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For the Media: The ABCs of Occupy
It would be comical if it weren’t so pathetic, watching the media desperately trying not to understand what the Occupy movement is all about. So, for the aid of the occupationally obtuse bobble-headed bloviators, I’ll spell it out in Braille:
THE SYSTEM ISN’T WORKING!
The economy is rigged so that all of its fruits go to those at the very top. The political system is repulsively corrupt, odious with the stench of dirty money sluicing through it to buy gutter-dwelling politicians and their votes. And the media itself, for all of its pontifical posturing, does nothing to clarify the situation and empower the people. Nor can it.
It is owned by the very corporations that are the source of the breakdown of the American dream. So, it is no surprise that instead of clarifying and empowering it does exactly the opposite: it occludes and mystifies. It prevents accountability and change, and works to divert, divide and pacify tens of millions of people who have had it and hopefully won’t take it any more.
Here’s the simple, three paragraph executive summary of our current economic situation.
Politicians of both parties (though mainly Republicans) ran up trillions of dollars of debt, selling the American people into lifetimes of debt bondage. To cover their tracks, they inflated a massive housing bubble. But laden with exploding debt and illusory wealth, and triggered by massive criminality in the mortgage banking business, the economy collapsed. It was wrecked by big banks pursuing sociopathically greedy profits. Since they control the government, from the president on down, they got the government to cover their losses with $16 trillion of transfers from the Federal Reserve. They, who wrecked the economy, stuck the rest of us—their victims—with the bill to make them whole. Even a Tea-Partier can understand this part.
Now, $8 trillion of middle class wealth has been destroyed even as 77 million Baby Boomers stand on the threshold of retirement. 7 million jobs have been shipped overseas so corporations can make more and more and more profits. They’re sitting on $2 trillion of past profits but that is still not enough. Another $1 trillion is parked in offshore tax havens so they don’t have to pay American taxes on it. The richest 1% want to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, public pensions, and unions so that they can get their hands on the money and remove the last shred of income security that protects people against destitution. Destitute people are docile people, and that is what they want. Their job is almost done and the only thing standing between dignity and destitution for 300 million Americans is Occupy. Consider how close we already are:
One out of eight Americans are on food stamps. 25 million workers cannot find enough work. 50 million people are living in poverty. One out of three children are raised in poverty. 10 million homes have been lost in foreclosure. Another 20 million are underwater on their mortgage. 47 million people have no access to health care. The share of equity that Americans own in their homes is the lowest it’s been since the Great Depression, even as income inequality is the highest it’s been since before the Depression. There’s just not enough money to educate our children but there’s always enough for endless wars. There’s just not enough for a Depression era-type WPA jobs program, but funny thing, there’s always enough for more tax breaks for the rich.
For those Megalomaniacal Media Morons out there who can’t quite manage to “get it,” this is what Occupy is about. Only the willfully ignorant, criminally complicit, and pathologically naive cannot understand this.
As for solutions, I don’t expect the kids in the city squares to come up with them. I am thankful that they have the courage to simply proclaim what everybody who is sane, sober, and honest already knows: that the Social Contract has been broken; that hard work, playing by the rules, and keeping your nose clean does not lead any more to economic security for ourselves and expanding opportunity for our children. It leads to the slaughterhouse, and that is NOT the deal we signed up for.
Real change will take time, certainly years, maybe decades. It will require a substantial re-arrangement of political and economic power. That is up to the rest of us to carry out, and the political avenue is the only one available to most of us. It will require scrupulous attention that we are not suckered again by phony liberals mouthing cheesy slogans about “hope” and “change,” all the while selling the country and its people down the river. We need a genuinely progressive Congress to act as a reliable counterweight to the irretrievably compromised, cowardly President. And every one of you reading this can help further that end.
We need to get to work so that the clarity of this moment and the courage of this movement are not lost. We need to be vigilant against the massive efforts that will be mounted to divide us, one from another. There will be relentless campaigns to divert our attentions and dissipate our energies. There will be a deluge of demonizing, scads of scapegoating, and boatloads of bogus blame. But through all the media’s professional obfuscation, studied amnesia, and cultivated cluelessness, we must remember the truth and the power in these four simple words:
THE SYSTEM ISN’T WORKING!
It is both our political right and our economic imperative to demand that this be changed. It will probably get more violent before it gets less. I hope we can remain peaceful when it does, for I am chastened by John Kennedy’s comment about third-world uprisings at the height of the Cold War: “When peaceful change becomes impossible, violent revolution becomes inevitable.” Let’s hope that we don’t end up there.
On to the fray.
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103 Comments so far
Show AllSioux, Have you read Thom Hartmann's book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight"? My dad recommended it to me, probably because so much of the stuff that was coming out of my mouth had been better articulated by Mr.Hartmann. I was amazed over and over again as I read it (I'm not quite done; it takes time to digest and consider) how many things he wrote that I (and many here) have been talking about. What you call Mars rules, he describes as a "Younger" dominator culture, in which it has become OK to seize the resources of of "Older" tribal cultures, and to subjugate or exterminate tribal people. He tells how the Younger culture has become separate from creation and believes that exploitation is their (god-given) right, whereas Older cultures commune with nature and respect the need to not just sustain but enrich the earth. (I wish I could say it better but I'm trying to cover a great deal with just a couple of sentences.)
I now realize Mr. Hartmann is a well-known media personality, but (having cut out cable shows completely and my TV viewing to a minimum, and never listening to the radio) I'd never heard of him before!
Anyway, If you have read it I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, and if not I highly recommend it.
The best presentation I have seen for the state we are in is Charles Ferguson's film "Inside Job". We have had a coup in the country, by Wall Street, beginning in the 80's, and continued under Clinton, Bush and Obama. It was done with deregulation, legislation, and corporate dollars which assured electoral success. The system isn't broken, it has had a hostile takeover. It is organized crime.
"As for solutions, I don’t expect the kids in the city squares to come up with them." Obviously Mr. freemen hasn't bothered to go to an Occupation yet, or he'd know its not just a bunch of kids there. As for solutions, don't expect any from the likes of Mr.Freemen he'll retire in Calif. with a nice big fat pension and go off to Hawaii buy a house and pontificate while sun bathing and eating Mahi mahi.
The comment dissing the kids is just another example of those who think they know better than others -- even on the left it is wrong. Ageism is a quiet scourge among the young because it is often the elders who get dissed, but now with high unemployment among those under 30, and the perception they aren't good for building their own future, it seems there little respect for those who me care the most for our children. I'm 43 and appalled at the comment the parents need to take care of the situation in America when it is their generation who fucked it up.
Indeed. That bit of patronizing bullshit leaped out at me too.
The so-called "kids" will have no problem coming up with solutions; we can start by ignoring the advice of liberal economists.
This article was meant for the knuckleheads in the media. You cannot hit them with too much detail. You and I know the details but please let’s remember who he was aiming at in this article.
SEAGLASS -- I was put off by the very same sentence you highlighted, for the very reason that you state in your post! All ages, genders and races are participating here in NYC at OWS. And, it's a beautiful sight! I have had some of the deepest and most profound social, political and economic discussions of my life with people at Zuccotti Park/Liberty Square.
Okay, Robert Freeman is trying to get it and I understand it is Hard for "economists" to see clearly because so much of their training involves reducing what they can see to fit within a monetary lens.
1. What does he mean by "the American Dream?"
As far as I can tell, much of the (so-called) american dream is part of the problem.
In the business world (and to most "americans" that is the only world which matters), the american dream means taking more profits in whatever way you can, from whoever you can, and that is their notion of equal justice.
We are each "free" to be as shark-like as possible.
2. There is no mention of war and arms sales as being the chief product manufactured in this greedy nation. In addition to outsourced jobs, we outsource our belligerence onto innocent people conveniently out of sight.
3. No mention of the ecological costs and the need for any turnaround to decrease our toxicity. This is possibly the focus which is most important and it must be a global effort.
4. The republicans and the democrats are the same when it comes to short-sighted economic religiosity. It is based upon the lie of U.S. exceptionalism.
Hi Birdbrain Alley,
I'm also having a difficult time embracing the use of the term "American Dream". You're right, the massive advertising campaign that drove that dream down our throats is how we got here. And right on! for mentioning the ecological damage accrued in the pursuit of that devastating "dream". We have to come up with a new way of living and a new slogan. No more obscene consumption based lifestyles. No more greed. We need a mantra that speaks to "living simply so others may simply live". I'm guessing Wall Street couldn't even utter those words.
And for all our sake, let's not forget the animal kingdoms, plants, trees, rivers, oceans, ad infinitum to the world of biodiversity. I eliminated deserts in that sentence since the prediction is by 2100, thanks to climate change, 1/3 of the entire planet is expected to be desert. (1/2 subject to extreme drought). We all know Obama is going to green light the Keystone XL, which as NASA's James Hansen warns means "game over".
This is an excellent article Mr. Freeman. I get it, the people who read CD get it. And sadly, I fully expect violence to rise because the police, an urban extension of our military industrial complex, are egging on innocent people, provoking them to the point it would difficult to resist. There's a much bigger plan by government and the military we'll never see explained in MSM. Forget Democrats and Republicans, they are one in the same. "We the people" must stick together.
Good comment, Birdbrain A.
Wow I wish that that most columnists were replaced by writers like Mr. Freeman.
It really is a shame that articles like this one are necessary - because American media do not cover the existing situation adequately. Clearly, those who control what appears do not want to stick their necks out.
Contrast what we call media with that in the U.K. In yesterday's CD, a column from the Guardian written by Slavoj Zizek discussed OWS from the standpoint of a Marxist. Does anyone think that such a column will ever appear in our media?
sheepherder
"Contrast what we call media with that in the U.K. In yesterday's CD, a column from the Guardian written by Slavoj Zizek discussed OWS from the standpoint of a Marxist. Does anyone think that such a column will ever appear in our media?"
Bravo! as you have made a most excellent and insightful observation.
The illusion about the "American Dream" is that most voices are included in the political discussion, most points of view heard, just as it is an illusion that in a for-profit environment of Capitalism most talent rises to the top, most projects and goals can be achieved, most contributions to the public good can be pursued, and that in both cases only a few are excluded - and always for good reason.
Most voices are excluded from the political discussion and only an extremely narrow range is permitted, and most things are not possible for most people under Capitalism.
Very, very few people have a voice, and very, very few people are supported in the contributions they are trying to make and can therefore experience this magical "American Dream," and that has always been the case. It requires a tremendous amount of distortion in people's thinking to deny that this is true.
Excellent piece Mr. Freeman.
"Only the willfully ignorant, criminally complicit, and pathologically naive cannot understand this."
Think perhaps criminal complicity would have covered the media's role. What may sometimes appear as ignorance and naivete is really just a cover for their very active and deliberate participation in the diversion, division and pacification that you mention.
Generally a good article by Freeman. I agree with many of the commentators on some of the weaknesses in the article but I think overall, the benefit of the article along with the CD comments outweighs Freeman not writing the article at all. I'd like to add that change may happen faster than Freeman thinks, in the same way that the Arab Spring happened so quickly.
I'm so tired of listening to these liberals. Surely the progressive world is moving past them and leaving them behind. If it is not, we don't stand a chance of creating a better world.
Amen to that.
So often I don't respond to an article simply because SiouxRose has already eloquently responded with the same criticisms of a particular blogger as I would. Thank you Siouxrose for saving me a lot of time typing. I think that most bloggers here on CD have finely tuned critical thinking skills and therefore sorts like Visiting professor are quickly ignored as someone who doesn't "get it". While I have no proof of any 'agent provocateur' on CD, most of us can recognize the manipulative language of a faux liberal a mile away. Attacking someone because they work in a nice environment (i.e. a 'white' high school) or deliberately skewing an author's phrase like "mostly Republican" is generally a red flag that this responder is either "willfully ignorant, criminally complicit" or "pathologically naive."
I, too, object to the idea that the "American Dream" is something valuable that needs to be restored, to the insertion of partisan politics - "mostly Republicans" - to the characterization of OWS as "kids," and several other trite and shallow-minded themes that run through this article.
I also object to the characterization of the critics who have pointed out these things as "infiltrators" with questionable motives.
"I, too, object to the idea that the "American Dream" is something valuable that needs to be restored, to the insertion of partisan politics - "mostly Republicans" - to the characterization of OWS as "kids," and several other trite and shallow-minded themes that run through this article."
I'm with you, Two Americas.
Agreed.
Sometimes these threads degenerate into the strangest (and most fucking kind of boring on earth) kind of paranoia. Maybe I have missed something; I thought this was a public forum, not the exclusive realm of a few.
I agree, two americas. I think the 'american dream' is spin. I never craved two chickens on the stove...or is it two cars in every garage? Leave it to beaver reality doesn't do it for me. Too ....................Beige.
There was a certain householder (god), which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandman(politicians, bankers, elites), and went into a far away country.
And when the time of the fruit drew near (present day), he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
And the husbandmen took his servants (the 99%), and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another,
Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
But last of all he sent unto them his son (prophets like: MLK, john lennon, jesus), saying, They will reverence my son.
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto the husbandmen?
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen (us), which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you (by the 1%), and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
And whosoever shall fall on this stone (us) shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall (the 1%), it will grind him to powder.
Matthew 21:33-44
"That is up to the rest of us to carry out, and the political avenue is the only one available to most of us."
The TRANSCENDENT AVENUE, of developing a new MYTHOS, is the correct avenue.. The POLITICAL avenue is a one way street to more of the same.
I've been listening to your comments recently. Wish you could get an article in CD ----- much better than the professionals.
Stone, i completely agree with you. And the 'mythos' is based in something that at least i call the religious mythology - 'original sin' for one. That alone is key to much of what we see in our world - and always have. If 'we' believe we can't trust ourselves then we won't ever evolve. I won't get into the whole duality between Nature/Human or Mind/Body. All of our so called civilizations are schizophrenic.
A revolution will not take a long time. It can happen quickly, it can end quickly, and It can be won quickly. The only powers of enforcement that the 1% have are the police and the military. They are beginning to louse both of them. Soldiers now realize that after serving their country, their country will shoot them in the face if they step out of line. Police are beginning to realize that it is the people that they are serving who robed their pension funds, and threaten their comfortable retirement. They are also beginning to realize that their job security is not any better than anybodies, under the present situation. Most of the military, the police, and their families are part of the 99%. When the 99% realize that they are the ones that in charge, the 1% is finishes. Their payed for Government, Media, and all that their money can buy, will be of no help to them. The idea of things being changed over a decade or two is ridiculous. We don't have that much time.
The money of the middle class did not vanish. It has been stolen. Arrest the thieves and confiscate the loot. At this point we need more than just an equatable tax code. We need additional taxes to make the privileged pay back what they owe in back taxes. The Supreme Court which was put into place by the rich, over rode a National Election and put into power George W Bush, who in turn gave unfair tax breaks to his rich backers. This is more than a conflict of interest, it is a subversion of all the principals that our country once stood for.
I am a Patriotic American and I would never advocate the over through of our Democracy. What I am advocating is its restoration, hopefully in a peaceful and non violent way.
"Real change will take time, certainly years, maybe decades. It will require a substantial re-arrangement of political and economic power. That is up to the rest of us to carry out, and the political avenue is the only one available to most of us."
The political avenue is most certainly NOT the only one available to us. We can, and must, take control of our own mindsets, economies and governments, through our everyday exchange and association.
Authors such as this one make it extremely difficult for the people. He says a lot of things that make sense, so when he says something that doesn't make sense, we are tempted to gloss over it. The result is we stay enslaved. He clarifies the walls that corral us but fails to clarify the holes through which we can escape. We are encouraged by newfound awareness of the walls that confine us we remain blind to the escape hole so we will surely waste any energy we expend as long as we continue to listen to these incomplete ideas.
The escape hole to the people's emancipation is in taking personal control of our own mindsets, economies and governments. Each person takes personal control and finds their personal agenda resonating, harmonizing, with their neighbors'. Solidarity with our neighbors, and popular control of society, are easy enough after we slough the elite parasites off our backs.
Welcome to third world America!
Oh and there will be a fray alright. Except, after it starts in earnest, many will instantly understand that to call it a 'fray' will be insanely and obfuscatingly charitable. It will be a bloody, gory, mediaeval fucking slaughter, and hopefully more of the 1% will get slaughtered than the 99%. But alas, the 99% are, ipso facto, a bigger target, and the military is on the side of the 1%. So, as was the effort in Egypt, it will be necessary to get the American military to unscrew their heads from their arses and understand that their best chances of ultimately staying alive ARE CATEGORICALLY NOT WITH THE 1%.
Now do let's get the fuck on with the blood-letting, unless anyone has any ideas how the military-industrial-congressional-complex can conduct thenmselves to surrender peacefully.
Major kudos to you Robert Freeman for reading the comments and addressing them. Keep writing!
Robert Freeman:
Good Article, Keep on telling the truth whenever you can, wherever you can. "There will be difficult days ahead" MLK. Diligence and a persistence of spirit will answer the challenges that lie ahead. "Let the good times roll!!!
Exactly! We get it! Thanks for echoing this loud and clear ! Also of interest, Judith Butler's talk at OWS in Zucotti Park: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVpoOdz1AKQ (Butler is Professor of Rhetoric at U.C. Berkeley -- no worries, though, talk at Zucotti is short and sweet. Text posted on: OccupyWriters.com) A DVD of interest: "Examined Life", dir. by Astra Taylor -- contemporary philosophers explore questions as they go for a walk.