Emphasis mine.
So, protesters, I accuse you of being an integral part of the system! What say ye?
*Hat tip: Aletheia
Here’s my impression of it, or rather most of the people participating:
loved that.
yeah, we wouldn’t want to reclaim government from the corporations or anything like that. silly protesters. they should all read Atlas Shrugged.
Idk about reading it, but they definitely shouldn’t watch it. I saw part I a few days ago, and that movie SUCKS!
They should all read some Guattari! 
Problem. Reaction. Solution.
Bacon. Lettuce. Tomato.
I don’t know how to properly convey exactly how funny that is to me.
who do you think has co-opted the occupy protests? big business? the govt? wall st bankers themselves? or are you saying that from the start it was all a conspiracy of the powers that be?
I’m saying that it is part of “the system”. Not, having thought it through, that they ever really claimed to be against it. They just want it “reformed”. And that belief in reform is the system putting reins on an impulse that could otherwise be harmful to it. And when I talk about the system as doing things, as if it were a person, I mean that those things (the idea of reform) were generated within it and, in practice, work to enforce it.
The con is that no kind of reform will lead to the kind of society the protesters probably envision. And the protesters themselves, unwittingly part of the system (or maybe not so unwittingly, maybe they are not trying to be “non-conformist”), are enough to vent the frustrations of the conned, even if no actual reform ever takes place. Some probaably will. Probably little enough to keep the feeling of being conned alive, but enough to give the feeling of some measure of victory.
I’m not saying that there are people in a smoke-filled room somewhere plotting all this. This kinda shit just kinda happens.
i’m satisfied with your response, and with the conclusion that this kinda shit just kinda happens. though i don’t necessarily see a con. it’s all part of a political dialectic - you’re right that nothing big will come of it, but protesting can spread a general awareness nonetheless
This was planned from the start. In like 2004 I said this would happen around 2012. For the profane, there are surprises of this sort.
What exactly did you say?
Two things.
-
Just the fact that nothing big will come of it, and a lot of people are treating it like its some kind of paradigm-shifting revolution, I think makes it something of a con.
-
The awareness was already there. The only thing I see the protesting spreading is a misplaced catharsis. A humble raising of a protest (and believe me, I respect humble), that, being humble, will crush spirits all the more when it turns into not-much, or basically nothing. I think that is part of the point, to keep the honestly hopeful for change crushed, and those who are just looking for a “high” satisfied.
Aw shit… I love to dissect this thing theoretically, but I feel like your hopes are honest, and I feel shitty for questioning them.
Maybe awereness does count for something… I’m a philosophical gambler and no gambler can ever predict to 100% certainty (or would want to).
no, no, dissect away - the protestors have my moral support, but that’s about the extent of it - i think it’s good to see people publically calling Wall St out, but “hope” may be too strong a word for what i feel.
Ok my impression:
I agree with the general idea, of why they are protesting. but, when i see people dressed in nice clothes, healthy to obese, waving signs that claim oppression I am disgusted. How can a people be oppressed when they have items like cell phones, Ipods, good clothes , more than enough food in their bellies and freedom to move? I don’t see oppression. Just ask people from truly oppressed countries about oppression. yes the Gov’t sold us out but, we are responsible for that. We allowed it to happen. Protesting is fine but, take it to the polls, create petitions, go to court, etc. Don’t look like an idiot claiming oppression when you so obviously are not oppressed.
spoken like a true slave. “Massa’s so good to me.”
Not that I agree with the protesters, but I don’t think the argument “we could have it worse” actually takes anything away from the argument, “we could have it better.” Yes, there are people starving, yes, there are people being brutalized, yes, there are people in worse situations. Does that mean we should just give up on improving our own situation? No, it doesn’t mean that. Just because other people are being oppressed more does not mean we should be complacent about our own oppression.
I grew up in Venezuela (on the have, rather than have-not side, but still…), so this rings true to me.