Forum Post: The Holy Warfare of the 99%
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 30, 2011, 6:53 p.m. EST by Talleyrand
(59)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
For those of you who do not already know this guy, he is a teacher who works across the street from Zuccotti Park. He has been a part of the protests from the start and has very insightful signs crammed with information. His writings have been insightful and a good glimpse into what Occupy Wall Street is about.
This is a no-ignorance zone. Do not feed the trolls:
http://theassailedteacher.com/2011/10/19/does-the-99-engage-in-class-warfare-or-holy-warfare/
Yes, world perspectives are always in constant flux and never changes wholly until new ways of seeing things take root and grow, i.e. enlightenment (scientific revolution and industrial revolution). Mankind is still evolving as a social animal.
Thanks for sharing this. Has to be one of the best write ups on OWS that I've seen.
Absolutely. Thanks for checking.
You're welcome! I've bookmarked his blog and will be visiting regularly. :)
Well, that's sure to turn about half the country away from you. Good work.
No, only people like you.
You'd be surprised how many people like me there are then, and that come here to read and try to figure out what it's all about, not to mention where some of these posts wind up at elsewhere on the web.
Like I said, keep up the good work.
I know there are many of you and I sympathize with your perspective. But people like me will be waiting for you to join us when you wake up.
Sorry, I actually have to work.
Good on you. I somehow found time to work and be awake at the same time.
That's good, apparently you don't have a family to look after. Good for you.
Wrong again but it is ok. You are the 99%.
I work full time, but I'm down at OWS all the time--I was there this afternoon bringing down a load of winter coats. What's your excuse?
I live in Tennessee and have no plans on EVER going to that pit known as the Big Apple ever again. I've been there plenty in a semi and have no plans on every going there again on purpose.
Besides, why would I WANT to go there? Nobody seems to have an agenda or plan yet.
Anyway, I guess that means you live in the area, I pity you.
There are occupations all over, you do not have to come to NY. I am at Zuccotti Park everyday. I come because I know that this is the fight that the working poor have needed, waited for and tried to foment for many years. I could not let this pass me by.
The agenda is clear, only the MSM muddies the waters.
Well, if it's clear, will you clue me in? About the only protests I'd go to are anti-abortion ones. I don't think they have one in Knoxville, TN and that's the closest 'big' (not compared to a real city) city to me.
I've sure there are plenty of people at UT that would love to start one though.
It is to curtail the power of corporations over our government and our lives. It is to get a government that is supposed to work for its people to stop working for corporations.
All the signs and demands you hear basically boil down to that. There are so many different demands because everything is screwed up.
There are no anti-abortion rallies in NYC but I do believe there is an occupation in Knoxville. Maybe go down there and see what it is about when you get the chance. If you start talking to people you might hear some things you agree with.
Here is Occupy Knoxville's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Wall-Street-Knoxville/218196918241973
quote "There are too many people who cannot or will not unmoor their view of the world from the bromide of “money makes the world go round.” They see anybody who threatens that belief as dangerous as medieval Christians saw pagans. But the revaluation of values goes on without them. As our nation and conditions continue to decay, people will have no choice but to abandon the most commonly held assumptions of our civilization in favor of something better. Over a hundred years ago, Nietzsche said “God is dead” and now we are at the point where we hope to begin to say “Money is dead”.
"people will have no choice but to abandon the most commonly held assumptions of our civilization in favor of something better"
I am sorry to say but that is bull. People don't even VOTE right now!
Yet somehow they will have no choice to to make something better and will all somehow just have a new thing that will make it all better.
I taught my daughter when she turned 18 that not voting - and knowing what you are voting for - meant you had no RIGHT to complain about the system that we have. Well you do have the right, but it is pointless to bitch if you are not willing to even do the one thing that EVERY citizen should do.
I just do not see how all of the flowery, eloquent, stuff that floats around on this forum has to do with reality.
If you really want to have a revolution it will not happen like this.
Look at the Tea Party. It had a voice, loud, screaming "listen to me" and it is demonized from the get go from the highest level of government, and so many listened to that, that it (the demonization), became it's own reality - whether true or not.
The Tea Party was set upon by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It was not over policy, it was over the threat to the status quo and the very comfortable power structure that now exists.
It was perceived as a threat and was acted upon to try to neutralize it.
Don't for a second think that will not happen to OWS when and if the Power Structure sees you as a threat.
As long as you don't vote - you are no threat to them at all.
This is beyond voting, although that is a large part of the plan. As conditions worsen for more and more people, it will given them no choice but to see that all the old bromides and assumptions are breaking down. That is what the quote is saying. New assumptions will have to replace them.
But yes, I hope that once someone wakes up to the moral bankruptcy of our system, they will choose to join OWS. While you are correct in pointing out that voter turnout is abysmal, turnouts for the last few elections, including 2008 have been trending upward. They are still low and nowhere near the levels of the 60s and before but it is a sign that people are waking up, since more and more people have been voting against Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats.
The Tea Party was a blemish on that trend. The Koch Brothers knew that the people were stirring, so they preyed upon their seething resentment to aim people's hostility against government instead of against the private sector where it belonged. They convinced a bunch of dupes in rural areas to vote for the most regressive and corporate-friendly weasels of all time. It is easy to spread your message loud and proud when the MSM embraces you and your talking points are set for you by Rush, Fox, etc.
OWS' amorphousness is its greatest strength. It is showing people in a million different ways basically the same message: we live in a corporatist police state. That is what all the signs, marches and police brutality show at the end of the day. This is what makes OWS greater than the Tea Party. It is organic and beyond just changing voting habits. Impacting voter habits is just one of many changes it promises to make.