Anarchy Among the Anarchists - A Mass of Naive Victims in Zucotti Park

[jordan179]

From http://melvin-udall.livejournal.com/1336190.html?view=8072318#t8072318 referencing Candace M. Giove, "Post Reporter Spends an 'In Tents' Night Amid Anarchy in Zucotti Park"Read more... )

Comments

[x_eleven]

What's going on here is the fundamental flaw with anarchy. Even if most of the Occupiers are non-violent, or at least non-violent toward other Occupiers, their lack of internal organization and in particular lack of effective law enforcement makes them a big attractive target for the violent.

What else did they expect? The same thing happened on a much smaller scale over a decade ago: Burned Fur Movement. Same problem: the Burned Furs prided themselves on being a "leaderless, grass roots" movement. They had no leadership who could decide that Burned Fur stands for X, and that Y isn't a part of the movement. Therefore, everyone involved saw in Burned Fur exactly what they wanted to see. For some, it was a "kick out the furverts movement", for others, a call for greater discretion amoung the fandom regarding public conduct, and what they revealed to inquiring reporters. For others, a public educational outreach to dispell misconceptions about the fandom. For yet others, a movement to eliminate yiffy and spoogy art. And for others, a

[ford_prefect42]

I've changed the name of OWS to "the rorschach movement" for that reason. Everyone sees what they want to see, but in the end, it's an inkblot.

[cutelildrow]

I like your term and the explanation behind it, and I think I will use it from now on. (And I thought this comment had gone through. Silly net.)

[mauser]

Don't believe everything you read on a Wiki, especially one that's been heavily revised by a fellow with a decade-old axe in need of grinding.

[gothelittle]

Didn't even know there was a Wiki on the movement. Haven't even tried to look it up on Wiki. Yet I've come to a very similar conclusion. I live close enough to NYC, I can read the local news on it as well as the national and international stuff, and I keep in touch with a policeman who reports on his local movement as well. It pretty much falls in line with what I'm seeing on secondary news sources.

And yet, when I talk to people who aren't currently sitting there in the tents, I find them superimposing their own desires, from complaints about payroll taxes to complaints about Obamacare, on the movement.

[jordan179]

And yet, when I talk to people who aren't currently sitting there in the tents, I find them superimposing their own desires, from complaints about payroll taxes to complaints about Obamacare, on the movement.

It's the same trick that Obama used to get elected: be vague about one's goals, make lots of contradictory statements, and hope that a lot of people will simply imagine that one is for whatever they are for. The problem is that it's not tied to any coherent goals or leadership, so it isn't going to get anyone elected or anything specific done in this instance.

[the_mcp]

I believe Mauser was referring to the Wikifur article X-Eleven linked to about the "Burned Fur Movement", not a Wikipedia article about OWS.

[gothelittle]

Oh ok! Well I feel silly now. :)

Thanks for the clarification. I'll blame it on my pregnancy brain.

[mauser]

Correct.

(At one point I saw that he had gone through and marked huge chunks of it as "Unsupported" then went through again and helpfully removed all of the "Unsupported" text, and substituted his own.)

[x_eleven]

Hi there again. Yep, I know the fellow to whom you refer, and you'd think that axe would have been ground to iron filings by now.

I don't believe everything I see on Wiki's, but I still needed a quick reference for the benefit of members here who might not have heard of the Burned Furs, and so might need some back story to understand the parallel being drawn here.

No leadership, no focus: the result is chaos and mayhem. At least your "a fellow" didn't use his "decade-old axe" to smash windows.