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Comments Posted By Gordonskene

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OWS, You May Be Being Had

As always, you guys are doing great work and I’m glad this subject is being addressed, as it needs to be repeatedly in the coming weeks. Derailment is one of the biggest problems with any movement involving more than 2 people. The tragedy would be if there was no awareness of it and this time is where it’s different than say, even four years ago. Sometimes people are caught up in the spirit of a movement and forget there are forces desperately trying to disrupt and discredit. And I think enough people involved in OWS have been around the block enough times to be aware of the possibility. I know in Los Angeles it’s been talked about a lot and there is awareness of infiltrators and people seeking to derail the movement. There have been attempted acts of violence and they’ve been spotted, isolated and shunned by the majority. As it’s always been, the media is much more attracted to the violence than to the message. The recent situation in Italy is a classic case in point. Whereas in Madrid on the same day, 150-200,000 assembled and it was peaceful. And how much coverage did that get?

Media has been ignoring OWS except when it becomes violent and then it pays attention for all the wrong reasons.

What is different about this movement now as opposed to similar movements going back to 1964 is an increased awareness of the possibility of things going wrong and letting people know. By now everyone knows what Breitbart and O’Keefe look like – their faces are plastered over every site on the internet. There are enough people milling around with enough cameras so that anyone who looks suspicious can be identified within days if not hours. That’s the big difference between then and now and that’s the tipping point. And that’s the reason articles like this need to be written and published on a regular basis. The awareness needs to be universal and constant. From the get-go it was assumed there would be disruptions and attempted derailments by hired assassins and there has been a conscious need to counter it by not drifting off message.

People are getting involved who have never been involved in anything before in their lives. At the Solidarity March last week in Los Angeles, I ran into people who told me they had never been to a demonstration before, never showed up at a rally before, never done anything as political as this in their lives before.

It is very quickly becoming unstoppable, which is why the attempts at derailing it are becoming so desperate. They will be more desperate in the coming days/weeks ahead. There is a lot of hope being placed on a dwindling of support when Winter arrives. If OWS survives Winter it will have jumped a major hurdle. Spring will be memorable. I predict.

» Posted By Gordonskene On October 23, 2011 @ 10:23 am

Occupy Wall Street Could Be a Seminal Moment … Or It Couldn’t

I remember the FBI infiltrators very well. The two purposes they managed to serve was a: make people very paranoid (imagine going off to a concert with some of your friends and a cop comes up to one of your friends and says “thanks for the tip, we got him” and walks away – they did that a lot)and b: frustrate people into just giving up. I’m wondering if much was learned from that – that’s the thing I’m concerned about. I’m also concerned about the lack of cohesion in the blogosphere. The egos need to take backseat for a while and join forces.

I will say though, that there’s a vibe about this movement this time that’s different from the way it was 40 years ago. Can’t put my finger on it – the concept of a leaderless movement is intriguing – with no leader there is no target.

Maybe, just maybe, they got it right this time. Who knows?

We’ll all see soon enough.

» Posted By Gordonskene On October 7, 2011 @ 1:53 pm

Like I’ve heard in certain circles “principles before personalities”. The bigger picture is always the most important. Thanks Cyrano!

» Posted By Gordonskene On October 7, 2011 @ 1:37 pm

Thanks for posting this. It’s a matter of concern on the parts of many involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement that the message not get hijacked or muddled.

The more attention this movement gets, the more likely there will be for the presence of malcontents, agents provocateurs and opportunists; it’s just what happens with any movement of more than two people. One of the points you bring up, and one I certainly remember very well, is how many movements, beginning as honest protest of corrupt institutions, became somehow derailed by people with agendas bent on anarchy rather than foment real change. I can’t really speak on the recent riots in the UK – I don’t live there. I do know that my first reaction was to be reminded of the riots in Brixton in the 1980’s and thinking perhaps this was a dramatic social upheaval going on in Britain. But I also remember the Anti-War Movement in the 1960’s and, what started off one way certainly ended up being something else.

But as was pointed out in your article, and by the comments, it appears the dissent, starting off as a legitimate reaction to terrible conditions, got derailed by people just looking to stir up shit for its own sake and not for any higher motives. I think you run that risk, no matter what you do. How you counter it is the big question. How do you not allow self-serving ego based distractions to kill legitimate dissent in any protest movement? I think that’s been a point of contention ever since the concept of protest began. There will always be factions – those pledged to protest one way and those of another. The recent events in New York involving the Police beatings and use of Mace also beg another question – just as there are elements to incite and inflame on the side of the protesters, there are no doubt just as many wishing to incite and inflame on the side of law enforcement. One of the fortunate elements in our current state of dissent is the introduction of instant media – the fact that we can now identify the Bologna’s and Connolly’s as perpetrators of incitement on the side of law enforcement is a huge difference from the 1960’s. I do believe, from what I’ve seen here in Los Angeles, that there are many in law enforcement who are on the side of the protesters and that the actions of the malcontents don’t reflect the majority. Let’s face it – the Police are in unions too. They have (as we’ve seen in Ohio and Wisconsin) just as much to lose as anyone. This time the protest is all-inclusive and that’s a point of departure from the Anti-War and Civil Rights Movements of the 60’s.

But it’s that thing about history and the point you make about its importance that is so crucial, and I’m glad you pointed that out. Much as history may seem irrelevant to many, the fact that there are precedents to learn from, is essential to any movement. To drag out the cliche about insanity – you just can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Ain’t never gonna happen.

BTW – People think our current state of political climate is based on 8 years of the previous administration. The systematic dismantling of our government has been taking place slowly and surely since 1970. Snapping fingers and magical thinking aren’t going to fix something that’s been in place for forty years. It is a slow arduous process. Perhaps the American people are really looking for the next Hugo Chavez? Just a thought.

Many thanks and keep up the good work,

Gordon Skene
Newstalgia.CrooksandLiars.com

» Posted By Gordonskene On October 7, 2011 @ 9:32 am

Ladies and Gents…The Real Rick Perry!

The sad and strange part is that this guy will actually get votes. I worry about us sometimes.

» Posted By Gordonskene On August 13, 2011 @ 11:24 am