214228/3/Company-Policy-We-are-not-hiring-until-Obama-is-gone
Sorry I missed this one when you first posted it. I enjoyed it, and laughed a lot at the antics of the left and OWS.
But I got to say you are wrong on one point. Your anti-war Rally. You did get screwed. just not the type you wanted. ;)
@George:
Taking a look now…
@Philjouran:
Ow ow ow!!!