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Something Is Wrong, But Exactly What?
Oct. 10th, 2011 01:46 pmThat seems to be the mood over at the Occupy Wall Street protests. Strangely, the lame-asses in the mainstream media wonder what they're upset about, or worse, why they have no specific demands. Jim Kunstler noted just this today:
I would diverge from Mr. Kunstler's assessment, though, that the country's leaders lack a "clear program." Programs can be summed up nicely as those things enacted into law by the leaders themselves. For me, simply examining the raft of programs enacted since the crisis in 2008 — and, for that matter, the programs whose enactment led to the crisis — shows very clearly a program and what that program is designed to do. The problem, the issue at which the OWS protesters are venting their frustration, is simply that these programs are either not working as intended or are working toward an intended aim so diabolical that common people have no recourse but to squat in public spaces until someone else notices that something is amiss. ( I've chosen an example that might not be obvious, just for kicks. )
The Boomer-owned-and-operated media was complaining about them all week. They were "coddled trust-funders" (an odd accusation made by people whose college enrollment status got them a draft deferment, back when college cost $500 a year). Then there was the persistent nagging over the "lack of an agenda," as if the US Department of Energy, or the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs was doing a whole lot better.
This is the funniest part to me: that leaders of a nation incapable of constructing a coherent consensus about reality can accuse its youth of not having a clear program. If the OWS movement stands for anything, it's a dire protest against the country's leaders' lack of a clear program.
I would diverge from Mr. Kunstler's assessment, though, that the country's leaders lack a "clear program." Programs can be summed up nicely as those things enacted into law by the leaders themselves. For me, simply examining the raft of programs enacted since the crisis in 2008 — and, for that matter, the programs whose enactment led to the crisis — shows very clearly a program and what that program is designed to do. The problem, the issue at which the OWS protesters are venting their frustration, is simply that these programs are either not working as intended or are working toward an intended aim so diabolical that common people have no recourse but to squat in public spaces until someone else notices that something is amiss. ( I've chosen an example that might not be obvious, just for kicks. )