Mad As Hell
The protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement have been getting criticized for not being focused enough, or not providing a list of demands, or not having leaders, or any number of other things by the media. But this can be forgiven, because the media are now at least paying attention, rather than just completely ignoring the protest. What surprises me is that the media (at least so far) haven't realized the frustration the protesters feel is the real story here. Call it free-floating rage, if you will. Or, even better, call it an updated Howard Beale moment.
Beale was a character in a movie called Network, which was about the news media itself. While somewhat dated, it still has a lot of good points to make about the industry's idiocies which are undoubtedly still true today. But that's not what the movie is remembered for. It is remembered for one soliloquy by Howard Beale. Or, more accurately, one rant. From the Internet Movie DataBase, we get the full quote:
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad -- worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone." Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot -- I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!" So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell -- "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
This was worth quoting in its entirety because, right there in the middle, Beale admits he doesn't have all the answers. He can't even identify all the problems, which he also admits. And he certainly can't tell you what to do about it all ("I don't want you to write your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write.").
Occupy Wall Street could be this generation's Howard Beale moment. They don't have all the answers, they admit. They don't know what you should do about things. But they're tired of being voiceless all the same. They are, in fact, mad as hell.
What I find fascinating is that the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street have so many similarities. Not in their goals, perhaps, but in their structure. The Tea Party is almost impossible to define. It resists being pinned down. Depending on who you listen to, it is either an outgrowth of Ron Paul Libertarianism, a spontaneous tax revolt, a response to another "Howard Beale" moment (on CNBC), or a false-grassroots well-funded attempt to bottle all this lightning and bend it to the will of the real movers and shakers in the Republican Party. The only thing that really can be said with any degree of accuracy is that it is not one specific group, but rather a movement -- not centrally-run, not something that has one identifiable leader. Which, at least so far, also describes Occupy Wall Street.
There may even be some overlap between the groups, as astonishing as that sounds. The Tea Party has always had quite a mix of folks in its ranks. Some are racists, to be sure, some are cranks and whack jobs, but while its fun to put those folks on display in media reports, a whole lot of other Tea Party supporters are just average Americans who are fed up and felt they weren't being heard. A whole lot of people who are not racists and cranks identify with the Tea Party, and my guess is that a goodly amount of them are also fed up with how Wall Street is treated differently than Main Street. Polls show a majority of Tea Partiers favor raising taxes on the most well-off, for instance -- which appears to run counter to the Tea Party's whole reason for being. It's not too big a stretch of the imagination to see that some Tea Partiers may actually wind up supporting Occupy Wall Street as well.
The Tea Party has had an amazing amount of success for a movement, that's one thing that is crystal clear. They didn't exist a few years ago, and now they hold something like 50-60 votes in the House of Representatives. That is an almost-unprecedented rise in power for a group which has never had a central leader, or a "list of demands" that they all can agree on. The Republican Party is now held in thrall to the Tea Partiers. Republicans have learned that if they don't actively court the Tea Party voters, they can quite easily be removed from office -- even if that means losing the seat to a Democrat -- by being "primaried" by a Tea Party candidate. Again, this rise in influence is astonishing for how wide it is and how quickly it happened.
Whether Occupy Wall Street can walk the same route is no sure thing. This whole thing could fizzle, or the media could get really bored with it and move on to the next "big thing," which might kill the message. If one were to have had the power, beforehand, to schedule an "occupy" event on New York City's calendar, one might have chosen late spring to begin, rather than heading into winter (or, to put it another way: how many people are going to stick this out when it starts snowing?). There are all sorts of ways this could fizzle. The odds are heavily stacked against Occupy Wall Street actually succeeding (or actually changing anything), it must be admitted.
But that doesn't mean it's impossible. The feelings of frustration in this country are intense, and reach into every county in the land. People just don't believe that either political party stands up for them or even cares a whit about them on all the days on which there isn't an election. Republicans will tell you to your face that they're for the wealthy and for letting Wall Street do whatever it wants to do. Democrats will tell you to your face that they're against all of that, and then they'll turn around and vote to let Wall Street do whatever it wants to do. At least the Republicans don't lie about it.
My guess is that there are a lot of people in America who are indeed mad as hell and they certainly don't want to take it anymore. They know they don't have all the answers, and that they probably don't even know what all the problems are. This doesn't lessen the feelings of powerlessness and voicelessness one whit, however. They're tired of all the politicians who tell them "I'm on your side" to get elected, and then refuse to produce once in office -- from both parties. They are interested in seeing a group of people who is at least doing something about it that the country is noticing, even if that group doesn't have all the answers either.
To put it another way, there are a lot of Howard Beales out there right now. Occupy Wall Street may be onto something big.
-- Chris Weigant
Cross-posted at Business Insider
Cross-posted at The Huffington Post
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
They didn't exist a few years ago
Yes they did. They just didn't have the shiny new brand-name label "Tea Party". They had almost as many people in Congress, too. A massive "wave" election like 2010 has only 85% re-election rate, but that still means that a lot of the new congresscritters are the same as the old congresscritters -- not as in "meet the new boss same as the old boss" but literally, the same individuals.
If one were to have had the power, beforehand, to schedule an "occupy" event on New York City's calendar, one might have chosen late spring to begin, rather than heading into winter (or, to put it another way: how many people are going to stick this out when it starts snowing?).
I think you called it dead on CW..
Once it starts being inconvenient or not much fun for the protesters due to inclement weather or sitting in jail, OWS will fizzle and die..
Most of the OWSers are privileged spoiled kids who have chosen this manner of rebellion because they read about it and thought it would be really "kewl"... But soon they will be saying to each other, "Bummer, man. This is just like work! Screw this!"
Michale.....
The protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement have been getting criticized for not being focused enough, or not providing a list of demands,
Actually, there IS a list of demands, of a sort..
Of course, the Admin of the OWS Website has stated unequivocally that this isn't an "official" list of demands, that it's just a posting from a single user...
However, if the OWSers didn't AGREE with such demands, why give them such prominence on their website??
On the flip side, I can see WHY the OWSers would want to distance themselves from these demands... They are pretty far off the map... :D
Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.
Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.
Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.
Demand four: Free college education.
Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.
Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.
Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.
Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.
Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.
Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.
Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.
Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.
Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.
These demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-for-occupy-wall-st-moveme/
Regardless of the inclement, these unofficial demands will be the undoing of the OWS.
Because even if these aren't the "official" demands of the OWS, you can bet that the vast majority of those protesting believe in these demands and accept them as legitimate demands..
Like I said. A bunch of spoiled rich kids who are completely and utterly clueless to how the real world is.
Michale.....
if the OWSers didn't AGREE with such demands, why give them such prominence on their website
Because the people who write your posts for you (or perhaps I should say, the people whose words you post for them) were already making noise about it. I don't know whether it was good tactics or not, but it's certainly reasonable for OWS to put it out there, to say 'here's what the Mighty Wurlitzer is yapping about, and hey, it's just a forum post same as what you or anyone could post just by registering on any online forum'.
Because the people who write your posts for you (or perhaps I should say, the people whose words you post for them) were already making noise about it. I don't know whether it was good tactics or not, but it's certainly reasonable for OWS to put it out there, to say 'here's what the Mighty Wurlitzer is yapping about, and hey, it's just a forum post same as what you or anyone could post just by registering on any online forum'.
I thought about that, but I don't think that's the case.
Let me put it into a context we all would understand.
Say I make a post here on CW.COM.. Just a regular post like I am making now...
But CW takes the post and gives it more prominence. He makes it look like his Commentary with all the bells and whistles and headings and such that his commentaries have..
Now, if he were to do that, what would a reasonable person assume?? A reasonable person would assume that CW not only agrees with my post but also wants to give it more prominence.. A reasonable person would assume that my post is the official position of CW.COM..
That's how I look at that OWSer post. That is more than just some user posting a run of the mill post.. It looks like the admin saw that post and said to themselves, they said, "Self.. That looks like a good list of demands.. I am going to give it prominence..."
So, while it's not the bona fide official "DEMANDS" of the OWSers, apparently enough of them feel it's such a good idea as to give it it's own prominence and it's own link...
That's my analysis of the issue...
Michale.....
Sign being held by Wall Street protester..
"THE REVOLUTION IS HERD!"
:D
"The problem with rednecks is that we can't keep the dumbest and most ignorant among us OFF the television set!"
-Jeff Foxworthy
Michale.....
my favorite thing i've read on the topic this week is teddy roosevelt's speech in 1910. he didn't really write the speech, but he did deliver it, and the message was powerful. he quotes lincoln and talks about the need for balance between labor and capital, but also puts forth a pretty radical view on how to maintain that balance. try reading the whole thing through, it's pretty enlightening.
http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/speeches/trnationalismspeech.pdf
"At many stages in the advance of humanity, this conflict between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess is the central condition of progress. In our day it appears as the struggle of freemen to gain and hold the right of self-government as against the special interests, who twist the methods of free government into machinery for defeating the popular will."
sound familiar?
"The essence of any struggle for healthy liberty has always been, and must always be, to take from some one man or class of men the right to enjoy power, or wealth, or position, or immunity, which has not been earned by service to his or their fellows."
i added emphasis because i think it's super important to distinguish our bill gates' and steve jobs' from our paris hiltons and kenneth lays. ideally those who do more to advance the public good should get more, and those who do less should get less. reading this, i can see why so many people cheered.
That's a good post, NY and a great article..
Teddy's speech fits our current leadership to a tee...
Michale....
Anyone watch the Ken Burns prohibition on PBS?
Really interesting from a political perspective. Intense politics with a left/right that has little to do with today. Mixed in with some "mad as hell" single issue politics, corruption, unique events happening at just the right moment, and bullying with power to get it all passed. Rebellion against a hated law. All around worth watching...
Say I make a post here on CW.COM.. Just a regular post like I am making now...
But CW takes the post and gives it more prominence. He makes it look like his Commentary with all the bells and whistles and headings and such that his commentaries have..
Now, if he were to do that, what would a reasonable person assume??
You left out the key fact: to match the situation, CW would have to have been flamed in the MSM for your comment, and have a note at the top of his article saying that it's your post not his.
(Btw, these things we type are "comments" and his are "articles". I've been calling our replies "comments" correctly, but I've been referring to his as "posts".)
You left out the key fact: to match the situation, CW would have to have been flamed in the MSM for your comment,
I haven't noticed any "flaming" in the MSM over the OWSers "demands"....
Do you have any cites for this?? I am sincerely curious.
and have a note at the top of his article saying that it's your post not his.
The mere fact that extra work was done to give the post prominence would negate any claims of "this isn't how we really feel"... If CW didn't agree with the post he would not have gone to the extra trouble to give the post prominence..
(Btw, these things we type are "comments" and his are "articles". I've been calling our replies "comments" correctly, but I've been referring to his as "posts".)
Interesting position. I have always referred to CW's posts as "commentaries" and our responses as "comments".
In my mind, "articles" are news stories whereas "commentaries" give more of an "opinion-y" intent..
"These guys don't seem very 'Ancient-y' to me."
-Lt Col John Sheppard, STARGATE ATLANTIS, Progeny
:D
Michale....
Position? That's what the site labels them as. There's a big button right below the text box that says "submit comment". On the main page under each article, it says stuff like 'permalink | comments (12)'.
Michale -
Here is the real list of demands (proposed draft) that they're working on:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-editadd-so-th/
None of those seem like a bad idea to me. Some of them even seem do-able. But, taken together as a list, it certainly seems reasonable and well-thought out.
Oh, and I call my writings "columns" and "articles" kind of interchangably. If I stopped and thought about it, I would probably call reportage pieces "articles" and opinion pieves "columns" but I have never stopped and thought about it to that degree before. I don't like "blogs" or "posts" but that's just a personal thing, because I think "articles" and "columns" sounds more journalist-ey.
Comments are comments, but I suppose they could be "posts" as well. Like I said, I've never really examined my use of all these terms under such a microscope as well.
BashiBazouk -
I did see most of "Prohibition" and it was indeed a moving thing. I learned a lot, such as the intertwining of the income tax amendment and Prohibition, and the anti-German wave during WWI that made Prohibition possible (virtually every brewery was owned by a German -- no surprise there, really, when you think about the older beers and brewers: Blatz, Schlitz, Busch, Anheiser, etc.
I thought it was pretty chicken of Ken Burns not to mention the drug war, even at the end, though. There are indeed direct parallels, and they're not that hard to identify, really. Anyway, thought it was a great show.
nypoet22 -
I will check that speech out, thanks. Teddy, FDR, and even Truman speeches are usually always worth reading.
-CW
ChrisWeigant [13] -
[Heh] Um, that should be "opinion pieces"... sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.
Heh. Couldn't resist...
-CW
Here is the real list of demands (proposed draft) that they're working on:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-editadd-so-th/
Looks like those "demands" could have come straight from Obama's White House or the DNC...
It's funny, but these protesters are supporting the very government that created and supports the very thing they are protesting against...
As such, the protesters don't seem "Mad As Hell"...
More like, "Peeved A Little"... :D
Michale.....
Position? That's what the site labels them as. There's a big button right below the text box that says "submit comment". On the main page under each article, it says stuff like 'permalink | comments (12)'.
I completely agree with the "comments" label for our post..
The "position" was referring to "commentaries" vs "articles"... :D
"It all depends what the meaning of 'is' is."
-President Clinton
:D
Michale.....
I do see a problem, a BIG problem with at least one of the "demands"..
USE CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY AND OVERSIGHT TO ENSURE APPROPRIATE FEDERAL AGENCIES FULLY INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE THE WALL STREET CRIMINALS who clearly broke the law and helped cause the 2008 financial crisis in the following notable cases: (insert list of the most clear cut criminal actions). There is a pretty broad consensus that there is a clear group of people who got away with millions / billions illegally and haven't been brought to justice. Boy would this be long overdue and cathartic for millions of Americans. It would also be a shot across the bow for the financial industry. If you watch the solidly researched and awared winning documentary film "Inside Job" that was narrated by Matt Damon (pretty brave Matt!) and do other research, it wouldn't take long to develop the list.
The big problem is many of the people the group wants prosecuted are high level members of the Obama Administration...
Michale.....