A couple of days ago I posted a quote on face book (above) and it lit up my typically soggy page. These folks, who I know intimately, were slobbering mad -- I could tell they were slobbering -- even through the World Wide Web. There was slobber all over my computer keyboard. Thankfully it was a sanguine slobber. Below are a few of the responses:
If they were flipping burgers, parking cars or giving massages, at least
they would be contributing to society. The fact that they are camping in a park
without a job should speak volumes.
You're damn right they need to get a job and at least attempt to make a
difference in society.
As Americans, we have the right to
oppose anything that the government puts forward. However, as a person that is
a drain on the resources of the working class (I.e. the occupy movent) what
gives them the right to speak? Oh, I know, it is the rest of...
Well said, I am just gonna be honest, who likes a lazy person? What would
happen if everyone chose not to work? Why would someone not want to work and be
the best they can be?
Ok changed my mind I will say something. I have worked since I was 14. Get
off ur asses and work. Sometimes in life you have to do what you don't want to
do. Damnit everyone needs to quit bitching and expect entitlement
And on and on...
Most of the slobberers were in their early thirties and younger. They work hard. They are productive Americans. However they have been propagandized into becoming little monsters.
They're angry and they show no hesitation in displaying it.
Unfortunately, part of what really came through was that they resented having to work. They were projecting hostilities generated in their own homes not in Zuccotti Park or Oakland.
The Right Wing media propaganda machine has miraculously absolved them of their choices -- they are the "working" angry Conservative army that has been, unconsciously, conscripted and now that they find themselves in the trenches -- they can't remember that their lives are all about their choices and, in the case of these folks, they all have had tremendous advantages in their lives, which steered their choices -- they are living the American Dream. They chose to live the way they live and should be so happy to have made a good choice that you would think that they would have a live and let live attitude. However, as you can tell from above -- they are angry.
Interestingly, the Occupy Movements core issues address precisely the reasons that these guys are so angry, in my opinion, of course. Although the movement has no set agenda or manifesto, here is what it is basically all about:
"The main issues are social and economic inequality , greed, corruption and the perceived undue influence of corporations on government--particularly from the financial services sector. The OWS slogan, We are the 99% , addresses the growing income inequality and wealth distribution in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. To achieve their goals, protesters act on consensus-based decisions made in general assemblies which emphasize direct action over petitioning authorities for redress ." Wikipedia
Which in specific terms demands:
The reduction of the influence of corporations
More and better jobs
Curtail speculative trading by banks
Forgiveness of student loan debt
Alleviation of the foreclosure situation
Boy, sure doesn't sound like a bunch of Hippie Socialist
Bums talking to me. It sounds like a
bunch of thoughtful folks trying to reform Capitalism here in America. These aren't anarchists; these are Americans
wanting to retool the American Dream so that more Americans can live it. However, they have stepped on big toes ( the reduction of the influence of
corporations).
Getting back to
my facebook friends; messing with Corporate America is the ugly, unforgivable
transgression of the Occupy Movement.
My facebook friends are the branded, smoozed corporate generation. They are unwitting footsoldiers for
Corporate America. They have so
absolutely and unconsciously taken the bait that it would require a massive
intervention and years of therapy to get them to remove their monster
suits. When they look down on Zuccotti
Park all they can see is a bunch of people milling around, not working.
I'm reading
"Collapse" by Jared diamond. It's a
survey of societies past and present and why they succeed or fail. In his chapter on the ancient Maya he writes
the following ,"....we have to wonder why the
kings and nobles failed to recognize and solve these seemingly obvious problems
undermining their society (drought, over population, continuous warfare,
deforestation, and failure of agriculture).
Their attention was evidently focused on their short-term concerns of
enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments, competing with each
other, and extracting enough food from the peasants to support all those
activities. Like most leaders
throughout human history, the Maya kings and nobles did not heed long-term
problems, insofar as they perceived them..." Chapter
five, page 177
So, if things
were getting or got so bad that these societies failed -- how did the Kings and
Nobles keep the poulation in line? With
monsters of course. The Maya, etc,
pantheon of gods, godesses and demi-gods kept the lower folks scared to
death. Until they didn't. I believe we are in, hopefully, the until
they didn't phase. The occupy movement
is proof that folks are waking up and are no longer intimidated by monsters.
In the past when
this happened the awakened populace typically overthrew the Kings and Nobles,
moved, or it was to late when they awoke and they simply perished. Corporate America is counting on the "little
monsters" to keep the rest of us in line in the face of climate change,
economic inequality, environmental degredation, interminable war, and
dependence on a destructive petroleum based economy. I love these little monsters.
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