Some Thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street Movement
Some Thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street Movement
Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, "Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good--" At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark.
G. K. Chesterton, "Heretics", 1908
Now, I happent to be of the opinion that the "Organize Wall Street" movement is being orchestrated and encouraged by some rather nasty people toward some nefarious end. I may be wrong in substance but, as Chesterton points out, it matters little. Human nature being what it is (sin-filled and depraved) even the most benign interpretation of the OWS movement reveals an undercurrent of lawless anarchy which can only end badly for those on the street and our society as a whole.
One need only recall the French Revolution is a more accurate template for OWS than the American Revolution and then look to the consequenses of that period in history. The French Revolution was led by libertarian idealists resisting an irresponsible and oppressive regime. It was not organized by nasty people for nefarious purposes. It had far more legal and moral justification than the OWS movement. But when the mob acted the world crumbled. It turned upon itself with unprecidented savagery and destroyed everything in its path. The mad thrill of pure destruction.
When the madness reached its apogee and he horror (the Terror led by Mm Guillotine and the Mob) was universally appalled by the rank and file citizens, in stepped the "Strong Man", Napoleon, with his cannon and a "whiff of grapeshot", stepped to the forefront and seized power. His ambition and hubris led him to attempt the conquest of Europe with all its consequent death and destruction.
And that is the fruit of the misguided idealists. The "nasty people of nefarious ends" have viewed and calculated this fruit as a necessary and desirable price for the attainment of their goals. So, even if I am paranoid and wrong about the nasty people orchestrating the OWS movement that should not be cause for relief.
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Comment
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Comment by Robert Martin on October 27, 2011 at 10:28am -
Qutie frankly, my firend, racists come in all colors. Corporate America lies and is enabled by their cronies on Wall Street.
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Comment by Dave Gosse on October 27, 2011 at 9:59am -
Hi Robert
Thanks for your answer. If I may point out something; "Enron" is not "Wall Street", Enron stock, along with the stocks of (thousands?) of other corporations are traded on Wall Street. Including the stocks of Apple, a variety of "green" and "ethical" stocks, etc. The fact that Enron lied does not equate with "Wall Street lied". The traders on Wall Street were also lied to by Enron as were government regulators and account investigators. The people at Enron should have been, and were, prosecuted.
AK47's at an Obama appearance... do you refer to this incident?
I think I have mentioned the manilpulation of images ind information by the media for their own ends. This incident is one of the most egregious violations of trust I have seen on television, but it is not an isolated incident. It's easy to throw verbal/visual hand grenades and slander people, it's much harder to refute the slander. This is a tactic which is often used (by both right and left) to avoid facing tough questions.
Please ensure that you watch the second video as well and then carefully compare the persons involved. In the third video the gentleman with the weapon explains his reasons for carrying it.
As an aside... did you notice that most of the people around that heavily armed black man were not black, nor were they particularly concerned? One would expect a bunch of racist rednecks on the prowl would have shown either fear or hostility. Things that make me go "Hmmm?"
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Comment by Robert Martin on October 27, 2011 at 8:44am
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Dave: "What lies have Wall Street" told me?' For one, Enron lied to me can cost me thousands when I owned their stock. "What do I think of the Tea Party?" Let's see, people who bring AK-47's to an Obama appearance, display racist signs demeaning our president, people who apppear iliterate and have obvious connections to the Klan and Minutemen; need I say more? Where is your proof that the occupiers are communists? Mitt Rommeys co-campaing chairman, Walid Phares has ties to the Lebanese Forces, a group which slaughertered thousands of Palistinian refugees. Should I therefore brand Rommney a fascist right wing pig?
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Comment by Dave Gosse on October 26, 2011 at 9:07pm
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Occupiers demand life without hardship
Larry Elder
"Don't touch me!" the man in the wheelchair shouted to stop me from placing
my hand on what used to be his left arm.
"I'm sorry – I was just – "
"I know what you were doing," he said calmly. "You were showing me you care.
I get it. But you have no idea how much pain I'm in. Don't feel bad. People are
always touching me – and because my left arm is gone and most people are
right-handed, well ... Doctors, believe it or not, are the worst – always
touching me there. You'd think they of all people would know better. But they
don't." He laughed.
A few minutes earlier, I walked into this pharmacy to fill a prescription,
annoyed at having to go. But my dentist said I had a gum infection and that I
needed an antibacterial mouthwash. Damn, I thought, of all the things I needed
to do today, now this.
The place was small, and this wheelchair-bound double amputee sat parked in
front of a row of empty chairs. I decided to stand rather than navigate my way
through the narrow space between the chairs, some people sitting near me and the
guy in the wheelchair.
"Sir," he said, motioning with his head to an empty seat, "You can sit here."
In yet another addition to the growing list of brain-dead,
things-I-wish-I-could-take-back-but-somehow-managed-to-escape-my-mouth, I
responded half-truthfully: "No, thanks. I've been sitting all day."
Jeez!
Did I just say to a guy sitting in a wheelchair that I'd rather stand because
"I've been sitting all day"? Yes, I did. Now what? Well, at that point, I said
to myself, I'm all in. I doubled down.
"But," I added, "I suppose you've been sitting all day, too – so I think I
will."
To my great relief, he laughed – a real, down-home, full-throated laugh. The
pharmacist watching the exchange laughed, too, as did the handful of customers
waiting to have their prescriptions filled.
I sat down, and the man – whose name, I learned, was Michael – and I started
talking.
"Did you have an accident?" I carefully asked.
The story was beyond tragic. Sixteen years earlier, he was riding his
motorcycle when "an old lady fell asleep" and ran head-on into him. He lost his
right leg and his left arm. More than a dozen surgeries later, he remains in
constant pain. He was sucking on something that resembled a Tootsie Pop.
"It slowly releases a medication that gives me enough relief to handle the
pain."
He sued the old lady. But she had neither insurance nor assets, and there was
nothing to recover.
"Do you have health insurance?" I asked the 40-something-year-old bearded
man.
He did, but his deductible left him owing $3.5 million – and counting.
"Do you have $3.5 million?" I asked.
"Does it look like it?" he laughed.
Before the accident, he was "quite the athlete."
"Not on any team. I was in college when this happened, played lots of
intramural sports. You name it – baseball, basketball, water sports – I did it.
Loved sports."
"Are you able to work?"
"Probably. But if I do, then my benefits get cut off."
He was on government assistance, but the conditions – at least for maximum
benefits – excluded work and placed other restrictions.
"The moment I get married, everything changes. My benefits get reduced.
F---ed up, but that's the system." He laughed again.
"Are you in a relationship?"
He'd been dating about a year before
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Comment by Dave Gosse on October 26, 2011 at 9:05pm
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Occupiers demand life
without hardship
Posted: October 26, 2011
4:34 pm Eastern
© 2011
"Don't touch me!" the man in the wheelchair shouted to stop me from placing
my hand on
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Comment by Dave Gosse on October 26, 2011 at 9:05pm
-
Occupiers demand life
without hardship
Posted: October 26, 2011
4:34 pm Eastern
© 2011
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Comment by Jason Gross on October 26, 2011 at 8:20pm -
Watch the "1%" silence the "99%". It's brilliant.
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Comment by Jason Gross on October 26, 2011 at 8:14pm
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Robert, I understand that there are a lot of middle class, Bible believing people who have been misled because they choose to not pay attention to what caused this financial mess in the first place. It was OUR GOVERNMENT passing the Dodd-Frank bill and congress leaning on the the banks to accept sub-prime mortgages, meaning people who NEVER should have gotten a mortgage were given one, because they could pass them on to Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae, the government sponsored organizations.
I am not saying there aren't bad people on Wall Street, I'm just saying that the people who gave the legal go ahead and applied the pressure to the Wall Street bankers are our Government, especially the liberal democrats and the Rhino Republicans.
Though there are middle-class people foolishly demonstrating too, the real movers and shakers of this are leftist radicals who want to destroy our country. And any "armchair quarterback" with half a brain who is paying attention to what is going on and doesn't just accept the crap spoon fed to him by the liberal "mainstream" media can figure out what's going on without going to these absurd protests.
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Comment by Dave Gosse on October 26, 2011 at 8:08pm
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Hi Robert
What lies have "Wall Street and corporate America" told you? I'm no lover of banks, and every time I have bought stock I've lost my shirt, so I'm no lover of Wall Street (or its Canadian version, Bay Street), but I would like to know what lies you have been told.
Also, what do you think of the Tea Party?
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Comment by Robert Martin on October 26, 2011 at 7:54pm
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I totally disagree with most of the above comments about the Occupy Movement. I marched recently in Milwaukee. Most of the people were middle class,Bible believing people who no fault of their own have been manipulated and lied to by Wall Street and corporate America. What do expect people to do when they have been thrown out of their homes, fired from their jobs and than told they are nothing but lazy complainers. Yesterday, an Iraq war vet was crtically injured by the out of control police in Oakland. The above comments about the occupiers are distastful and down-right unchristian. I would reccomend that you armchair quaterbacks get out of your pulpits and march with the occupiers in order to find out that they are true patriotic Americans who believe their govenment has been usurpted by Wall Street criminals.
© 2013 Created by Norm Fisher.
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