Occupy Wall Street Turns 2

[CountDeMoney]

Remind me how many people died in Weather Underground attacks.

Plenty of Weather Underground members. 

[Sheilbh]

I thought the article was extremely well written.  I don't see how someone could try to put a positive spin on Occupy and do a better job than this.

I thought Peter Beinart's piece on the new new left was interesting:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/12/the-rise-of-the-new-new-left.html

[Admiral Yi]

Goddamn that's a long article.

[Savonarola]

The occupiers I'm still aware of, or the few I'm still in contact with, have migrated to other things, currently chiefly the anti-fracking campaign, so in some ways they're performing the function of a rent-a-crowd.

Like hired mourners. 

I read that earlier this month in France the anti-gay marriage protestors became anti-war protestors over the concern that if Assad fell Syrian Christians would meet the same unhappy fate as the Copts.  The French equivalent of the Occupy movement, Printemps Français also opposed the war; so the far-right and the far-left united and held protests together.

[Ideologue]

Occupy won't mean anything until they figure out the proper use of explosives.  Movements tend to get taken more seriously when body counts start climbing.

Like Al Qaeda and the Klan.

Or the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Or the Bolsheviks.  OH WAIT.

[Ideologue]

Goddamn that's a long article.

I liked it.  It's 90-100% correct, with a caveat only that it doesn't draw the logical conclusion: the GOP is effectively finished as a national party for the next decade or more.

[Savonarola]

because in situations like these a library is a threat, too

I stopped reading at this point in the article.  Was the rest just as bad?

Most of it continues along in the same style.

Al Jazeera ran an article of the Icons of OWS.  The People's Library was the first icon named; beating out even the kid with the dollar bill over his mouth:

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/multimedia/ows-icons-where-are-they-now.html

Melissa Gira Grant's account of the Occupy Wall Street People's Library, Take This Book, begins, "No one founded the library. The library founded itself"—a quotation from librarian Jaime Taylor.

In the beginning was the word

[Jacob]

Interesting article, Sheilbh. If turns out to be correct, it'll be interesting to see if the American left can hold it together or whether the transition leftwards will be as strained as the current tea-party driven strife in the GOP.

[garbon]

Interesting article, Sheilbh. If turns out to be correct, it'll be interesting to see if the American left can hold it together or whether the transition leftwards will be as strained as the current tea-party driven strife in the GOP.

Maybe I missed it (as like Yi said it was a large article) but was there ever any comparison of thoughts of different generations when they were at the same points in their life?

[Jacob]

Maybe I missed it (as like Yi said it was a large article) but was there ever any comparison of thoughts of different generations when they were at the same points in their life?

Yes:

There is more reason to believe these attitudes will persist as Millennials age than to believe they will change. For starters, the liberalism of Millennials cannot be explained merely by the fact that they are young, because young Americans have not always been liberal. In recent years, polls have shown young Americans to be the segment of the population most supportive of government-run health care. But in 1978, they were the least supportive. In the last two elections, young Americans voted heavily for Obama. But in 1984 and 1988, Americans under 30 voted Republican for president.

Nor is it true that Americans necessarily grow more conservative as they age. Sometimes they do. But academic studies suggest that party identification, once forged in young adulthood, is more likely to persist than to change. There's also strong evidence from a 2009 National Bureau of Economic Research paper that people who experience a recession in their plastic years support a larger state role in the economy throughout their lives.

[garbon]

Gotcha. I guess I'm just an artifact.

That said, I wonder why people lean more towards the government managing things. It isn't like it has shown a great capacity for change.

[Jacob]

Gotcha. I guess I'm just an artifact.

That said, I wonder why people lean more towards the government managing things. It isn't like it has shown a great capacity for change.

I'm guessing because the cut back in government management has produced plummeting incomes and standards of living with prospects for more of the same.

[Duque de Bragança]

The occupiers I'm still aware of, or the few I'm still in contact with, have migrated to other things, currently chiefly the anti-fracking campaign, so in some ways they're performing the function of a rent-a-crowd.

Like hired mourners. 

I read that earlier this month in France SOME anti-gay marriage protestors became anti-war protestors over the concern that if Assad fell Syrian Christians would meet the same unhappy fate as the Copts.  The French equivalent of the Occupy movement, Printemps Français also opposed the war; so the far-right and the far-left united and held protests together.

Fixed it for you.
Funny thing is the pro-homo marriage crowd was only described as provincial catholic bourgeois by the pro-homosexual marriage media while there were other religions present, namely muslims with veiled women. Also protestants, jews, orthodox, you name it. The same "progressive" media called it "marriage for all" which is obviously wrong, otherwise the Brain would have come to France to formalise his relationship with sheep.
The Printemps français is linked to the extreme-right in a bizarre nod to Arab revolutions (unwilling perhaps Prague Spring it is I think) so it's not surprising they're defending Assad like Marine does or her father did with Saddam Hussein.

[garbon]

I'm guessing because the cut back in government management has produced plummeting incomes and standards of living with prospects for more of the same.

I guess that is one narrative.

[Savonarola]

Fixed it for you.

Thanks, my French is far from perfect (as is my understanding of the French.)