Crackpot's Guide to Political Outrage

[Col. Crackpot]

Do you like drama? Do you want to march in the street and bitch and moan about things you have zero control over? Do you have a high opinion of yourself? Do you want to see yourself acting like an ass on youtube? Is thinking just too hard?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions but aren't sure about which band of drama queen nut-jobs you should associate with then here is a handy guide to help you out. Simply take this test and the group you circle most will be the delusional loons who will do your thinking for you!



Are you a racist?

Yes- Tea Party No- Occupy Wall Street



Do you think bathing is a corporate conspiracy to sell soap?

Yes- Occupy Wall St. No-Tea Party



Is the President a Muslim sent by the devil to make the baby Jesus cry?

Yes- Tea Party No- Occupy Wall St.



Are you a millionaire?

Yes- Tea Party No- Occupy Wall St. Yes, my parents are that's how I got in to Brown but they don't love me- Occupy Wall St.



Take a deep breath... Do you smell patchouli right now?

Yes- Occupy Wall St. No- Tea Party



Does the Domino's Pizza 5-5-5 deal sound like the foundation for a solid tax policy?

Yes- Tea Party No- Occupy Wall St



Do you like to dress up in powdered wigs and leggings?

Yes- Tea Party No- Occupy Wall St.



Was 9/11 planned by a secret society of world leaders to bring about a new world order?

well that kind works both ways...



Should everything be free and we just barter for food with homemade beanbags and shit?

Yes- Occupy Wall St. No- Tea Party



Poor People..

Should quit bitching and get a job- Tea Party Should rise up and kill all the rich people- Occupy Wall St



John Lennon was...

A visionary and prophet- Occupy Wall St F*cking annoying ever since the white album- Tea Party




And there you have it. Fun for the whole family! Don't you just love how simplistic democracy has become?

[Simon_Jester]

Heh.

Although I betcha that if "Occupy Wall Street" evolves into something longer-lived and goes global, it's going to become something less crazy and intellectually bankrupt than you make it out to be. What we're seeing now are the earliest adopters of the movement, and the first people to join a given protest movement are usually the most marginal ones- the ones with not much to lose, or who are chronic cause-adopters.

Give them a few months to get it out of beta testing.

[Terralthra]

It already isn't as intellectually bankrupt or crazy as he makes it out to be. Pretty standard way of going about things, for the morally bankrupt defender of the status quo: if you characterize a movement as all "crazy hippies," then clearly they aren't worth listening to, right?

[Count Chocula]

Well, I suppose that only the crazy ones like the 'spell my name right I'm a law school graduate oh BTW that bank TOOK MY FAMILY'S HOME!!!1!1!1!' or 'we should definitely EAT THE RICH, make it a ceremony, literally EAT them,' or 'go back to Israel, you damn Jew!', or 'You bankers aren't Americans!' or the 'I'm topless to protest against teh eevils WALL STREET' girl are the ones who get the press. Just like all the Tea Party crazies got the press...what few of them there were and are. Oddly, the key messages from both the Tea Party and the Occupy This Park in This City Just for the Fuck of It are mostly ignored by the press. Huh. Sensationalism sells, what?

IMO these "American Spring" type protests, and even the Tea Party events, are like icebergs. The real outrage is in people who don't go to these staged events..as are the votes and not a small amount of money. Last year's Congressional elections were just a hint at the true anger of the electorate, not these bullshit demonstrations.

[Stark]

It's amusing because 'demonstrations' should be a normal part of the political process, but Americans are so entrenched to the status quo that they automatically react against them.

After all, they're 'useless'. Idiots on TV? Terrible! anyone expressing themselves outside a polling booth? Probably crazy!

[Oni Koneko Damien]

While the Golden Mean isn't nearly as much of a fallacy as some make it out to be, in this case... it kinda is. The reality is that the employment situation, the growing class divide, etc. are very legitimate grievances that are negatively affecting a lot of people and mass protests over it are long overdue, to say the least.

Edit: Though looking over it again, the Colonel may actually be deliberately trolling and doesn't actually hold the views espoused in his post.

[JPaganel]

Do you think bathing is a corporate conspiracy to sell soap?

Heh. Some years ago I met a guy who took this quite literally and declared that he was boycotting soap conglomerates.

[Col. Crackpot]

While the Golden Mean isn't nearly as much of a fallacy as some make it out to be, in this case... it kinda is. The reality is that the employment situation, the growing class divide, etc. are very legitimate grievances that are negatively affecting a lot of people and mass protests over it are long overdue, to say the least.

Edit: Though looking over it again, the Colonel may actually be deliberately trolling and doesn't actually hold the views espoused in his post.

It was tounge in cheek. Though I do feel that the political parties have become bad caracarures of themselves and that is counterproductive.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

It was tounge in cheek. Though I do feel that the political parties have become bad caracarures of themselves and that is counterproductive.

The problem is that most of the Occupy <x> protestors are nearly as pissed with the Democrats as they are with the Republicans, seeing both parties as corporate-owned puppets. That and, sadly, the Dems aren't even bad caricatures of themselves, they're just bad caricatures of the Republicans.

[Col. Crackpot]

It was tounge in cheek. Though I do feel that the political parties have become bad caracarures of themselves and that is counterproductive.

The problem is that most of the Occupy <x> protestors are nearly as pissed with the Democrats as they are with the Republicans, seeing both parties as corporate-owned puppets. That and, sadly, the Dems aren't even bad caricatures of themselves, they're just bad caricatures of the Republicans.

Obama is center-right, of course the left hates him

I will say though, I was in Providence yesterday for other reasons but I took a detour to Burnside Park to see the spectacle that is Occupy Providence. The few hundred people were exactly what i though they would be. Affluent Brown and RISD students biting the hand that feeds them, scruffy looking anarchists and socialists and a handful of Union folk. I concede that this is in fact anecdotal. But it further supports what is seen in the media. Until we see mainstream average folks in this group and until we see any diversity whatsoever in the Tea Party there is no reason to believe that these movements are anything other than the hardcore partisans feet on the street.

[Stark]

What do we have?

'bite hand that feeds' = loyalty is bought

'scruffy anarchists and socialists' = people I disagree with are poor

Why does any political act need to have people you identify with in it to count as 'real'? In a country with shit voter turnouts and retarded electoral systems, shouldn't you be used to a minority being more significant that silent (loyal, white, affulent?) passive individuals?

You should really be wondering why the politically active people in your country are marginalised, not why people you don't like are politically active. Maybe it's your own attitude that you should suffer in silence (unless you're middle-class) that creates this contrast? It's hilarious to imagine what you'd be saying in 1775. Damn agitators! Their frock coats are appalling!

[Col. Crackpot]

Because im sick and tired of the fringe nuts howling at each other like fucking idelolocal pure banshees and accomplishing nothing. Politics is like marriage... compromise or get divorced.

[Col. Crackpot]

Meh, they might as well bitch. Not much else they can do - that's the point of the thing, the power is held by these other pigs - so they have nothing to lose but their chains.

And put that power in the hands if different pigs.

[Losonti Tokash]

So what do you advocate? Do nothing? Pretend that if you can make fun of both sides it makes you an impartial and reasonable observer?

[Count Chocula]

No no, the two different outraged sides are the canaries in the proverbial coal mine. On one hand there is the Tea Party, which has had ~100 protests with no arrests or even citations for littering. On the other hand there are the Take Back The What Are You Rebelling Against? Whadda Ya Got? crowds in New York, Washington, DC, and so on. Folks who do NOT go to either side's rallies nevertheless observe their behaviour and listen to their messages.

One side has been effective in making change. The other side is still finding their message, but they have a year to hone it and stop acting like jackasses. Both extremes influence the middle.

[Alyrium Denryle]

To be blunt:

Do you really expect an angry protest movement to be intellectual? No. They are angry. They have lost jobs, homes, find themselves in crippling debt, cant get a job out of college. What do you expect the movement to look like, those people, and liberal college students. That is what it will look like.

No no, the two different outraged sides are the canaries in the proverbial coal mine. On one hand there is the Tea Party, which has had ~100 protests with no arrests or even citations for littering.

No, they just tote guns while saying ominous things about watering liberty trees with blood.

[PeZook]

Mass protests are certainly useless. They have never accomplished anything and have always puttered out and certainly were never a symptom of anger felt by the silent majority.

Definitely. You can ask anybody,like this guy I heard about, I think his name was Mubarak or something. He's a real expert and will surely agree with me.

[Col. Crackpot]

Mass protests are certainly useless. They have never accomplished anything and have always puttered out and certainly were never a symptom of anger felt by the silent majority.

Definitely. You can ask anybody,like this guy I heard about, I think his name was Mubarak or something. He's a real expert and will surely agree with me.

Oh yes him.. isn't his country ruled by a military junta now?

My point is this, until either of these movements are joined en masse by average everyday people with something to lose and are not solely filled with the ranks of fringe radicals they will not be anything more than angry nuts yelling at the sky.

[Shroom Man 777]

There's no such thing. (All) Hippies are protesters and thus (all) protesters are hippies. Unless you're suggesting that the average man starts doing weed and stops bathing or starts saying hilarious poppycock like "groovy" and "moonbeam" or "horse raddish", it's impossible that these protests will garner more than the insignificant numbers of fringe radicals and angry nuts yelling at the sky in a handful of cities nobody really cares about, as we're seeing now, and laughing at in this very thread.

[PeZook]

Oh yes him.. isn't his country ruled by a military junta now?

Okay, how about the color revolutions of eastern europe? Polish worker's strikes of the late 80s? The civil rights movement? Reunification of Germany?

My point is this, until either of these movements are joined en masse by average everyday people with something to lose and are not solely filled with the ranks of fringe radicals they will not be anything more than angry nuts yelling at the sky.

This very weekend, a thousand cities worldwide held protest of the same general theme as the Occupy movement. I really think we're well past the "extremist fringe" phase. Seriously, your scoffing and aloof manner reminds me of French royalty who held balls while Paris boiled under their feet. It was just a bunch of riff-raff and anarchists there, too. Not at all a symptom of something bigger. Let them yell at the sky all they want.

[Col. Crackpot]

The color revolutions had the backing of the mainstream citizens. EVERYONE got behind the movements because they stayed on topic and had clear objetives beyond fuck the rich or damn the immigrants.

[Terralthra]

The color revolutions had the backing of the mainstream citizens. EVERYONE got behind the movements because they stayed on topic and had clear objetives beyond fuck the rich or damn the immigrants.

It must be really hard to understand a protest movement when your only news source is Fox. I'm sorry I treated you as if you were consciously misunderstanding the Occupy movement. It's clear now you are simply incredibly ignorant, and speaking as if you have knowledge when you're actually in a position of profound ignorance takes a certain kind of bravery.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

I made a mistake, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and thought you were just trolling... but unless this is a ridiculously extended troll on your part, you actually believe what Fox and the like are trying to say about the protests.











My god, look at all those pot-smoking hippies, fringe radicals and angry nuts yelling at the sky! Nothing but a bunch of whiny neckbearded college kids biting the hand that feeds them, let me tell you!

But you obviously know better, YOU WERE THERE! </stuart>

[Col. Crackpot]

Well then here's to hope. Hope that people like those in the pictures grow in numbers and drown out the clowns in che guevera shirts.

[Serafina]

Well then here's to hope. Hope that people like those in the pictures grow in numbers and drown out the clowns in che guevera shirts.

They already do that. Of course crackpot-media like FoxNews won't show that, because it's both against their political agenda and not as sensationalist.