I guess what I like most is the sort of polite befuddlement of liberal Americans, your average NPRische type, colledgucated and vaguely sympathetic with the idea that Something Has Gone Wrong in America--perhaps not personally struggling too mightily, but, you know, one Subaru payment away from ruin--as they gaze on the Occupy Wall Street types. They may vaguely recall that School of the Americas rally they attended as college students back in their Kenyon days or whatever . . . or was it Free Palestine? But what they really want to know is, what do they want? What is Occupy Wall Street's agenda? What are their demands. The course seems lacking in a syllabus. It isn't in outline form. No one seems prepared to PowerPoint it.
45 comments:
What's even worse is, who's in charge?
It's almost, dare I say it, anarchy!
Damn I hope they don't come out with any demands. An acquaintance of mine wrote something on the topic. I like the image he includes from somebody's notebook:
"Demands are directed at authority and help make that authority real.
Our one demand is instead an offering.
Join us."
God bless these stinky anarchy kids.
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS - says Barr of banksters
Comedienne and actress Roseanne Barr has launched another scathing attack - this time taking aim at bankers, ordering them to return profits or be beheaded.
The controversial self-proclaimed presidential candidate appeared on the Russia Today television programme Keiser Report to reveal her solution for dealing with the economic crisis saying the banks should repay the money the U.S. government bailed them out with in 2008.
She also said that if she were president, she would bring back the guillotine as a form of punishment.
'Because it teaches children, you know, that they don't have to have any morals as long as they have guns and are bullies and I don't think that's a good message.
'I do say that I am in favour of the return of the guillotine and that is for the worst of the worst of the guilty.
'I first would allow the guilty bankers to pay, you know, the ability to pay back anything over $100 million [of] personal wealth because I believe in a maximum wage of $100 million.
'And if they are unable to live on that amount amount then they should, you know, go to the re-education camps and if that doesn't help, then being beheaded.'
The actress-turned-author is one of several celebrities who came out to support the hundreds of protesters camped out in lower Manhattan for the 'Occupy Wall Street' demonstration.
Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore also lent their support to the campaigners.
What do they want? Justice, however inchoately. As Van Jones has noted, the Wall Street protesters recall the men and women of principle in Tahrir Square. I'm awaiting their calls for Geithner and Bernanke's resignations and trials.
Comedienne condemns Mormon 'extremely anti-gay crusade'
In March 2010, Roseanne Barr hit out at Mormons and claimed that Marie Osmond's son killed himself because he was gay.
The week after Michael Blosil, 18, jumped from his Los Angeles apartment to his death, she wrote:
'Marie Osmond's poor gay son killed himself. He had been told how wrong and how sick he was every day of his life by his church and the people in it. Calling that "depression" is a lie!
'Yet the Osmonds still talk lovingly about their church, saying nothing about its extremely anti-gay crusade.'
"But what they really want to know is, what do they want?"
Which makes me worry a lot about what they'll do with it if/when they get it.
I read that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan, recently gave 4.6 million dollars to the New York Police Department!
Who knew, the NYPD. took "person donatations".
Personal.
how is the corporate capitalist system supposed to satisfy these people if they won't come out and say what they want?
"Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan, recently gave 4.6 million dollars to the New York Police Department"
Right after the mass violent arrest of hundreds of protesters. As someone said, popular resistance does more for one's political education than any foundational text.
(NPR? listening to Friday''s "th' Diane Rehm Show," I think I'll think twice before sending a check to my local NPR affiliate ..)
Though I would never accuse substitute host Susan Page of being a "CIA shill," if the shoe fits ..
In any case, sad to hear her celebrating the weakening of Africa as a whole by the recent coup in Libya. The fact that al-Qaida figure Abdelhakim Belhaj is prominent among the rebels speaks volumes.
Likewise, her dismissal of the armed thugs scattered among legitimate protesters in Assad's Syria. As any schoolchild knows, the only political parties banned there are specifically *Salifist* ones (i.e., of the Saudi-backed Islamist variety). Syria - like Iraq under Saddam - is a thoroughly *secular* dictatorship. I doubt that will be the case if it becomes a Saudi client state.
maybe i'll a take a vacation
Get an occupation, sir!
http://www.occupypittsburgh.org/
Should be "Occupy Grant Street", but whatevs.
Has Yggles weighed in yet? p.s. Kunstler @ clusterfuck nation has a post up on the 'OWSers'.
off topic, but the she-devil Amanda Knox has wiggled out of her murder conviction in Italy
I believe Yggy officially sniffed at OWS last week or so.
I totally encourage all the disorganized fuckups and nihilists at this here blog to check out occupytogether.org. If my shitty little town has one, I can't imagine there aren't many here that don't, at least not in reasonable driving/bus distance.
Yes, well, that's what they say -- what do they want? etc. But, they're not telling the truth, of course.
The real response is more like an urge, and the urge is a kind of appetite, like: How do I FUCKING EAT the Wall Street occupiers?
anon@4
holy shit who fucking cares
tell us about conrad murray while you're on a roll you fucking idiot
I once tried to argue to some liberal friends that investing was wrong. That you can't hate wall street and have a 401k.
But they just couldn't stand with me. They didn't want to blame someone just trying to save money for retirement.
I mean, if we take over Wall Street, who is going to watch after our tax deferred savings accounts?
So the real question is: What do you want that won't cause us any discomfort about our worldview.
Roseanne's campaign manager should be fired! This is the worst way to go viral.
Another consideration is how the current "vague demands" are allowing a much larger group of people to identify with the protesters. My own NPRische friends generally support the protest because they imagine it's about pushing Democrats to pass stronger regulations on corporations, or tax the rich, etc. If it becomes more explicitly anti-capitalist or revolutionary in tone (which is already present, but not dominant), then they'll turn against it immediately. Likewise, if a "progressive" agenda starts to dominate, with protesters lamely focused on demanding specific legislative reforms from Democrats, then they're more likely to be derided by IOZ types. I admit that early on I was much less interested because I thought it would more closely resemble the latter.
I think that if they really want to create some havoc they should turn it into a gigantic orgy. Then I'd be willing to get involved. I don't know what it is exactly but modern female fashion drives me wild.
Paul, can't you just be happy with the free pizza?
Free pizza? Really? I have no idea what's going on but now you've piqued my interest. As long as it's not Pizza Hut because it gives me heart burn.
Your sarcasm is plentiful, so I'm not sure if you're aware or not that they were indeed offering free pizza as one of their slogans. or something. I dunno. I get most of my info from Facebook these days so...
I really have no idea what's going on! And I really do get heart burn from Pizza Hut! I need to get caught up.
IOZ is an important supplemental to, but no replacement for, Facebook as a source of international political news.
Hey if you get arrested you'll get a free bologna & cheese sandwich and bug juice courtesy of The NY Dept. of Corrections. Win, win..
Sweet. Now I have lunch AND dinner plans. Question: do the NYPD offer a gluten free option?
I know they offer Halal.
Eh,as long as some arbitrary dietary standard or another is being enforced, I'm good. I usually go modern but the classics are good, too.
But..but Hank Williams, Jr. got bounced from MNF for exercising his free speech rights! It is an outrage!
At least one of 'em wants a trifle or two beyond pizza...
http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-for-occupy-wall-st-moveme/
logical fallacies?
specific examples please.
nprische types more than likely received the demands in their facebook feed. I did.
Let's not forget that your the guy that listens to cartalk and terry gross...
you're the guy.
RE comments by Anon 5:25. It's not just that they want to keep their outlook vague to attract newcomers, it's also because they are deeply split themselves. Here's some results from a survey of 100 OWSers just done by New York magazine:
Pick one: Capitalism...
Isn't fundamentally evil; it just needs to be regulated: 46
Can't be saved; it's inherently immoral: 37
Didn't answer: 17
What do you think of Obama?
I believed in him, and he let me down: 40
I never believed in him: 27
He's doing the best he can: 22
He's doing great: 1
Rank yourself on the following Scale of Liberalism:
Not liberal at all: 6
Liberal but fairly mainstream (i.e., Barack Obama): 3
Strongly liberal (i.e., Paul Krugman): 12
Fed up with Democrats, believe country needs overhaul (i.e., Ralph Nader): 41
Convinced the U.S. government is no better than, say, Al Qaeda (i.e., Noam Chomsky): 34
Has the occupation been a success so far?
Yes: 79
No: 13
I like 'em. But, they're the carrot. Mustn't forget the stick. Our Greek cousins have some videos they'd like us to see...
11:09,
Those are cheering data. I'm happy that such disparate elements can agree that something fundamentally unfair is happening, and can look beyond their voter registration cards for congruence.
I once tried to argue to some liberal friends that investing was wrong. That you can't hate wall street and have a 401k.
I see what you're saying, but I'm not entirely convinced hedging your bets a bit is so bad... If capitalism goes, my pension goes with it, and I figure that's not too bad a deal - but on the flip side, I'm not going to bet on it happening. I may hate Wall St, but I know which side my bread's buttered on.
You get bread and butter? You must be one of those fat cats I keep hearing about.
Roseanne opener for Cathy O'Brien
That ain't butter, buddy. Can you believe it?!
capitalism is ultimately an ouroboros, your pension is way fucked in any case, buddy.
iffifn this blog were a movement (and it is) the most important thing in the world would be this poll result [and the central political TRUTH shouted from the mountaintops here through the not-all-that convincing detached nihiplister poseuring]
**Fed up with the Democrats 41%**
the beginning is near
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