Eugene Robinson LOVES Occupy Wall Street - Truthdig

[flamingdem]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/occupy_the_moment_20111010/

excerpt:
Occupy Wall Street and its kindred protests around the country are inept, incoherent and hopelessly quixotic. God, I love them.

I love every little thing about these gloriously amateurish sit-ins. I love that they are spontaneous, leaderless and open-ended. I love that the protesters refuse to issue specific demands beyond a forceful call for economic justice. I also love that in Chicago—uniquely, thus far—demonstrators have ignored the rule about vagueness and are being ultra-specific about their goals. I love that there are no rules, just tendencies.

I love that when Occupy Wall Street was denied permission to use bullhorns, demonstrators came up with an alternative straight out of Monty Python, or maybe “The Flintstones”: Have everyone within earshot repeat a speaker’s words, verbatim and in unison, so the whole crowd can hear. It works—and sounds tremendously silly. Protest movements that grow into something important tend to have a sense of humor.

I can’t help but love that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called the protests “growing mobs” and complained about fellow travelers who “have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.” This would be the same Eric Cantor who praised the tea party movement in its raucous, confrontational, foaming-at-the-mouth infancy as “an organic movement” that was “about the people.” The man’s hypocrisy belongs in the Smithsonian.

[chill_wind]

1. K & R.

And I love Eugene Robinson for writing this.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. Eugene gets its.

:thumbsup:

[flamingdem]

3. He does!

Eugene is the best

[monmouth]

4. I love Eugene, sometimes he sounds like a kid on Christmas morning..

When he likes/approves of something he just bubbles. Go Gene..

[flamingdem]

5. Well described.

He wrote a great book about Cuba and his description of the concerts was so memorable, and other things of course. recommended.

[Matariki]

6. "The man’s hypocrisy belongs in the Smithsonian"

Brilliant! :rofl:

[Matariki]

7. I LOVE those last two paragraphs (and Eugene Robinson!)

We have no shortage of politicians in this country. What we need is more passion and energy in the service of justice. We need to be forced to answer questions that sound simplistic or naive—questions about ethics and values. Detailed policy positions can wait.

At some point, these protest encampments will disappear—and, since the nation and the world will not have changed, they’ll be judged a failure. But I’ve got a hunch that this likely judgment will be wrong. I think the seed of progressive activism in the Occupy protests may grow into something very big indeed.

[flamingdem]

10. Yes, that is great. It's why it seems so important/effective WITHOUT detailed positions nt

[Mimosa]

8. K&R! n/t

[malaise]

9. A fabulous read

I also love Occupy Wall Street

Rec

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, flamingdem.:thumbsup:

[me b zola]

12. K&R!

:loveya:

[immoderate]

13. Demands: 1. Stop fucking up!

That is all. :)

They want something to shoot at.

--imm

[Enthusiast]

16. Would faking up reasons for a war with Iran

qualify as fucking up? I'm just wondering.

[immoderate]

17. If you're at war -- you fucked up.

--imm

[Chimichurri]

14. This makes me so happy!

[Enthusiast]

15. "The man’s hypocrisy belongs in the Smithsonian."

It's true. And that is about the best thing I can think to say of him. I still think he should be the recipient of a gigantic atomic wedgie.

[RainDog]

18. k&r n/t

[lunatica]

19. I love that Eugene loves the Occupy Wall Street