Eleven Months Ago This Week

Sign in Planter. Occupy Chicago. LaSalle and Jackson. Nov. 2011.

Good Morning. This is another installment of gonzo journalism light, introspective observation from Chicago. This week will mark the second month of being cigarette free. That is not bragging, I am just marking the calendar.

Eleven months ago this week Occupy Wall Street became a real movement.

We’ve hit another milestone in the commemoration of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. It was one year ago this past week that the General Assembly in New York began working on tactics; one year ago this week that the idea of the encampment took form. The idea was to show that there were many people who are disenfranchised by the soft Neo-Fascism, or neo-feudalism, of the current age. As we know now, that message was delivered with panache.

The message was a jolt to the status quo. It has been repressed across the nation.  The excuse the officials used is that the camps must go due to hygiene concerns within the encampments. Truth is, it is vulgar to have citizens sleeping in public spaces, and vulgar to have citizens question the authority and legitimacy of the new feudalism. If it were not so, the authorities would have provided necessary sanitation to allow the free expression continue until it ran it course, and the energy was spent.

The message is out. It has caught the attention of the political parties. It has caught the attention of elected officials. It has caught the attention of the business community.  Their collective response has been to ignore it, or repress it. Banks are still charging disproportionate fees. People are still being evicted on dubious commercial paper. Wages are still suspiciously low in light of the inflationary spiral the cost of living.

The movement’s response to the act of deliberate stonewalling of corrective action and measure has been to dredge up age old social issues which have little bearing on what is happening in the nation. Occupy Wall Street is purging its own ranks of the oldest and longest supporters.

This is how one Occupier in Chicago put it (paraphrased): We white males have to realize the breath and scope of the female psyche, and alter our approach to the point of view. 

Since this was send to me on July 17, 2012 (the tenth month anniversary of Occupy) I’ve been called sexist, bitter, and poisonous for extensively disagreeing with the position. Yet, even I know that there is a disproportionate sway of opinion based on race and gender. That sway diminishes greatly, however, with age, injury and poverty. I see that far more often. But you have to have lived long enough to experience it. I will, however, let you formulate your own opinion on the ramifications of those statements.

I do ponder this for Occupy all over the nation: Has the choice Occupy made to dredge up old sexist arguments bettered the community, or has the choice made it impossible to build a cohesive community? And just how is it stopping corporate greed?

You tell me.

I am look forward to the day when common sense prevails in the Occupy movement.

Guns, Guts and Gall

This past week I came across a photoshoped image on Facebook which I neglected to bookmark. It showed a woman, holding an AK-47 telling the world that she is armed because the criminals are armed. Give it enough time and I am sure the same image will circulate back through the time line. It is not the first time I’ve seen it, and it will not be the last. The photo, however, brought up just how ludicrous the NRA supporters have become in their arguments. This brings up a very old observation: If an average Jane, or Joe, ever gets into a situation where more than 6 rounds are needed to preserve their life, then they have deliberately stepped into trouble of their own making. To say otherwise is absurd hyperbole best used in the writing of Science Fiction. While I do uphold the right (not that it matters what I do or do not say about the 2^ndAmendment) to have, own and fire an AK-47, the argument that one is needed for self-defense is silly at best.

Update: Sunday, August 19, 2012: I will not be adding a new blog entry this week. This blog entry, the attitudes and events discussed herein, have still not been addressed. 

Update: Sunday, February 17, 2009:  The anonymous quote was removed. It should not have been used in the first place. The paraphrased line should have been sufficient.