Revisiting : Flash Occupations...a flash in the pan? (Second and hopefully the last part)

Part II of my blog article titled Flash Occupations...a flash in the pan? (Part I published on October 22, 2011).

Well, what's up with the Flash Occupations (Wall Street, Oakland, UC Berkley, etc.). What's new? (Watch the video).

Not much, uh! Are we surprised? Hate to say it but...I told you so. It was inevitable. We all knew the Occupants would not be tolerated indefinitely. Firstly, for good reasons: safety and public health. Secondly, for bad reasons: the image of public officials.

Although it was bound to happen, I'm very sorry to see that police brutality was the main event again. Not much was accomplished, except horror scenes. That is really sad. Watch the next video. It was filmed on November 18, 2011, at "Occupy UC Berkley", in California. I tried to pick the shortest one because it's difficult to watch (if you have a heart):

And that's only a tiny example of what happened out there. Try to guess how the Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (also referred to as Cal), Robert Birgeneau, responded to the student community regarding "Occupy UC Berkley"?

"It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience."

So, basically, Mr Birgeneau is saying that linking arms is violent. At some point, I was afraid he was going to say "Stop hitting the policemen's fists and batons with your faces. This is violent behaviour. You could injure their fists!".

But don't worry. The Occupants have morons on their side too. They keep the same number, you know, just in case...Here's an example (see video):

But if you are going to send in the clowns, at least, send in the funny ones.

As it turns out, the only common denominator of the Occupants is that they are pissed-off. Some are mad at the System, the Government and Wall Street, which in my book, is more than legitimate. But for some others, it gets a little blurry...not to say, plain moronic. All of that is normal. 99% of the whole population is a whole lotta people!! In such large numbers, it's impossible to get unanimity.

I'm definitely part of the 99%. And as I watch all kinds of clips about the Flash Occupations, I feel I have a lot in common with a few of the Occupants. However, I feel that I don't have a thing in common with most of them...except maybe being pissed at the System.

But even then, we are not pissed for the same reasons and we certainly don't believe in the same solutions. So where does that leave us? (See the cricket sound video at the beginning).

As I said before, although I totally agree with the principal behind the Occupations, I totally disagree with the way it was done. Again, the media was underestimated. Like children, the media needs to be entertained. You need to give "some" once in a while...but not all at once.

I think this is all the result of a magical way of thinking: we don't need to organize this, it's just going to "happen" as we go along, an inner voice will lead us (it seems the only voice is the sound of the cricket), we don't need a leader, we don't need a uniform strategy, we don't need a media spokesperson.

From the get-go, I thought it was naive. Did we really expect that things would just "happen", that we would sing Kumbaya, that we would only have to join hands with flowers in our hair (well, count me out, I'm completely bald!!).

The media is like a hyperactive child, not staying at one place at a time, running around, expecting something new every day. But it's sneaky and slick too. The media gives the impression that it wants to be your friend, that it's there to help you. But it's not. It's a hyperactive child craving candy. In our case, candy would be new stuff. "You don't have new stuff to give us, we'll find new stuff!!" Media will concentrate on things that have nothing to do with the Occupations: drugs, drug overdoses, fights, rapes, police brutality, violence and/or provocation of some Occupants against the police, Occupants being non respectful of surrounding businesses' restrooms, the outcasts and bizarre people that just happen to be there (without really being a part of it), etc.

The message gets diluted. Then the media focuses on everything but the real message. It starts to sound like the G6, G7 or G8 (did I hear someone scream "BINGO!"??) protests. In those cases, the media concentrated more on the thugs and hooligans than those who were protesting for good reasons.

The result: your chance to make a good first impression is ruined.

The Occupy Movement in general tries to make us believe that everyone gets along. Occupants in the Zuccotti Park are beginning to be concerned about the financial transparency, feeling underrepresented and not having enough daily resources as winter nears. Some are forming their own movement. There would be an Uptown Zuccotti Park and a Downtown Zuccotti Park. Some are calling the latter "The Ghetto", the Uptown being the 15% more educated and/or fortunate...

Is there a Sub-Wall-Street or a Sub-1% amongst the 99%? Is it 15% of the 99%? Or is it 15% of the percentage representing the 99% at the Zuccotti Park? This is getting confusing... One thing is for sure: even if the 99% is protesting against the 1%, it surely doesn't make the 99% homogenous.

Now there are different messages coming from different sites. Some more "hostile" than others. There are talks about blocking roads or bridges...

I'm not an expert at this. But as a member of the 99%, if you protest against the System, the Government or the 1%, I have no problem with that as long as it's peaceful. On the other hand, if you make the 99% pay by preventing them to go to work, or to pick up their children at the daycare on time, the public opinion will suddenly shift. Not only it won't help the 1% acknowledging their faults, but on top of that, the Occupy Movement will lose a lot of public support...including mine.

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THE HODGEPODGE

This week’s lucky number: No lucky number this week...it was unfortunately snowed in...NOT!...it's only covered by 17.78 centimeters of snow. The lucky number of the week is the conversion of that number into inches.

Happy and Dandy Clown of the Week: The first snow of the season. Fluffy. Immaculate. Snow crystals swaying as they fall, slowly...dancing to faint Christmas melodies escaping from chimneys, only to lie down on top of each other to form a blanket that covers everything. A blanket that warms our hearts. 30 minutes away from the resurrection of Frosty the Snowman. But only a second away from giggling children.

Sad Clown of the Week: The first snow of the season. People haven't put on winter tires yet. Accidents. Traffic. White shit that rapidly turns to brown (shit) slush that splashes you while you stand on a street corner. Ice covering windshields of vehicles. People slipping and falling on ice...looking like human pretzels. Weathermen, with crazy names like Dusty Sunshine, constantly reminding you it's "only" the first day of snow. One minute away from the resurrection of snowballs...that little brats will aim at your car. A few hours late for work. But only a second away from a staccato melody of creative and graphic swearing. Wishing for the snow to melt into a beautiful liquid called water...that shall finish its journey into the sewers...deservingly so!

Clever song lyrics: "Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there. With open arms and open eyes." - Song: Drive - Artist: Incubus

Cheesy song lyrics: "I'm too sexy for my shirt. So sexy it hurts."  Song: I'm too sexy - Artist: Right Said Fred

Philosophical Quote of the week: "People who talk in metaphors oughta shampoo my crotch." Character: Melvin Udall (wonderfully played by Jack Nicholson) - Movie: As Good as it Gets

Good song for Ron Paul’s campaign: “The more you ignore me.” (Morrissey)



Love letters, comments, opinions and complaints: reflectionsonamoderncircus@gmail.com

Flash occupations...a flash in the pan?

Here's a scenario for a movie. Invaders from outer space land in every major cities around the world. The President of the United States (let's say actor Morgan Freeman...to keep it completely fictional!!) tries to make contact with them. Not being able to identify their leader(s) (the Space Invaders all seem very different), he starts to chat with the first one he encounters.

President of the United States: Who is your leader? Your chief? Your commander?

Space Invader: We have none (for the sake of argument, let's pretend he speaks English!).

President of the United States: Why are you here?

Space Invader: We don't know.

President of the United States: What do you want?

Space Invader: We don't know.

After a few days, the President and the rest of the world simply abandon and go back to their activities while the Drama Queen Media tries by all means to scare us by speculating that the Space Invaders are here to annihilate us.

My scenario would be utterly rejected by Hollywood studios because it's boring and pointless (and because there is no sexy female star in it). Maybe I would have a chance to sell it to Bollywood studios (India). However, to do so, I would have to agree to a compromise: the Space Invaders would end up dancing altogether at the end of the movie.

Well, people occupying Wall Street (and Boston, Chicago, L.A., Denver and Seattle), more often than not, sound like the Space Invaders in my scenario.

And don't get me wrong, I'm on their side, completely. Nevertheless, we wouldn't want such a beautiful phenomenon to become a wet blanket.

Everything seems perfect. The flash crowd. The peaceful occupation. The contagious spread around the country, and maybe around the world (there were signs of occupation in Montreal, Canada, too).

The problem? No leader. No central cause(s). No official demands. No concrete or pragmatic solution(s) offered (as opposed to wishful, ideal and fairy tail solutions).

In Syria, Lybia, Egypt, Tunisia, etc., the flash crowds had a very clear message. There was a consensus: "This crazy lunatic dictator has to go...NOW...and we are willing to die

for it!!".

What worries me is that in the case of Wall Street and Co, the message isn't clear. And since the Drama Queen Media has the attention span of a 8 year old with an Attention Deficit Disorder, you have to get the message across before they start ignoring you. In a world where you can't usually repeat as The Flavour of the Day (and if lucky, The Flavor of the Week), you have to say it while you can.

Remember the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti? The Drama Queen Media focused on it. It was The Flavor of the Month (very rare phenomenon). And it was all good too. They desperately needed the attention and the help. However, a month and a half later, Chile suffered an 8.8 magnitude earthquake. Almost no one gave a damn. I guess the public was fed up with earthquakes. They wanted something else. Too bad for Chile...

That is why I'm worried. Are we wasting a joker too soon? Maybe occupants are not organized sufficiently to act now. At least, getting a leader or a spokesperson would help to protect their image when talking to ill intentioned journalists.

Please watch the next clip, more precisely at 1:14.

Well, Erin Burnett, by interviewing a single occupant, that sounded less informed, and by only showing the "marginally colourful" occupants, you are not making your point. You are only proving to the world that you practice Yellow Journalism. You had an agenda. You are a cocky, condescending and intellectually dishonest journalist, Seriously! You should be ashamed of yourself. And it gives you an idea of the direction CNN wants to take. Erin Burnett would fit right in with the Glenn Beck's, Rush Limbaugh's and Bill O'Reilly's.

Moreover, we wouldn't want our only significant souvenir from the flash occupations to be the Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street:

Am I surprised that Republicans and others from the Right said that "The Wall Street occupants are just a bunch of braless, tofu eating, long hair, weird and bearded hippies"? Of course not. But I'm just surprised they don't all agree when it comes down to the disappearance of the middle class. I'm sure there's a lot of Republicans in that segment of the population. It's not about partisanship. Hell, Erin Burnett should worry about it too...when her show gets cancelled!

All of that to say that a leader (like Michael Moore?) or a spokesperson would present arguments to the Erin Burnett's of the world to preserve the good image and the legitimacy of the protest to the eyes of the world. Maybe not a clear plan...but at least clear demands and suggestions of solutions. I agree that there should not be rules for the occupants except maybe to stay peaceful. We wouldn't want the occupants to turn like fans of sports teams celebrating in the streets, after winning a championship, only to see their moment ruined by a handful of morons and jerkoffs thrashing cars and looting stores.

What now? Well let's just say that the jury is still out on that one. As long as the Governments of the world understand that Wall Street, Banks and Mega Corporations need to stay out of the Governments. People need to prevent them from being Reversed Robin Hoods: taking money from to poor to give it to the rich (See the Mortgage Crisis). Somehow, people need to stop them from dissolving the Middle Class, preserving a balance of the distribution of the wealth (and power) so that the system doesn't collapse again.

Banks tried to make us believe that they helped us. In the end, they only provided us with a rope, with a noose, leaving us no choice but to hang ourselves, resulting into a Mortgage Crisis, a recession.

In the meantime, the Modern Circus is as crazy as ever. In the light of this mess, I've decided to trade my car for a flying saucer. I'm pretty sure I will blend right in...(to be continued).

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This week’s lucky number: The clue…Snow White and the ______ Dwarfs.

Note to self: Riding my flying saucer will make me avoid traffic.

Note to self #2: Riding my flying saucer too high will definitely increase my chances of hitting a lamp post, transmission tower or electric pylon.

Wise words: “If God doesn’t like the way I live, let him tell me, not you.” - To religious representatives knocking on our door on a Saturday morning.

Wise words #2: “Never insult an alligator until you’ve crossed the river.”

Suggestions for new sports worth watching: Full Contact Golf, with no holds barred rules (in other words, players could use their irons or woods to hit something else than a golf ball).

Bad name for a rock group for Wall Street cafés and restaurants (in which occupants used the restrooms): Spray & Spread.

Love letters, comments, opinions and complaints: reflectionsonamoderncircus@gmail.com