Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SalmonGod]

Most likely

[SalmonGod]

Lt John Pike won his case for $38,000 in psychological damages

1.  Do something morally reprehensible in front of hundreds of witnesses and dozens of cameras
2.  Find that people don't like you afterwards
3.  ? ? ? ? ?
4.  Profit!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Let him have his filthy money. It won't undo what he did, and it won't make people forget.

[SalmonGod]

There is one camp still going

A small article on Rolling Stone about some of the private surveillance companies and softwares that specifically market themselves to law enforcement for use against protestors.  The claims are nothing new, but it has names to go with them.

[Baffler]

So...

What now? Are we actually able to bring about any change through demonstration? The solitary camp that's still running doesn't have much else going for it. The article makes it sound like there are at most a dozen people there at maximum, and only two or three during most of the week. Does Occupy even represent the majority opinion in the U.S anymore? And why can't I come up with any other way to express this sentiment than an annoying series of rhetorical questions?

[SalmonGod]

I honestly don't know anymore.  Like I've said before, Occupy did make a lasting impact.  It brought a lot of new people into activism.  Many organizations sprung out of the ashes of the encampment phase that still operate under the Occupy banner and do some good things.

But it does seem like American culture in general just doesn't have any attention span or memory for politics.  As soon as whatever event is over with and no longer a focus of the media, it's almost like it never happened.  The only thing people will tend to remember is whatever was repeated the most, even if it's something they knew to be false when the issue was current.  They'll forget what they knew.

So the plutocracy can shove people out of the spotlight as violently as necessary.  They can even kill if they have to, and make up some incredibly weak excuse.  Then repeat what they want people to remember in the media a whole bunch.  Those weak excuses will win out as the most commonly accepted fact in the end.  The majority will come away from it with an uneasy feeling, knowing something is wrong, but seem unable to put a finger on it.  When their indignity boils over and they need a release, they'll channel their two minutes hate into whatever boogeyman is being made up as distraction at the time, or just plain partisan politics.

I think American culture is deeply twisted, fickle, and weak.  I don't know what can be done about it.  Living here is fucking depressing and I just want to go somewhere else.

[kaenneth]

Or it's not really bad enough for most people to care about.

[Pnx]

But it does seem like American culture in general just doesn't have any attention span or memory for politics.  As soon as whatever event is over with and no longer a focus of the media, it's almost like it never happened.  The only thing people will tend to remember is whatever was repeated the most, even if it's something they knew to be false when the issue was current.  They'll forget what they knew.

No, see... these aren't Amercain culture issues, or even just current American culture issues. These are issues that have existed since the first modern democracies came up, or even when the first proto-democracies sprang up. What you're talking about is less a culture issue than it is a human nature issue.

[Duuvian]

A small article on Rolling Stone about some of the private surveillance companies and softwares that specifically market themselves to law enforcement for use against protestors.  The claims are nothing new, but it has names to go with them.

These companies are a serious negative influence in a democracy then. Treating #protest the same way as #criminal enterprise should make this apparent.

[Duuvian]

A small article on Rolling Stone about some of the private surveillance companies and softwares that specifically market themselves to law enforcement for use against protestors.  The claims are nothing new, but it has names to go with them.

These companies are a serious negative influence in a democracy then. Treating #protest the same way as #criminal enterprise should make this apparent.

And to the government, there's probably little difference.

I don't know about that. There sure didn't seem to be much police opposition to the Tea Party's protests, even while they cry revolution while holding rifles or tear down barricades in D.C. while waving a Confederate battle flag. Like this. I don't recall pepper spray ever being used in Tea Party rallies even when they take very questionable action that borders on a riot. I think what seemingly matters to government is whether or not the protest is against the financial or corporate system, not whether or not it's pro or anti government.

[Duuvian]

Indeed, though this world would dearly miss your own logic should you choose to leave it so I would advise against trying before a Mars colony is operational.

Some Tea Party protesters actually tied to climb the fence around the White House, which any 8th grader on a field trip knows risks being sniped by hidden agents dressed as trees should it be accomplished, according to my 8th grade teacher.

This actually stirred the police to action, and caused them to remove a protestor from the fence by 'hooking her arm with a nightstick.' Internet searches show no arrests, no pepper spray, no riot police shield walls, but apparently it was still worthy of complaint by the tea party.

[NullForceOmega]

The Tea Party lives off millions of dollars funded to it through P.A.C.'s run by massive corporate interests, and the gullibility of the majority of Americans, who are spoon fed political and religious bullshit from birth.  It's faces are those of political freshmen, without solid foundations in the principals of the U.S.A., and with no interest in anything outside their limited perspective.  I hate the politics of this nation with an intensity bordering on thermo-nuclear.

[Lagslayer]

No, you hate the politics of anyone that doesn't support what you support.

[NullForceOmega]

I do not support mega-corporations dictating policy, that is not the principle that The United States was founded upon.  Frankly, if the Republicans can put forward a candidate who is not either ass-backwards or insanely warmongering, I may just vote for them next election.  The Dems certainly don't have anyone I support other than Obama currently.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

If the Republicans put forward candidates who weren't backwards or jingoistic, they just wouldn't be the Republicans.