It's a very old game.
The annals of Three Kingdom period in China describe it. That's around the year 200 Gregorian calendar. And it was old then.
Posted on 10/09/2011 6:03:49 PM PDT by redreno
I was unhappy with the poor journalistic coverage of the #OccupyWallStreet protests, so I went to Wall Street myself to see what’s going on, and report on it.
It’s the quality of the coverage, not the amount that's the problem. It’s been on the nightly news every night for the past week, but there has been little “serious” reporting.
(Excerpt) Read more at erratasec.blogspot.com ...
This report is worthless as well.
Elected Dems will try to direct OWS anger at Republicans.
Elected Dems know that they and Obama supported TARP, supported all of the corporate lobbyists Obama brought into his administration when he said that he wouldn’t, supported Wall Street firms bundling tons of campaign cash to them and Obama.
Will OWS take Obama and the Dems to task over these things?
Didja read the comments section?
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
It sounds like somebody has a hugh and series problem with the quality of reporting being done about the fleabaggers.
Fleabaggers... I like it.
It sounds like somebody has a hugh and series problem with the quality of reporting being done about the fleabaggers.
Is that ozone I smell?
(sigh) Another five minutes from my life, wasted.
I found the occupiers had the same totalitarian attitude, though they don’t see it as totalitarian. Yes, their loving acceptance of those who disagree with them is astonishing, but it’s totalitarian. It asks that people give up their individuality to the state the occupiers are creating. Rather than free speech, the protest has a sort of "managed speech" to make sure everyone has equal time. There is also the flip side, that not to join the movement or to disagree with the protesters means that you are working against the interest of the people.Love us or we'll take or break everything thing you have and then if you still don't love us the way we demand we'll slaughter you and yours.We have seen this before in history, such as during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. After they ran out of nobles, the Committee for Public Safety started beheading political rivals -- even those of their own party who helped overthrow the royalty. Their implicit thinking was this: I support the people. Therefore, if you disagree with me, you are acting against the people and must be beheaded. Or to paraphrase in the modern idiom, “you are either with us or against the people”.
I personally experienced [the] duality between populism and totalitarianism. I had chosen a table in an empty area away from the crowd to type up my notes. I didn’t realize it, but it was near the General Assembly area that would soon become crowded. Members of the Media Team came up to me and insisted I move, so that they could set up a tripod and camera on the table to take pictures of the General Assembly. I refused. I tried to do this as nicely as possible, with a pleasant demeanor, but of course, I was being a jerk. I didn't like they way they insisted, but also I wanted to test them, to see what would happen when somebody didn't go along with their demands.
Of the three people, one was nice. He smiled, shook my hand, and said “peace”. I’ll bet he’s been to Burning Man. But the other two were nasty. The second guy, visibly twitching in anger, made unspecified threats that I had better move. The third person, tried to argue. She claimed that the protest had prior right to this spot, since they had been occupying the park for weeks (a fallacious argument, since the owners declare the park open to everyone equally). She then argued that this was for the entire group, to get the word out about the protest, to which I answered that I’m not part of the protest, that I don’t share their views. Her final argument was the totalitarian argument: this is for the people. She then proceeded to say that she was going to setup the tripod anyway, and that if I didn’t move, she would accidentally step on my laptop computer, because her attention would be on taking pictures and not where she was stepping.
Marxism. Just like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot.
very interesting, thanks
And he managed to miss the obvious fact that these protests are staged political events.
"I get the impression that the entire Occupy Wall Street movement needs a “[citation needed]” footnote. Wikipedia uses this technique to allow anybody to challenge an unsupported assertion. Anybody can insert this footnote, expressing to the reader that (as yet) the assertion isn’t supported. Anybody else can find supporting evidence, and replace the [citation needed] to a footnote pointing to a reliable source. If no citation can be found, the assertion is eventually deleted."
The Flea Party seems to be following these rules of engagement. To enable silent group communication while someone is speaking, they have devised a set of hand motions, including waving open hands for applause, crossing arms above the head for disagreement, a revolving hand for get to the point, etc. There needs to be a hand motion to ask for a citation or verification that there's a germ of truth in what the speaker is saying.
This is interesting
I found only propaganda. They could repeat word-perfect the propaganda about the execution of Troy Davis case, but none of the details from the Wikipedia entry on the case. They could repeat the propaganda of Al Gore on Global Warming, but none of the science from the UN IPCC that declares the scientific consensus on the issue.
They could repeat the economics of Michael Moore, but not that of Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate, writer of the popular liberal/progressive blog “Conscience of a Liberal” at the New York Times and author of a college textbook giving an introduction to economics. For example, the protesters say “the rich get richer but the poor get poorer,” whereas Krugman says “the rich get richer but the poor go nowhere”. This is due to a profound disagreement about a basic economic concept and the economic data.
It's a very old game.
The annals of Three Kingdom period in China describe it. That's around the year 200 Gregorian calendar. And it was old then.
I really appreciate the author’s honesty in admitting the libertarian perspective. It is clear the author is romanticizing a bit, and that is okay, but their are factual elements not readily available to a casual observer patrolling the area. Facts such as there are people who are paid to be there protesting, and that the park owner received stimulus funds, and other connections to extremely liberal groups prior to the beginning of the protest which suggest active involvement in the formation of the movement. These provable facts tend to negate the idea of an ideological grassroots movement that is in danger of being hijacked. Rather, these facts present a picture of a planned occupation *designed* to look grassroots and honest. Rather than being ignored by the media, as it seems, it has been designed to work in conjunction with the media’s traditional operation to present the occupation in the light it desires. I applaud the author in getting out there and chasing down info. but I would encourage the author to dig deeper—past what is seen.
Will OWS take Obama and the Dems to task over these things?
BWAHAAHAAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH...
Yeah, that’ll happen. Right after the hard hitting pull no punches investigation on Solyndra and Gunwalker happen on ABC and NBC.
I’m that “reporter”.
I’m a Republican, a conservative leaning libertarian. I oppose everything written on their placards. The point of the reporting wasn’t to debate their politics, but to report on what I saw. What I found was much evidence that didn’t fit the preconceived narratives. Whether you agree with them or not, they’ve changed the landscape. I tried to communicate what has changed, but not take sides.
With that said, I did criticize them a lot. For example, I pointed out they were intellectually vacuous. Somebody believing in the “science” of Global Warming can cite Al Gore’s propaganda, but not the actual science. (I don’t believe in Global Warming, but I’m an expert on the science, and am frustrated I can’t debate leftists scientifically because none of them know the science).
With that as a background, skeeter, I give you the same [citation needed] challenge. You disagree with me, such as claiming “these protests are staged political events”. I challenge you to cite evidence supporting your claims. Actually, I agree with you on some respects, I visited the OccupyAtlanta version and it was staged nonsense, but the question is whether the original OccupyWallStreet that I reported on is “staged”.
I created this as a tribute to this Monty Python bit from Life of Brian http://youtu.be/ExWfh6sGyso
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