FRANK MIELE: ONE PERCENT LOGIC AND 99% BULL….SEE NOTE
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been aptly described as “Anarchists for Totalitarianism.”
Given the logical inconsistency of such a movement, the OWS folks have to be glad there is no official theme song yet; otherwise, the repetitive mindless chants emanating from Zuccotti Park would all have to end with “If I only had a BRAIN!”
Think of the level of education that has to exist for grown men and women who believe the government is controlled by oligarchical conspirators intent on enriching themselves to then put at the top of their demands a more powerful government that will control banks, dictate profits, regulate income and ensure prosperity for all!
It is unlikely that any of the street protesters would recognize the dysfunctional Orwellian logic of “Anarchists for Totalitarianism.” Indeed, they seem to have begun their movement by building on the boneheaded rhetoric of Karl Marx, who declared that “property is theft.”
From there, it is but a short circuit to the electrifying notion that rich people are BAD! And VERY RICH people are VERY BAD! Which, from what I can tell, about sums up the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Indeed, although the Wall Street haters have studiously avoided making any coherent demands (perhaps they are simply incapable of being coherent?), it would seem that their movement can be encapsulated by the catchphrase, “We are the 99 percent.”
This ubiquitous slogan, which paints Occupy Wall Street as a reasonable, mainstream movement, exposes it at the same time as the dangerous aberration it really is.
The “99 percent” theme is dressed up in a number of variations, but it always comes down to pitting this overwhelming majority of 99 percent against the lowly 1 percent minority, who — we are told repeatedly — are responsible for all the treacherous villainy on earth. Even when it appears that violence or evil has been done by the 99 percent, turns out that the devilish 1 percent “made them do it,” to paraphrase Flip Wilson.
But really what we have here when you come right down to it is something called “scapegoating.” It is the MANY blaming the FEW for all their troubles, and is no different than the traditional anti-Semitism that has seen Jews blamed for all the problems of the much more plentiful Christians, Germans, Moslems and other groups whom they live amongst. Why? Well because the Germans are the 99 percent, which means that if anything goes wrong, they get to blame the Jews, er, oops, I mean the 1 percent.
Nor, sadly, is this just a metaphor. If you actually care to know the facts instead of just siding with Occupy Wall Street because it “feels right,” you can Google “anti-Semitism in Occupy Wall Street” to find lots of examples of demonstrators blasting Jews or “Zionists” for their own troubles. A few that have gotten national attention:
“I think that the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government, I think they need to be run out of this country.” This was announced in a TV interview by a woman who was a substitute teacher in Los Angeles. She was subsequently fired, although several other teachers who have made similar comments remain on the payroll.
“You’re a bum, Jew.” This caustic comment was spoken ironically by someone who was camped out on the street with no apparent means of support!
A black protester claimed, “The smallest group in America controls the money, media and all other things. The fingerprints belong to the Jewish bankers. I am against Jews who rob America. They are 1 percent who control America.”
So, yeah, the slogan “We are the 99 percent” may make you feel good, but it doesn’t feel very good for the 1 percent, and in a country that has made an art out of teaching our children not to be bullies, it’s almost funny that we apparently feel OK about kicking that miserable, miserly 1 percent until they turn over all their money.
Yep, that 1 percent must be pretty bad, so let’s go directly to the source, and find out why. Here is the straight scoop from the “We Are the 99 Percent” website:
“We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.”
WOW. That’s pretty horrible, isn’t it!
Except of course, it isn’t true. How many people do you know that have been kicked out of their homes? Some certainly, but 99 out of a hundred? Absurd! And those who DID lose their homes had the misfortune of not being able to PAY for their homes! That’s not UN-fair, but rather the natural conclusion of failing to live up to your obligations.
And the rest? Do you really think 99 percent of Americans can’t pay for their groceries? And among those who ARE indeed too poor to buy groceries, aren’t most of them getting Food Stamps? Denied medical care? Just go to any emergency room in the country and demand it! You’ll get it, and it will be free because America’s taxpayers (the 53 percent) have a hard time saying no to the tax freeloaders (the 47 percent), but that is another story.
If you want to know the truth, it turns out that the so-called “99 percent” is really the 1 percent — namely the loud-mouthed, whiny 1 percent trying to blackmail, steal or expropriate the wealth of the rich 1 percent by boldly and falsely claiming they represent the untapped power of the nation’s 98 percent who are staying home minding their own business.
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