Bur this New York magazine write up of dissent at Zuccotti park is pretty entertaining:
It began, as it so often does, with a drum circle. The ten-hour groove marathons weren’t sitting well with the neighborhood’s community board, the ironically situated High School of Economics and Finance that sits on the corner of Zuccotti Park, or many of the sleep-deprived protesters.
“[The high school] couldn’t teach,” explained Josh Nelson, a 27-year-old occupier from Nebraska. “And we’ve had issues with the drummers too. They drum incessantly all day, and really loud.” Facilitators spearheaded a General Assembly proposal to limit the drumming to two hours a day. “The drumming is a major issue which has the potential to get us kicked out,” said Lauren Digion, a leader on the sanitation working group.
But the drums were fun. They brought in publicity and money. Many non-facilitators were infuriated by the decision and claimed that it had been forced through the General Assembly.
“They’re imposing a structure on the natural flow of music,” said Seth Harper, an 18-year-old from Georgia. “The GA decided to do it … they suppressed people’s opinions. I wanted to do introduce a different proposal, but a big black organizer chick with an Afro said I couldn’t.”
To Shane Engelerdt, a 19-year-old from Jersey City and self-described former “head drummer,” this amounted to a Jacobinic betrayal. “They are becoming the government we’re trying to protest,” he said. “They didn’t even give the drummers a say … Drumming is the heartbeat of this movement. Look around: This is dead, you need a pulse to keep something alive.”
The drummers claim that the finance working group even levied a percussion tax of sorts, taking up to half of the $150-300 a day that the drum circle was receiving in tips. “Now they have over $500,000 from all sorts of places,” said Engelerdt. “We’re like, what’s going on here? They’re like the banks we’re protesting.”
I found this particularly poignant:
“When cleanups happen, people get mad,” Glaser said. “This is its own city. Within every city there are people who freeload, who make people’s lives miserable. We just deal with it. We can’t kick them out.”
Awwww.... poor babies.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI know some people fear the HADRON collider may inadvertently create a mini black hole, but I'm concerned there's an irony meter out there spinning so fast it will consume the universe.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt reads like an allegory for the Cold War. All is lacks is a Police Action.
I'm sure we'll get treated to more "this doesn't represent the movement" troll commentary today. But, the simple fact remains that OWS stands for Ode to World Socialism. But as with the real thing, this little marxist microcosm demonstrates that Marxism might look good on paper, but the reality is misery.
I found it particularly fascinating that their General Assembly (GA) is redundant and slow. Now, why does that sound familiar?
Also, I appreciated NY Mag's h/t to property rights...the foundation of any free society. Well done. This is journalism.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm tired of the trolls who insist "This doesn't represent the movement." It's your movement. If the anti-Semitism is unrepresentative, stop it. If the cries to kill the bankers is unrepresentative, stop it. Same with 9/11 Truthers, rapists and other "free love" people, pro-hempists, and all the various other nutjob elements that have gathered there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's amazing that George Bush was supposed to be personally responsible for one soldier at Abu Ghraib, and these guys aren't responsible for the anti-Semite standing next to them.
Kind of freaky how the OWS crowd has developed Soviet-style committees and grown frustrated with their makeshift "General Assembly" so quickly. I wonder when the emergence of a "vanguard elite" and a push for democratic centralism will occur.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI totally agree. There must be something in the genetic code of radicals that enjoys the process and mechanics of "revolution" more than revolution itself. No wonder bureaucrats tend to be leftists.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, bureaucrats tend to be leftists, because bureaucracy naturally supports growth of itself, the state - ergo, leftism.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf these people want to set an example of ruling their own little Utopian kingdom, how about we offer them, rent-free, a few thousand acres of federal land somewhere - let's even be generous and provide a location with access to fresh water.
They can live in perfect bliss and won't have to tolerate being amongst us heartless barbarians.
Of course, they must agree that we film their "progress" in order for us to educate the world. This modern day Lord of the Flies would make an amazing reality show.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat reminds me of one of my frustrations with criticisms of "capitalism." What people call capitalism is really just freedom, i.e., a system based on voluntary exchange and association rather than coercion. The fact is that socialism can exist within a "capitalist" society. (Hint: this is how many people run their own families.) But note that capitalism cannot be tolerated in a socialist society. Nothing is stopping these people from joining like-minded individuals to pool their resources and form their little utopian commune based on socialist principles. Of course, some will say that they need to force everyone to join for it to work. In reality, the opposite is true. Socialism can "work" for small groups on a voluntary basis (again, think of a family) but it REALLY does not scale well.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe freaks hanging out in the park probably never of Robert Owen and his early 19th century attempt at a Zuccotti Park type society in New Harmony, IN.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs the idealistic (and out of touch) OWS protesters are learning, governing a large group of people is complicated and difficult, even when most share a common goal, as some of the people will agree on some things, but all of the people will not agree on all things.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy do those drum people not see the near universal hatred directed at them? The smart ones get some bellydancers to offset the annoyance of the drums--but even with whirling women, drumming gets old fast.
Beyond that, this perfect illustration of why collectivism fails is priceless.
The sad thing though, is that none of them will wake up. None of them will go 'oh, NOW I get it'. Each and every dissaffected drummer will assume that 'it didn't work because it wasn't done right'.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOWS is the ultimate reality show - without merit; symptomatic of underlying problems in the actors/players' ability to effectively process, ironically, reality; and if you watch long enough, slightly nauseating.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy first question to any "anarcho"-socialist I encounter is always "what do you do with the people who don't want to play ball?" I almost never receive an answer, and when I do, it's usually bone-chilling.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Comes the Revolution, comrades, you will all eat strawberries and cream -- AND LIKE IT!!"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTwinkles!
BTW, doesn't NYC have Irony Police?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis whole thing reminds me of a Simpson's episode where Lisa has a science project where she ends up growing a colony of miniature people who evolve and develop their own society. They worship Lisa and think Bart is akin to the devil. Hopeful Lisa thinks that she can make them be altruistic, but human nature prevails and chaos ensues.
Making your own society is hard, even for someone as smart as Lisa Simpson. What hope do these guys have?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, there's "smart" and then there's "wise."
"Smart" people are good at jumping through academic hoops, which provides the illusion that they can successfully engineer a better society.
Wise people know better than to even attempt such a thing, because they know how we got Reavers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseToo true. Wisdom isn't dispensed with a diploma. Love the Firefly reference.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think that Occupy Wall Street is the most hilarious thing ever. I have never laughed so hard over anything political, ever. And it just keeps getting better - every day there's some new absurdity. And, they're totally unaware of how silly they are.
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