Friday, October 14, 2011

Working Class Hero or Zero?

I was skeptical of the Occupy Wall Street movement, concerned that it might only be a flash in the pan kind of spastic unorganized protest that shorts out in a week or so. But then it expanded to other cities, started to get some press/media attention - negative at first - then some in the press actually started to get a few things right. As soon as there was a WHIFF of legitimacy to the movement, the corporate conservatives mobilized to try to control the message through their massive corporate media machine. They have been flinging anti-hippie poo at the wall from all angles and so far the best they can get to stick is the 53%-ers - like this guy who really should be the poster boy for OWS:

As per KOS in response to this poor sucker's letter: [excerpt]

I understand your pride in what you’ve accomplished, but I want to ask you something.

Do you really want the bar set this high? Do you really want to live in a society where just getting by requires a person to hold down two jobs and work 60 to 70 hours a week? Is that your idea of the American Dream?

Do you really want to spend the rest of your life working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week? Do you think you can? Because, let me tell you, kid, that’s not going to be as easy when you’re 50 as it was when you were 20.

And what happens if you get sick? You say you don’t have health insurance, but since you’re a veteran I assume you have some government-provided health care through the VA system. I know my father, a Vietnam-era veteran of the Air Force, still gets most of his medical needs met through the VA, but I don’t know what your situation is. But even if you have access to health care, it doesn’t mean disease or injury might not interfere with your ability to put in those 60- to 70-hour work weeks.

Do you plan to get married, have kids? Do you think your wife is going to be happy with you working those long hours year after year without a vacation? Is it going to be fair to her? Is it going to be fair to your kids? Is it going to be fair to you?

[snip]

And is this really your idea of what life should be like in the greatest country on Earth?

Well it sure as hell isn't mine, or over 200 million Americans who haven't been brainwashed to the point where they are working themselves to death and think they found a pony. Dumb Fucks all. Social engineering at the corporate and media level - very effective.

Here's to you the dumbfuck 53% - keep up the good work! Nose to the grindstone, those corporate yachts aren't going to buy themselves you know...

Amanda Palmer playing cover of John Lennon's Working Class Hero song on Liberty Plaza at Occupy Wall Street.

6 comments:

  1. This thing is picking up steam.
    Hell, even my 74 year old father went to a OWS protest in Vancouver WA, yesterday....

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  2. ML here....yeah, I've been having my usual FB debates with the usual suspects who trot out the 53%-ers like they're "personal responsibility" poster kids......I made the same arguments that you posted. Dumb fuckers think it's GREAT to work 70 hours a week because it shows how hard working Americans can manage without "government handouts". Remember W having one of his town hall meetings with the pre-screend audiences, and this one woman stands up, tells him she's a single mom working 3 jobs to keep her kids under a roof and with food on the table. W responds, "THis is a uniquely American story......how hard working most Americans are!". And the fucking zombies clap.....

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  3. Hey baby!

    You would really be proud of the OccupyGreensboro march and occupation.

    It was totally strife-free and family friendly. I've got the pics at my blog and I think you can tell what a great (and very serious) time everyone was having.

    I couldn't believe the numbers who came out - and serving as a legal observer gave me a chance to circulate throughout and determine that the police's official estimate of attendees was waaayyy off.

    Thanks for the reporting!

    S

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  4. Hi Busted! Very cool your dad went to OWS Vancouver!! My dad would go too if he were still here. Looks like at the LEAST OWS is starting the discussion of income/wage inequality in this country.

    The Facebook Fascists are strong in the force Obi-ML. Thanks for stopping by and keep hammering. It amazes me how those 53% haven't worked themselves into extinction - the ultimate Darwin Award. Please feel free to link Salmon Alley on MyFace anytime if an article would bolster your argument.

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  5. Hi Suze,

    Thanks for stopping by! I am very encouraged by the local and national participation in the OWS/Occupy America movement. I have been wondering over the last few years "How many dollars until the revolution" - guess we're there! You are way too sweet and good to me.

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  6. Hey GreenDay Man...ML here...you wouldn't believe the knockdown-dragout i got into with a former grad school classmate of mine. He posts (uncredited) a "headline that states the Nazis and the Socialists have "endorsed" the OWS movement....then because Obama and Pelosi have said good things about OWS, guess what that means? Yep.....Nazis! Then when I made a parallel statement about TeaBaggers and White Supremacists/racists, the jackass tells I have no proof! Apparently he hasn't heard of Google. I dispatched him quickly in front of his TB friends, and then he "unfriends" me. "Sniff!" (This was another classmate of mine, one whom I never thought much of at all and no one you've mixed it up with...yet!) Keep on rockin'!

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