I had a very transient childhood where I never went to any school for more than 4 years. Many times I went to a school for as little as a few weeks to a month. Being the The New Kid became my identity to a large degree. I could write a separate diary about the pros(yes there are a few) and cons of that kind of existence but there are other Occupy-related matters which press me to write my very first diary although I am a long time Kossack. Jump with me, won't you?
A year ago I found a friend, through Facebook, who I had not seen since elementary school. It is always cool to see someone, who you think of as a kid, suddenly an adult. It makes one realize one's own maturity.
What wasn't so cool was seeing his right-wing ideology on full display. Links to Fox News rants, Tea Party "likes", and anti-Obama-pretzel-logic statuses. We've sparred ever since and, to his credit, it's always been respectful and only approached the line of being personal. Maybe it's the Marine in him.
A few days ago, however, he posted a link to a two hour mini-documentary by Glenn Beck devoted entirely to demonizing the Occupy Wall Street protesters. It is in the usual Beck-ian style of identifying the usual conservative boogeymen. Communists! Marxists! Anarchists! Islamists! Racists! Homosexualists!! Oh the horror!!
I was curious as to why he would use Beck, of all people, to make his point. There are supposed conservative "intellectuals" out there who aren't batshit insane right?
His response(emphasis mine):
It is not about Glenn Beck, I will be the first to admit he is "out there." It is about his entire case starting with who is "behind" the Occupy Wall Street protests, why replacing capitalism with socialism, communism, anarchy, or anything else for that matter is a horrible idea and how countries like Iran are joining this movement to bring down the West and capitalism
There is so much to pick apart here but a few things stuck out to me:
1.The credibility issue He lets a man speak for him while simultaneously admitting his lack of seriousness. He knows Beck has disqualified himself, most notably in the early days of the Arab Spring see: Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Caliphate. Even Fox News agreed.
2.The "behind" theory. One of the biggest criticisms from progressive circles was the astroturf nature of the Tea Party. The AHIP and Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity busing in people to town hall meetings to shout down congresspeople during the health care debate, etc. You talk to any conservative about the nature of the Tea Party, however, and they will tell you it was purely grassroots anger at the overreach of the the government. Let a few pissed off, unemployed college grads and disgruntled union workers take to the streets and all of a sudden there's some shadowy malevolence rife with ulterior motives involved.
I have always thought projection was a conservative's dominating psychological trait...
3. The new-found fear of anarchy The people who want to "drown government in a bathtub" think anarchy is something undesirable now. Did I miss something?
It's amazing the way people will shift positions when the truth starts to get uncomfortable.
After a bit more back and forth where he just quoted Fox News talking points and I brought real facts and figures, he conceded(unprovoked I might add) that protesting economic inequality was
a just cause
but then went on to more pretzel logic about how the government needs to regulate Wall St. and the banks less to alleviate the problems. Makes sense if you live in a world where doctors diagnose diabetes and then prescribe an ice cream diet but I digress.
My old friend inadvertently admitted why the 99% movement is so powerful. It's cracking the Hoover-esque dam of propaganda that has been built for the masses, holding them back from realizing that the American Dream is being pried from their hands. Too many citizens in our nation were(and still are) being made to believe that taking a smaller share of the economic pie was good for them. And it's worked.
But it can only work for so long... Inevitably that slice of pie gets a bit too small to satisfy. The imbalance is putting too much pressure on the dam. What is it gonna take to break the damn thing?
Protesting economic inequality is a just cause but...
Crack.
11:06 AM PT: First diary makes the Rec List!! This is hallowed ground to a Kosfreak like me! I'm way humbled by this. Thank you all.