Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Would Tom Paine end up in an orange jumpsuit today?
You have given birth to another good article there, Mickey. If Tom Paine was here today, he might not wind up in an orange jump suit. More likely his message would not get out. The masses would ignore him. The Press would marginalize him. He might decide to go the way of Hunter Thompson and Abbie Hoffman. About Oprah, she has the power to get the facts out but I guess that the ratings are just too important to her. Also, from listening to things that she says, it is apparent that she doesn’t get it. She is still living in the capitalistic box. She is one person who has the money and access to expose the facts but has chosen to be ignorant. I can’t think of many others with the power to make change. Today I will be with the VFP for a 5 hour meeting. One of my agenda items is that NO ONE can do what is required. None of us has the power to make change. If all of us set ourselves on fire as a protest on the steps of Congress, it would probably appear on page 18, below the fold in the few newspapers that even made a mention of it. It’s way too late. The window of opportunity closed a long time ago. We all are just treading water waiting for the next rogue wave to consume us.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/12 at 08:26 AMThe problem with fighting the system is that so many of us are entwined in it. We still go to work and pay taxes all which helps to feed the system. We still consume from the system so it’s hard to fight it. Most people aren’t going to venture outside of their comfort zone or risk losing their “comfort” in order to stand and fight the very system which feeds them.
I’m guilty of that. I think we all are. I try to fight it but it’s hard when your family looks at you like you’re a space alien when you bring the subject up. I’ve tried talking to coworkers about this and I get the look from them too.
It’s a sad feeling to know what’s going on and feel powerless to stop it.
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 11/12 at 09:08 AMgood morning all (where u r is morning, here it is evening)
i am just back from a weekend of serious debauchery in seoul. it is nice to go into seoul, there is so much more going on there. korea is the arse end of asia and my city is the arse end of korea - so, as i said, its nice to get out.
however i got the bullet train back but i am more than reasonably drunk. if my posts become somewhat cryptic as the evening goes on you will have to forgive me.
i only went into to seoul to buy a jacket because i am 6’4” and most koreans are midgets so i have to go to seoul to buy clothes. i ended up spending 50% of my pay for the month on partying and i also fell asleep in the street between two parked cars.
i didnt mean to be sizeist but i really do have a clear foot on most people here
Posted by michael on from exile 11/12 at 09:11 AMPlease read my website.
Posted by Rob from Brooklyn on from NYC 11/12 at 09:44 AMGood morning Mickey, Michael, RMJ and welcome to Rob from Brooklyn (I’m assuming that’s not a spam comment),
Mickey it is another great article. I love learning about the people you write about. Often they have names I recognise and also usually people about whom you’ve written before here, but I’ll use being Canadian as my excuse for not always being able to immediately recall who / what, etc.
Thomas Paine’s message would doubtless not reach more than a few readers of whatever local Indymedia site he were writing for; for that matter there are indeed many people who are writing very similar material today and many reading it.
Perhaps it’s not the message, but the readers who’ve changed. Do any of us really have a notion of what a modern revolution might look like, or how one might actualise itself? How many might ignore mayhem outside their front door and turn to Oprah instead?From what Thomas Jefferson sez, I doubt his message would be heard either...hell he’d probably let out some all too jubilant holler and end up ridiculed for half a decade himself. Instead of Rushmore it’d be a neon likeness in Time Square.
Oh my - captcha says “ill”. (Michael - hope you’re foray into Seoul’s nightlife hasn’t left you that way!)
2nd day running with a bleak gray sky out this way.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 11/12 at 11:13 AMHello Expendables. The “bleak gray sky” the Empres describes is in full effect here in Astoria.
RMJ and David: I share your feelings of powerlessness.
Michael: Can we call you Seoul Man from now on?
As for Rob, I don’t think it’s spam but “his” website appears to be anti-immigrant. I’ll have to give the once-over later today:
http://americanpac.orgPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/12 at 11:18 AMI just gave it half of a once-over and it looks to be viewing some important issues in a vaccuum. I don’t think that particular flavour of over-simplification will solve any problems faced by the American Labourer (skilled or unskilled) nor do I think that xenophobic examination of problems is any solution. It is labourers all over the planet who are being abused and exploited; and I do not uphold the rights or virtues of one nationality’s rights above another.
Captcha: “friends”
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 11/12 at 11:40 AMmickey, when you go into seoul u use the train and you arrive at “seoul station”
“seoul station” or “soul station” either way, it is the best name for an album that has not yet been used
Posted by michael on from exile 11/12 at 12:11 PMCheck it out, Michael:
http://www.soulstation.caPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/12 at 12:46 PMcheck it out mickey
the link i am sending is only one out of nine. hours of fun to be had. play round on this one then go to the homepage to get all the others…
Posted by michael on from exile 11/12 at 01:08 PMalso…
Posted by michael on from exile 11/12 at 01:12 PMThanks, Michael. I’ll take a look.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/12 at 04:40 PMHi David, Rob, michael, Amelopsis, and Mickey.
I just arrived home from the VFP meeting. As usual it was very interesting. One of the topics today was the case of Lt Watada, the first officer to refuse to go to Iraq. I believe that this case is important because Watada is not using CO status as his defense. His defense (the way I understand it) is that because the war is illegal, it would be illegal and a violation of usa law and also the Nuremberg principles to engage in war there. Does that mean that EVERY member of the military who is over there could be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity?Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/12 at 05:38 PMRMJ: My post here tomorrow will touch directly on the topic of your meeting. Spread the word.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/12 at 05:44 PMI just got sidelined in dubworld.
Count me in as a lurking reader for tomorrow’s post
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 11/12 at 06:41 PMMickey...I will spread the word far and wide. I am one of the lucky ones to have 2 groups of such high quality. The VFP group is very much like those who come here. I know, I know....any group that accepts me can not be very good.....
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/12 at 06:49 PMPaine was wrong to blame the King. Like most people, he simply blamed the rich. The real problem lay elsewhere, as we can clearly see now.
What creates the rich? That is the question that must be answered. Marx was unable to answer it as well.
Jefferson was just a thinking fascist, in the same way that Washington was an aristocratic fascist.
What is a fascist? A person with a piece of paper in one hand and a gun in the other. The paper gives them permission to kill, so they usually have to write it (or interpret it) themselves.
Beware of who you choose as heroes, or you will make the same mistakes as them.
Posted by Steve Consilvio on from Massachusetts 11/15 at 12:11 PM
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