I Know, Let’s Follow These People
Further to this, Zombie again, this time on Occupy Oakland’s general disarray – sorry, “General Strike”:
There was no purpose or goal to any of these confrontations; in fact, the act of confrontation was the goal. Everyone would mill around waiting for something to happen, and then some cops would show up and the crowd would go into a frenzy for no apparent reason. The mere presence of a policeman is all that it takes to send an Oakland Occupier into either blind rage or a life-affirming adrenaline rush.
Ah, but the poseurs and would-be warriors gotta have thrills, baby. Psychodrama’s where it’s at. And look at the effort they’ve gone to. The nose-ring and pocket knife combo is this season’s Occupy Look.
So, what was the purpose of all of this? Nothing. Excitement for the teenage rioters. Moral outrage for the Occupy organisers. Overtime for the cops. Boarded-up windows for the businesses. And higher bills for the taxpayers.
The important thing is, those bourgeois suckers have to pick up the tab.
And remember, kids. Marxism will make you happy. Because this, according to Occupy, is what democracy looks like.
And remember, kids. Marxism will make you happy.
Has there ever been a happy Marxist?
Has there ever been a happy Marxist?
Well the saying goes: in the Socialist Workers Party there are no workers and they don’t like to party, so I guess you’re right.
“Has there ever been a happy Marxist?”
My encounters with Marxists suggest not. Unless, of course, said Marxist has a chance to inflict misery on someone. That’s when the party starts.
Has there ever been a happy Marxist?
Polly Toynbee always strikes me as being quite happy. Granted, that’s probably because she has three enormous houses, a highly paid job for a mainstream newspaper that has an undemanding approach to subediting and an unassailable sense of self-importance. But, hey, she’s happy. And she’s Marxist.
Horace,
I’m pretty sure my qualifier covers Polly Toynbee. She generally acts as if her arse were destined for the seats marked nomenklatura. She rarely smiles, at least not convincingly, and has no discernible sense of humour, so it’s quite hard to tell whether she’s actually happy or just feeling superior.
“There was no purpose or goal to any of these confrontations; in fact, the act of confrontation was the goal”
Sounds like something they were taught in their yoga sessions back at the farm (those were the days!)
Eh?
http://pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/05/IMG_8171.jpg
‘There was no purpose or goal to any of these confrontations; in fact, the act of confrontation was the goal’
If it’s confrontation they want, perhaps we could send them on a one-way trip to Hama.
I live in Seattle, Washington. We had our share of black-bloc shitheads on May 1st. My coworkers and I mostly ignored it, though they did talk briefly about locking down our building as the rioters went by.
Afterwards, my coworkers and I went out to the appropriately named Victory Lounge for drinks. We were ostensibly there to celebrate a coworker’s birthday, but joked that we were celebrating capitalism.
The next day the streets were mostly clean, and save for a little spray-paint, it was mostly as if nothing had ever happened. Most businesses had already replaced broken windows, the streets were already swept, etc.
Civilization can absorb a lot of barbarism and continue to function and last Tuesday convinced me that, at least here in my area, our society is still comfortably below its LD50 of petty, adolescent shitheadedness.
And hey, if they keep trying to win hearts and minds by smashing the windows of Canadian tourists (per https://twitter.com/#!/KIRO7Seattle/status/197423295132475394), maybe people will finally stop being so tolerant of their rank barbarism.
A man can hope, at least.
AMB,
For me, what’s been interesting about Occupy’s six-month trajectory isn’t so much the thuggery and violence, which was evident from their earliest attempts to get noticed, is an inevitable extension of the premise, and has been a defining feature of the movement from day one. Occupy is after all based on the seizure and violation of other people’s property using mob coercion, and the Occupiers evidently measure their success by the disruption and distress inflicted on others. The whole point is to impose. See, for instance, this symbolic incident. It sums up the dynamic rather well.
What’s been remarkable is the leftist media’s efforts to play hagiographer. Even as the catalogue of crimes, thuggery and random violence grew, the New York Times was displaying its hipster credentials by seeing much to admire in this “new progressive movement” for a “new progressive age,” and insisting that “a new generation of leaders is just getting started.” Not to be outdone, the Guardian told us that “the Occupy movement are the realists.” Their squalid encampments and aggressive invasions were a “new political space” where our would-be overlords were “debating an alternative future for us all.”
Which is nice of them.
“The nose-ring and pocket knife combo is this season’s Occupy Look”
As is wearing a ‘Defend Oakland’ t-shirt while you’re trashing Oakland for no reason.
Bart,
“As is wearing a ‘Defend Oakland’ t-shirt while you’re trashing Oakland for no reason.”
You’re getting the hang of it. Occupy’s doublethink is tricky at first, but eventually you’ll come to appreciate artistry like this.
svh: They must still be pissed off at the result of the 2010 British election.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/020059.html
I love the bit where they’re all chanting ” We are not afraid”, then they all start running away.
Seriously, their mental development seems to have stopped at about age 12. Everything is someone elses fault and they stamp their feet and rage if they don’t get their own way. Juvenile.
12??
6 tops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1HdOI1dhv0
Sigh.
Oaktown sure has gone to the dogs. Used to be, not so very long ago, that sort of crap was restricted to San Francisco – you tried it in Oakland, you got your ass beat by the OPD.
Word.
Zombie does May Day…
http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/05/08/march-of-the-idiots-at-occupyla-may-day/?singlepage=true