Occupy

[BabylonHoruv]

I'm starting to see this whole thing as a war between different myths.

The 99%/1% myth (which has entirely incorrect numbers -- but a myth operates independently of its literal truth and depends only on the strength of the narrative's draw, which is very strong in this one) started out as an Adbusters thing, which makes sense. It was the core myth around which this franchise TAZ sprung up, though a lot of other small-scale myths of varying degrees of crazy formed satellites around it and rode the movement (at Occupy New Haven, I saw a guy with a sign saying "STOP CHEMTRAILS", presumably unironically).

The major competitor, which I've seen independently in several neocon-types (and which is quite firmly lodged in the core of the recent Frank Miller rant) is that the protesters are not only politically subversive (that's kind of the point of a protest, and you can't blame a protest for being effective) but somehow sapping power from 'more important things' (typically, the myth is of the form wherein the protesters are seen to be universally unemployed but also universally rich, tying into Regan's favourite 'welfare queen' myth, and are leeching off the economy in some unspecified way -- though Miller claims that they are also getting in the way of the Global War on Terror, which he apparently believes is still happening in some meaningful way, and several people pushing this myth in an academic sphere in my general vicinity have blamed the protesters for expanding the higher education bubble by majoring in some subject the speaker considers to be of no practical use).

So, the two myths each portray the initiators of the other as useless leaches on society. It's funny how strongly they mirror each other.

Anyhow, myth matters only in how it shapes action. I could see a weird symbiosis occurring between these two myths, the way the various myths in the american two-party system have this perverted codependency.

90/10 would probably be a more accurate split than 99/1, the 1% don't own the majority of the wealth, the 10% do, but that's only a 9 percent error, that's less than the margin of error on most polls.

[Bruno]

It wasn't the 1% that fucked the economy. It was the 0.0001%

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The richest 500 people have more than the poorest 3.5 billion.

Percentages?  Who the fuck needs 'em?  We just need to feed those 500 people to the poorest people, and then go about our business.

Where the hell is Maximilien Robespierre, now that we finally need him?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

Reminds me of the anti-war protests back in 03/04.  Everyone has to pimp out their own pet projects, and the original message be damned.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

Reminds me of the anti-war protests back in 03/04.  Everyone has to pimp out their own pet projects, and the original message be damned.

Yep. It brings out all the zealots and their "my personal army" mentality.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

Reminds me of the anti-war protests back in 03/04.  Everyone has to pimp out their own pet projects, and the original message be damned.

Yep. It brings out all the zealots and their "my personal army" mentality.

Fortunately, it is a disease no longer restricted to liberals.  The teabaggers have developed a hell of a case of it themselves.

But still, it's not even funny, anymore.  It's pathetic in the way that makes you angry and sick, rather than sympathetic.  If they can't even stay on fucking message in a demonstration, then what hope is there?

Oh, yeah.  None.  And OWS will turn out to be just another collection of useless whining hipsters, standing around arguing about who has been "committed to the cause" the longest...Like listening to assholes argue about whether "old Aerosmith" was superior to "new Aerosmith".   It makes me want to punch them in the spleen.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

Reminds me of the anti-war protests back in 03/04.  Everyone has to pimp out their own pet projects, and the original message be damned.

Yep. It brings out all the zealots and their "my personal army" mentality.

Fortunately, it is a disease no longer restricted to liberals.  The teabaggers have developed a hell of a case of it themselves.

But still, it's not even funny, anymore.  It's pathetic in the way that makes you angry and sick, rather than sympathetic.  If they can't even stay on fucking message in a demonstration, then what hope is there?

Oh, yeah.  None.  And OWS will turn out to be just another collection of useless whining hipsters, standing around arguing about who has been "committed to the cause" the longest...Like listening to assholes argue about whether "old Aerosmith" was superior to "new Aerosmith".   It makes me want to punch them in the spleen.

Yeah. I was hopeful for a while but I don't know whether to bother being hopeful anymore.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

Reminds me of the anti-war protests back in 03/04.  Everyone has to pimp out their own pet projects, and the original message be damned.

Yep. It brings out all the zealots and their "my personal army" mentality.

Fortunately, it is a disease no longer restricted to liberals.  The teabaggers have developed a hell of a case of it themselves.

But still, it's not even funny, anymore.  It's pathetic in the way that makes you angry and sick, rather than sympathetic.  If they can't even stay on fucking message in a demonstration, then what hope is there?

Oh, yeah.  None.  And OWS will turn out to be just another collection of useless whining hipsters, standing around arguing about who has been "committed to the cause" the longest...Like listening to assholes argue about whether "old Aerosmith" was superior to "new Aerosmith".   It makes me want to punch them in the spleen.

Yeah. I was hopeful for a while but I don't know whether to bother being hopeful anymore.

I called this, back when this started.

On the other hand, people are still going out, even after the weather's turned cold.

I'm still hopeful, but not terribly optimistic.  That's a subtle difference, I know, but there you have it.

[Cain]

Internet-driven attention deficit disorder.

"Fight the power, we got to fight the po- *NEWS CYCLE CHANGES*...OMG this [new outrage] outrages me.  To the twittermobile!"

Also, "consensus decision making".  Because what that means is, you can't police the protests and chuck people out unless everyone agrees, and some retard will always say "but we need more people, we're a big tent".

To which I can only respond: fuck you, if the save the whale people are the only ones standing between us and neo-serfdom for a thousand years, I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I must share this story told by Ludwig:

As we drove by this morning there was a single woebegone elderly man standing by the cyclone fences that now encircle the fields of bare dirt that used to be the park blocks. He was holding a handmade cardboard sign reading, "SAVE THE WHALES".

Reminds me of the anti-war protests back in 03/04.  Everyone has to pimp out their own pet projects, and the original message be damned.

Yep. It brings out all the zealots and their "my personal army" mentality.

Fortunately, it is a disease no longer restricted to liberals.  The teabaggers have developed a hell of a case of it themselves.

But still, it's not even funny, anymore.  It's pathetic in the way that makes you angry and sick, rather than sympathetic.  If they can't even stay on fucking message in a demonstration, then what hope is there?

Oh, yeah.  None.  And OWS will turn out to be just another collection of useless whining hipsters, standing around arguing about who has been "committed to the cause" the longest...Like listening to assholes argue about whether "old Aerosmith" was superior to "new Aerosmith".   It makes me want to punch them in the spleen.

Yeah. I was hopeful for a while but I don't know whether to bother being hopeful anymore.

I called this, back when this started.

On the other hand, people are still going out, even after the weather's turned cold.

I'm still hopeful, but not terribly optimistic.  That's a subtle difference, I know, but there you have it.

There are two things going on in NY, which might be promising. One is the march on Washington DC (finally, really it took this long?) and the other is the stated intention of shutting down the NYSE on the 17th. Who the hell knows? It's at a point where it will either escalate or dissipate.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Internet-driven attention deficit disorder.

"Fight the power, we got to fight the po- *NEWS CYCLE CHANGES*...OMG this [new outrage] outrages me.  To the twittermobile!"

Also, "consensus decision making".  Because what that means is, you can't police the protests and chuck people out unless everyone agrees, and some retard will always say "but we need more people, we're a big tent".

To which I can only respond: fuck you, if the save the whale people are the only ones standing between us and neo-serfdom for a thousand years, I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

Once I heard they'd formed committees, I sort of started treating it as entertainment.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

There are two things going on in NY, which might be promising. One is the march on Washington DC (finally, really it took this long?) and the other is the stated intention of shutting down the NYSE on the 17th. Who the hell knows? It's at a point where it will either escalate or dissipate.

I'll be watching the NYSE one.  Oh, yes.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Internet-driven attention deficit disorder.

"Fight the power, we got to fight the po- *NEWS CYCLE CHANGES*...OMG this [new outrage] outrages me.  To the twittermobile!"

Also, "consensus decision making".  Because what that means is, you can't police the protests and chuck people out unless everyone agrees, and some retard will always say "but we need more people, we're a big tent".

To which I can only respond: fuck you, if the save the whale people are the only ones standing between us and neo-serfdom for a thousand years, I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

The consensus bullshit was a terrible idea. The only way consensus decision making works is if you have a fairly static group or if you do consensus via representation.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Internet-driven attention deficit disorder.

"Fight the power, we got to fight the po- *NEWS CYCLE CHANGES*...OMG this [new outrage] outrages me.  To the twittermobile!"

Also, "consensus decision making".  Because what that means is, you can't police the protests and chuck people out unless everyone agrees, and some retard will always say "but we need more people, we're a big tent".

To which I can only respond: fuck you, if the save the whale people are the only ones standing between us and neo-serfdom for a thousand years, I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

The consensus bullshit was a terrible idea. The only way consensus decision making works is if you have a fairly static group or if you do consensus via representation.

It's also a chance for hipsters to have lots and lots of people listen to their wisdom of the ages.