There's a shower room where you do not want to drop your soap.
IN Egypt earlier this year, the cops refused to attack the people. East Germany and then the whole Iron Curtain collapsed when the local cops wouldn’t smash heads when Erich Honecker ordered it. What about America? Where are the cops who walked off the job rather than attack their neighbors drowning in debt and despair?
Like most unions, the cop unions have some Republicans. In fact, given their authoritarian leanings, I'd suspect that cop unions have even more Republicans than other unions, in which the Republicans number about 40%. With that in mind, is it any surprise that a bunch of these guys like punching hippies?
ReplyDeleteHere's something I made.
ReplyDeleteThis guy inspired it.
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In both Egypt & Germany the movements were HUGE. (And in Germany, the movement was to re-unify an artificially divided people.)
ReplyDeleteWhen a movement can turn out a million or more people -- more than once -- a few cops and a LOT of the army will cross over.
But the movement has to be both large and broad. It has to look like it might succeed.
America has much more of an authoritarian/obedience strain in its culture than most would like to admit. Not to mention a militarized police culture with an enthusiasm for violence.
ReplyDeleteAnd the thugs are usually the people who bray the loudest about "freedom".
Anonymous is right, America is infested with this "Authoritarian" disease that worships Law and Order, so long as it's somebody ELSE that's being forced to gargle with pepper spray.
ReplyDeleteThe police has become a welcoming haven for men who abuse steroids and have trouble controlling their rage. Just wind 'em up and point them in the direction of "the perps".
the police will never put down their batons and join the Movement, not because they're afraid for their jobs, but because they get their rocks off beating "Dirty Fuckin' Hippies".
As long as the great Authoritarian masses have an "other" to jeer at and are not being sprayed and clubbed themselves, they'll never change. That's the whole problem with Murrika, it's gotten too lax, too permissive, dontcha know...
And on the other hand, America is not yet as "broken" as either Egypt or East Germany, although we're certainly sliding down the slope. I don't think Americans necessarily worship authoritarians (some do of course), but people want order--the people who get stopped in traffic jams trying to drive home from work on--when the jams are caused by protesters with vague complaints that they can't do anything about--are going to get angry and frustrated. Then they become fodder for the Limbaugh hate machine, because he's expressing that anger and focusing (misfocusing it actually). Seems to me it's time for the Occupy Movement to find focus. Working on the recall effort against the mischievous Wisconsin governor would be a good idea; ditto the governors in Ohio, Michigan, and Florida. Working to stop the vote tampering efforts that are afoot in Republican held states would be a great idea--otherwise Obama may lose because many of his supporters will not have "proper" ID. We still have a democracy--featuring Ds and Rs. How bout trying to recapture it, rather than giving the authoritarians more arguments for ending it, which they clearly aim to do in the long run. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me you've confused the Democrats with a party that gives a damn about us, Fiddlin' Bill.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Republicans cheat, always. But that didn't stop the rest of us from electing a massive majority of Democrats following the elections of 2006 and 2008. How'd that work out?
Here's a tip...they're just not that into us. (Skip down to the second to last paragraph if you're in a hurry.)
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There are but two choices in our system, D and R. Seems like you're forgetting that, Mr. Thunder. It's an existential problem, and cannot be solved by voting for a dream candidate of your choice in some third party who cannot win. It's D or it's R. How'd Mr. Nader's candidacy in 2000 work out? For all the obvious and less obvious problems with our system, it's still a democracy--until authoritarians abolish it. You're saying our atmosphere would be better with more oxygen.
ReplyDeleteI read Greenwald's piece. I have no disagreement with his characterization of the Democratic Party. Money is power. This truth underlies everything in American politics. Power abhors a vacuum. The ruthless have an advantage, always. I see quite a lot of romantic nonsense in dreams of the Occupy Movement actually making fundamental changes in America.
ReplyDeleteMr. Bill, I see similar things. I also see the core OWS people being very clear that the dems should fuck off and get their own grassroots movement, so apparently they are more about heat than actual light.
ReplyDeleteI figured it would turn out this way. As soon as OWS started, my anarchist, Nader-voting (still, in 2008) friend was out there protesting and simply sure that this time the Workers would see how screwed they are and join the glorious People's Revolution Vanguard. Yeah, right. Americans just want to pay their bills, not get sick, and not be bothered as they scurry from one desperate economic situation to the next; watching the excessively earnest refuse to (1) appoint/elect a leader for their movement, and (2) not have a coherent list of demands or ideas means most Americans could give a crap about OWS at this point. It started out with some interest by most people, and has lost that interest as it turned into yet another intellectual playpen for the anarcho-whateverists. Fail.