The Class War Has Begun

The Class War Has Begun

...What’s as intriguing as Occupy Wall Street itself is that once again our Establishment, left, right, and center, did not see the wave coming or understand what it meant as it broke. Maybe it’s just human nature and the power of denial, or maybe it’s a stubborn strain of all-­American optimism, but at each aftershock since the fall of Lehman Brothers, those at the top have preferred not to see what they didn’t want to see. And so for the first three weeks, the protests were alternately ignored, patronized, dismissed, and insulted by politicians and the mainstream news media as a neo-Woodstock for wannabe collegiate rebels without a cause—and not just in Fox-land. CNN’s new prime-time hopeful, Erin Burnett, ridiculed the protesters as bongo-playing know-nothings; a dispatch in The New Republic called them “an unfocused rabble of ragtag discontents.” Those who did express sympathy for Occupy Wall Street tended to pat it on the head before going on to fault it for being leaderless, disorganized, and inchoate in its agenda.

Despite such dismissals, the movement, abetted by made-for-YouTube confrontations with police, started to connect with the mass public much as the Bonus Army did with a newsreel audience. The week after a Wall Street Journal editorial claimed that “no one seems to care very much” about the “collection of ne’er-do-wells” congregating in Zuccotti Park, the paper released its own poll, in collaboration with NBC News, finding that 37 percent of Americans supported the protesters, 25 percent had no opinion, and just 18 percent opposed them. The approval numbers for Occupy Wall Street published in Time and Reuters were even higher—hitting 54 percent in Time. Apparently some of those dopey kids, staggering under student loans and bereft of job prospects, have lots of parents and friends of all ages who understand exactly what they’re talking about.

...

oliticians in either party, of course, never use the term “class warfare” to describe what’s going on in America, unless it’s Republican leaders accusing Obama of waging it every time he even mildly asserts timeless liberal bromides about taxing the rich. Nor do most politicians want to talk about the depth of the crisis in present-day capitalism, since to acknowledge its scale would only dramatize how little they intend to do about it.

The whole system is screwed up, and it’s not all Wall Street’s fault—or remotely in the financial sector’s power alone to solve. As middle-class Americans have lost their jobs or watched their wages stagnate or decline while corporations pile up record profits, they’ve also seen CEOs far removed from Wall Street (at Hewlett-Packard and Yahoo most recently) walk away with rich settlements even after they’ve laid off workers en masse, mismanaged their companies, or wrecked them. But at least politicians pay lip service to the woes of the middle class. That America’s poverty rate has risen to its highest level since 1993 goes all but unmentioned by leaders in both parties. The poor, after all, don’t make campaign contributions and are unlikely to vote. And they have even less clout than usual now that Republican legislators and governors, fanning bogus fears of “voter fraud,” have mandated new, Jim Crow–style restrictions to scare away poor, elderly, and minority voters in fourteen states. In the Beltway bubble, even the local poor are out of sight and out of mind; with a 6.1 percent unemployment rate and a median income of $84,523 (versus $50,046 nationally), Washington is now the wealthiest metro area in the country and, according to Gallup, departs from all 50 states in believing by a majority that the economy is getting better.

Another interesting read...

Although....it does seem to feel like many of us are doing a lot of......waiting.

That's what happens when the ruling class enslaves the lower class. And after they're done with their slaves, they discarded the slaves and find a new country to enslave. They're like locust.

I bet most of the people at those protests are mad that the corporations received bailouts and they didn't. I wonder how many of them don't want anything other than keeping the fruits of their labor.

I don't understand why this is called Class War.

What is the war part of this?

Originally posted by WickettheRabbit
I don't understand why this is called Class War.

What is the war part of this?

It's coming.

Originally posted by 547000

Originally posted by WickettheRabbit
I don't understand why this is called Class War.

What is the war part of this?

It's coming.

I realize now my last question made no sense.

I guess I'm asking if people are anticipating a French Revolution type of thing or is it going to be more like pushing for more legislation?

reply to post by WickettheRabbit


I'm anticipating a French Revolution type thing, except in most of the world.

Class war is already here.

It's a battle of humanity vs the elite, but somehow the message is "we are the 99%" when in reality the bad apples are mostly in the top .01% or less.

It's going to be lower middle and poor against the upper middle class, and the elite will just jump ship.

I've been seeing this concocted by the media, and policies, for years now.

This is what happens when you claim to make a stand, but don't stand with your name, and a hierarchy, intent, goal plan of immediate action.

Your mind, and movement becomes molded by covert forces that pit you agains yourself, and your fellow man.

reply to post by Jazzyguy


Sorry, double post.

reply to post by Jazzyguy


Interesting that you would make the comparison with locusts. Did you know that the reason locusts swarm is because it is a frenzy of eat (the locusts around you) and/or be eaten? It's their version of dinner.