Forum Post: The Winter of Our Discontent. [semi-official]
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 8, 2011, 7:45 p.m. EST by NYSockExchange
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This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Ladies and Gentlemen.
We find ourselves at a very particular point in time right now. As I write this, multiple organizations are attempting to latch onto our energy, desire, and drive in an effort to drum up support for their own prerogatives. As such, I would like to take a moment to address this trend.
MoveOn.org
Ah, MoveOn. Champions of the DNC-left. Once an anti-war movement -- now more of a movement in the sense of stomach growls and bloating. Parasitic in their desire to latch onto something -- anything -- that gets them into the spotlight.
"Hey, look at this generation getting on the ball to create change! Let's harness this and bring in our own set of demands!"
I'd like to take this moment to point out how They see You: You are children. You are easily manipulated. Your free spirit is a commodity and your energy is pivotal to the furthering of objectives that are not yours.
You are easily distracted. You'll never notice this.
My retaliation to this claim is that we are none of these things -- and to underestimate our strength, willpower, and intelligence is a direct insult. If you are such fine organizers -- why don't you schedule your own rally? Why do you feel the need to attach yourself to our shark as a lamprey? To follow our movement like suckfish -- consuming anything that can not fit into our mouths? Did dressing up in pink and causing disruption in public forums not work as well as you had expected?
Sorry to hear that. Try again.
George Soros
AdBusters is a pretty nice magazine. I've been a pretty steady reader since the day I ran into a copy of a cool-looking magazine while waiting for a friend in Central Station in D.C.
The words and concepts within the magazine are often painfully broad in subject matter -- but it's a solid magazine that acts as a shotgun, hitting as many targets as possible. Sparking ideas. Encouraging discourse. Including a packet of seeds to plant in the cracks of sidewalks.
It suggests participation and subversion over simply reading about how great green energy is or what sort of farming is productive.
I listened to a man tell me today that this entire thing was bank-rolled by George Soros because some of Soros's money goes toward AdBusters -- where one of the first instances of Wall Street occupation was suggested.
Considering the political affiliation of the man I was talking to, I can understand how this concept would be very familiar to him. In his world there are no grassroots efforts. There are no "from the ground up" movements that occur without a board, a PR manager, or a test group to ensure that the use of Helvetica font was the right choice.
Honest movements don't happen in his world.
Suddenly Glenn Beck is on stage, point to geese, saying that it's God's Fly Over -- animals appearing as machines of war in formation. Suddenly there are people with signs that say the taxation of wealthy is akin to being slaves. Suddenly senators are being shot.
If Soros is considered our benefactor in this movement due to a call-to-arms article in an anti-establishment magazine he funds -- then so be it. The absurdity of that statement is damning to every effort from any political (or non-political party) that has been in the media. So at least if I'm damned, so is everyone else.
Q&A
I don't have a list of demands. I have a list of problems. And it is very important that we hang on to these problems as hard as we can because the level of noise that we are about to experience has the potential to create problems.
Let me ask you a serious question: Do you recall the last nationally elected official that made under $200,000 a year and possessed under $1 million in assets? You're going to say Carter -- it wasn't. Carter was elected because America needed some humor after years stationed in Vietnam. But it still wasn't him.
The answer for the past 100 years is, "No one."
How about the house and senate? Those fine individuals who make and shape our laws, public policy, and monetary distribution -- there have to be a few individuals who made $40,000 a year before being elected, right?
I'm just going to let that sit there as a rhetorical question.
The people that we elect do not have our monetary interests at heart. They preform a delicate balance (when not running for re-election) between appeasing their constituency, appeasing the people who offered them the money -- and thus the opportunity -- to run for office, and the people who provided them with their initial income.
This isn't a representative democracy. Not even a republic. This is a representative plutocracy -- where I go to the polls every two-to-four years to vote for an individual who has money. And that's how it has always been.
Your vote matters. In an effort to elect one of two parties.
And then, once you elect that individual, they assure you that they will keep the torch of party polarization blazing bright. It becomes a team sport. Everyone goes to watch the political wrestling match. We cheer when our hero comes out, boo when the other guy comes out, and become vehemently entwined in this concept of "Us vs. Them". And at the end of the night, everyone but the spectators walk away with money.
Our nation has to be polarized. That is the single safest solution for the prosperity of those who control the power and economics of this country. What if "Us vs. Them" wasn't "Republicrat v. Demolican"? What if it was "Oppressed vs. Oppressors"? What if it was "The Used vs. The Abusers"? If you can stifle your arousal for a moment -- that same ideology makes those in power very uncomfortable.
Paint the other side as a demon trying to tear the country apart. Show how they are monsters. Use airbrushed statistics to show how you are right, everyone else is wrong, and that even listening to the other side's rhetoric is a Sin against Country. That makes things much easier.
Anything one side thinks up -- the other side will keep in check. When one side mobilizes for change -- the other side mobilizes for stability.
It's essentially a checks-and-balances system for your constituency propagated by media and carefully planned rhetoric.
And that portion of Our Struggle is what is causing people to rush to associate with /and/ make accusations against us. This is frightening territory for them.
Historically if you pack enough disenfranchised young adults in a small enough space -- things happen. Sometimes those things involve a guillotine. Sometimes those things involve the exchange of ideas. It's kind of flattering/insulting that the first thing the public expects is for mass rioting. At the same time, it's also kind of flattering that we've yet to reduce ourselves to that level -- because after three G8's I can assure you: destruction accomplishes nothing other than the quick and forceful cessation of your movement.
A Black Bloc started discussing the pro's of violence with me and how this movement is a bunch of "meek liberals" who want change "but lack the organized violence to cause it". He shouted that no movement has ever been successful without violence. "If only we were more like our brothers and sisters in England a few months ago!"
Yes. If only I had the desire to burn down locally owned and operated businesses while trying to remove a plasma television from a wall mount. If only.
This isn't a movement about violence. Maybe we're sick of all abuses -- be it in power, economic heft, or physical assertions of dominance. Maybe we've hit that point where we are willing to be struck with blunt objects and sprayed with abrasives so that we can be detained in time out. To make a point.
We -- as a country -- have been beaten into submission for the past 100 years. After that sort of dedication, being assaulted for the /idea/ of no longer submitting to this "quality" of life doesn't feel too bad.
It's kind of freeing.
We have become modern day practitioners of flagellantism. Taking brutal hits to the body as we embark on our spiritual journey. This is our form of penance. We commemorate our own martyrdom at the hands of white shirts.
This is our pilgrimage.
Take advantage of this in any way you can. Talk to people about the gross abuses of wealth. Never forget that this occurred due to the people we placed in charge of our country and the regulations they voted in favor of. And that the people you elect -- no matter which color the team banner is -- do not have your interests in mind.
You are an afterthought. A step in the ladder of their ascension. A "H.A.G.S. KEEP IN TOUCH!!" in their high school yearbook.
Consider what sort of movement needs to occur for this to change. Consider that much of the money they receive goes into campaigning and media time -- and how to resolve that issue. The people who give the politicians money serve a function because there was a opportunity for them to fill that spot. (Re)Election is expensive. What kind of reforms would alleviate the glass ceiling that keeps 98% of the nation from running for office?
We have a problem. And we need to address both the problem and the causes of the problem. You're fighting against a political system an economic system. Ensure that you're thinking critically about all aspects of this problem.
Because now that we have the attention of those who could be made uncomfortable by this -- we are about to see many efforts to distract, detract, and derail this movement.
We came this far. Do you really want to walk back home, settle down, and introduce this to your children as a /normal/ system for living? That it's an imperfect system that you tried to change but it was too strong? That they should vote for the lesser of two evils?
I don't. And I won't.
See you in the park.
xxoo, NYSockExchange
Cut the bullshit. Anyone who thinks it is a good idea to pick a fight with George Soros or MoveOn is either a troll or high. Choose your friends wisely and your enemies more wisely still. The enemies of this movement are Republicans and Tea Party people. Beware of bullshit rabble rousers.
It isn't picking a fight.
It's disassociation from forces that had nothing to do with you in the first place.
Fire Obama and his friends at GE. He talks about jobs, then works with GE to lay off people and take jobs out of the country. Obama is as much the problem as all the other politicians and bankers.
Fire Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank and his butt buddy Todd.
...welp.
Sorry, Obama doesnt control everything, much less the largest US corporations. Your anger is misplaced. Why only calling for firing Democrats? Could it be, you're a Republican Troll?
Get on board with the anti-corporate personhood movement. It's time has arrived.
what are you talking about obama controls everything.
he makes laws, too.
all the time.
/cough/.
That's cool. Then we can totally elect the other team to do the same job and make the same empty promises.
Horray for Team Sport Politics.