Perhaps it’s time for those of us who were organizing around those issues for the past decade need to infiltrate their movement with some context and truth. Of course, this would require tact and patience.
The problem with this idea, as I see it, comes down to social and religious views.
The radical protesters that I have had experience with have no patience for racism or sexism, in any form. There are MANY female and queer and transgendered and ethnic radicals that had to fight to be accepted in the anarchist movement. How would they be accepted by these people?
Not to mention that many radicals are, if not atheists, than at least uncomfortable with the patriarchal concepts held by many of the religious of this country. (abortion, gay rights, etc.)
And finally, class. Many of these tea bagging patriots still want to grab that brass ring as far as I can tell. They want things to change, but only if the change leaves them with all of their shiny toys. They, apparently, aren’t interested in breaking through class conflict and would be more than happy to let the poor remain one half step ahead of starvation and disease.
And they don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about the environment, either.
So a common hatred of the IMF, WTO, etc., wouldn’t be enough of a common platform IMHO.
Obviously i see your point. But there ARE those of us who can blend in quite well. I’ve carefully cultivated my common man/redneck persona for years now, for similar reasons of infiltration.
Yes, many of the “tea bagging patriots” are hopeless, and not worth the time. But just think of the possibility of reaching even a few of them. I suspect they may very well be open to some of the ideas that stretch past just “Blame Obama” or whatever. If you can get them to see that Obama is actually the LEAST of their worries, and that he is trying to provide this nation with a modicum of stability for the very near future when we totally collapse, then when that does come to pass, they will have a clearer picture.
I mean, isn’t the point of ‘activism’ to build connection with the community? I’ve always hated how certain aspects of activist culture merely seek to draw lines between themselves and those they see as ‘different’. If that’s all people are doing, then it isnt really ‘activism’. It’s just ‘Re-Activism’. I’m not interested in building my own exclusive club, i want to try and build a community that supports each other, and can provide a space at the table for those coming to the party late.
I guess this all just comes from you, mat, and this other guy (barry?) who seem to have experience within the ‘protest’ and ‘anti-globalization’ movement. I mean, i am absolutely fascinated by the total naivete of these Tea Partiers thinking this is the ‘biggest protest in american history”, and the complete amnesia that is required to allow that world-view. Like Barry said, these are the same people who objected to the actual tactics of the real Boston Tea Party when they are employed at say, the WTO or FTAA protests.
But if all we do is place them in a convieneint little box of ‘ignorant rednecks” (as obviously fitting as that may be), all we do is strengthen the barriers and boundries that allow them to not see the forest for the trees. Because among the psuedo-militia red dawn types, are working moms, misled youths, closeted dykes, self-loathing minorities, etc, who are obviously receptive to learning about what the #### is going on right now as our country digs itself deeper and deeper into a debt it cant pay. And if ‘we’ can infiltrate and get even a few of them to get it, we take the momentum away from these guys toting AR-15’s who will most certainly start killing their neighbors iffin when martial law is declared.
This is all pretty interesting theater, if nothing else. Right-wingers co-opting historically leftist strategies & tactics, playing victim within a system that couldn’t have taken root without them in the first place…
Reminds me of the Tim Robbins movie, “Bob Roberts”, about a neocon running for Senate as a ‘rebel conservative’. He modeled himself as a folk singer, in fact his first album is a Dylan ripoff called “The Times Are Changin’ Back” (Robbins & his brother, who wrote & performed all the music, deliberately didn’t release a movie soundtrack, for fear that their phony songs would become anthems for actual right-wingers).
Look for more of this - people on the right taking advantage of the theater of protest and victimhood, twisting and pumping up the subterranean fears of a black president.
How to counter this? I don’t know, but we’d better find a way. There’s no guardrail on this stretch of road, and the abyss yawns beneath us.
How to counter this? I don’t know, but we’d better find a way. There’s no guardrail on this stretch of road, and the abyss yawns beneath us.
Exactly.
I tend to think the only way to ‘conquer’ it is with patient, reasoned dialogue and the example the is provided by living alternatives. I suspect many of these folks are on the precipice of ‘getting it’, and the more we mock them for being so clueless, the more we cement them in their chosen ‘camp’. We dont need division. We need community, solidarity, patience, and fortitude. This sint a popularity contest. It may very well mean the continuity of any semblance of a remotely peaceful life in our time, or not. Depending on how we all handle it. It’d be a shame a few years from now to see the opportunity we wasted at this current juncture.
It’s out there. I saw it in Prague when it came out in 1992. I had some Czech friends with me, & when we came out, they said, “This was a joke, yes?” Sort of, I said…
Here’s a video from the movie that’s a direct ripoff of Dylan, a song called “Wall Street Rap”:
You gotta enter the URL into the box that pops up when you click the <youtube> button.
The “URL” is the http://www.yaddayadda.com thing. On any youtube video, to the right of the video, there is a box that says “URL” and “Embed”. When posting a youtube video here, you enter the “URL” into the <Youtube> box, not the “Embed” coding.
Obviously i see your point. But there ARE those of us who can blend in quite well. I’ve carefully cultivated my common man/redneck persona for years now, for similar reasons of infiltration.
Oh, I can blend in. That’s the easy part.
It’s not ripping out a troglodyte’s throat that is difficult.
I mean, isn’t the point of ‘activism’ to build connection with the community? I’ve always hated how certain aspects of activist culture merely seek to draw lines between themselves and those they see as ‘different’. If that’s all people are doing, then it isnt really ‘activism’. It’s just ‘Re-Activism’. I’m not interested in building my own exclusive club, i want to try and build a community that supports each other, and can provide a space at the table for those coming to the party late.
I’m not into building my own inclusive club, but I guess it could appear that way.
I’ve shifted my way of thinking about activism in the last few years. Instead of trying to work on the world at large I decided to work from the inside out. Working on my hyper-local community first. I realize that the two little valleys that comprise my community still have a long way to go and that my energies are best utilized here first. So instead of beating my head against the wall trying to show the Amerikans why they’re so ###### in the head I’m working on feeding and clothing and housing my immediate neighbors sustainably. On building our own localized economy.
On being responsible, truly responsible, for myself.
And I’m beginning to realize that it’s gonna be a fairly long process.
I still engage the world at large, but now instead of fighting in the streets it can be done through various forms of media. In fact I would say it can be done far more effectively.
But the reality is, IMHO, that the majority of people ain’t gonna change how they interact with this world. No matter how good your argument is or how persuasive you are in your flannel shirt and john deere hat. No matter how well produced your alternative news tv show is or how well edited your disinformation movie.
The world at large is careening towards that cliff in a beat up old ford and by the time comprehension dawns the front wheels will be spinning in space.
But if all we do is place them in a convieneint little box of ‘ignorant rednecks” (as obviously fitting as that may be), all we do is strengthen the barriers and boundries that allow them to not see the forest for the trees. Because among the psuedo-militia red dawn types, are working moms, misled youths, closeted dykes, self-loathing minorities, etc, who are obviously receptive to learning about what the #### is going on right now as our country digs itself deeper and deeper into a debt it cant pay.
For shizzle. I just don’t think infiltration is the most effective tactic.
Yes, that’s all well and good. but then you wouldn’t get to see things like this
or this
or this
Imean, i hear ya tat. that’s kinda been my stance, too. but i have to wonder, are some of these people close enough to figuring it out, that all they need is a push?
My favorite part of their approach lately is that ALL pretend they were totally against Bush, too. Like this whole “Czars” thing. Bush had like, 40. It’s hillarious.
They shoudln’t call it the ‘9/12 project’. they should call it the “Amnesia Project: Let’s all Pretend we’ve been against government for years—it’s just that we all had jobs under Bush, so we couldnt protest then, but now we can, cuz Obama is a Muslim, Kenyan, Nazi Communist”
I stumbled accross a comment on youtube last night below one of these glenn beck videos.
it was gold.
it said” “####, this makes me embarrassed to be a racist”
Also, there were like 4 black people there. and they were well-documented.
Am i the only one fascinated by this stuff? The insistence upon blaming obama for things other presidents have had for years now?
I found some folks last night blaming Obama for homeland security. Seriously. And despite what they claim, you and i both know they were big bush supporters. Its ####### surreal.
Another movie reference you ask? OK, here’s one of my favorites, from “Bulworth”:
“Rich people have always stayed on top by dividing white people from colored people. But white people got more in common with colored people than they do with rich people. We just gotta eliminate them. White people, black people, brown people, yellow people, get rid of ‘em all. All we need is a voluntary, free spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep f***in’ everybody til they’re all the same color.”
Another movie reference you ask? OK, here’s one of my favorites, from “Bulworth”:
“Rich people have always stayed on top by dividing white people from colored people. But white people got more in common with colored people than they do with rich people. We just gotta eliminate them. White people, black people, brown people, yellow people, get rid of ‘em all. All we need is a voluntary, free spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep f***in’ everybody til they’re all the same color.”
Bullworth is probably one of the best mainstream comedies about american politics out there.
this image sums up the 9/12 project betetr than anythign i’ve seen so far.
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Burry Obama Care in HorseShit. I mean, that’s what they’re doing. Their whole argument is just Horse Shit.
Okay, a little off topic, but here it is for all the anti-immigration folks: 92% of immigrants pass the US citizenship test on their first try. Only three percent of Oklahoma high school students would pass; 75% couldn’t name the first President of the United States:
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