Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Marketing for Militants
Did Zack happen to provide any suggestion for what “it” is?
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 03/11 at 08:57 AMHello Empress...and all Expendables. The lines I quoted were from this song:
http://www.ratm.net/lyrics/gue.htmlI’ll use that link to replace the current “zack” link.
As for what “it” is, “it” certainly must be better whatever “it” is that’s been done before.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Dubya Land 03/11 at 10:01 AMPositions Open:
Famous PhD-For-Hire
Non-Governmental Disorganizer
Lewis Lapham
Coordinator Coordinator
Studied Ineffectiveness Valet
Anti-Creativity Liaison
Doctrinal Enforcer, Non-Violent
Article Reprint Technician
Liberal Aide-de-Camp-Follower
Movement Nostalgia Elevator
Political Stunt Designer, 5 minute
Landscape Surveyor, Political
Grant Sniffer, Senior
Political Stunt Designer, 20 year
Corporate Denier, 2nd Class
Repetitive Repeater, Temporary
Attitude Consultant, SuperiorWith thanks for my favorite entry in the DD:
http://tinyurl.com/2n3up5 (scroll down)Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 03/11 at 10:37 AMDemocratic Party Moles (3)
-- One to motion to appoint a leader
--One to point out a candidate
--One to acceptPosted by Robert B. Livingston on from San Francisco, California 03/11 at 11:03 AMHellos to Amelopsis, Zen, Mickey, Robert and all yet to arrive here. I would add to Zen’s list, “Stuck-in-a-time-warp-war-resister”. With all of the protest marches coming up next week-end, I don’t know what to think. Most people I know who are attending are sincere in their opposition to this war. The problem is that most don’t seem to make the connection between all usa wars and Capitalism.
About yesterday’s topic on “hope” - National VFP just elected my friend Elliott Adams as national president. He is a Vietnam vet who has come around and now believes in total non-violence.
Another friend of mine, Bob Matteson, just registered 23:15 in the 3,000 meter, which was just 3 seconds off the track and field world record. This might give us all reason for hope. Bob is 90 years old.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/11 at 11:40 AMMickey sez “Insurance Agent” on the front page. One Congressman, whose house was destroyed by Katrina said that insurance company CEOs should have their names publicly listed along with child-sex predators. The congressman says that the CEOs are just as evil.
I have been recently learning another one of life’s lessons. Remember the accident when I was rear-ended by a State truck - my car was totalled and I received serious injuries. Now, 7 years later, the hospital is billing me because of a “rule” that they do NOT bill the insurance company of a person injured who was NOT at fault. In other words, if I had caused the accident, my medical bills would have been paid. I had 3 insurance policies. (They won’t pay now because it is 7 years later.) The hospital never billed any of them but is now coming after me. This might be legal and I think that many hospitals have this “rule”. Thus far the hospital officials have refused to meet with me to discuss this....one more reason why we need a single-payer, universal health care system.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/11 at 12:22 PMHerd Management
Pickpocket-in-Chief
Crisis Resolution (Protestor/Public-Phonebox Dialogue)
Slogan TweakerA friend recently gave me Norman Mailer’s book Armies of the Night, about the march on the Pentagon in 1967, where they performed an exorcism of the place in the car park. Beginning of the book is a great resume of the farcical nature of pre-planning a protest, the endless negotiations a government asks in order to give permission for a group to vent to them.
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 03/11 at 12:39 PMwell shit Rosemarie, what a bunch of ghouls. Reminds me of that memo State Farm insurance company sent to manufacturers of jeeps and SUVs telling them keep up the good work, their large vehicles killed people (small court settlements) where smaller vehicles would injure them (large court settlements).
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 03/11 at 12:46 PMThis is my favorite so far:
Coordinator Coordinator
“it” is a scary fucking thing, Amelopsis. But we can either do it now (or at least start getting ready for it) and help ease the crash of civilization or sit back and watch the destruction.
Of course, my answer to what “it” is that we should all read volume II of Jensen’s Endgame.
I haven’t quite figured out what my part in “it” will be, but I am working on it.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 03/11 at 01:20 PMHere’s one guy’s idea of “it”.
Posted by sk on from 03/11 at 01:40 PMThe Jensen book sounds cool based on all the cool people that seem to be into it, but at same time, it seems kind of depressing that what “It” is, is that we should read a book, any book. Reading a book is the “action” that will transform society? I know I’m missing something.
At least the UFPJ site says the following, so they’re not completely just blaming Bush:
Congress, and its numerous presidential hopefuls, continues to dither on cutting the funding for the war and setting a timetable for withdrawal. Elected with an overwhelming mandate for peace, they can barely find the courage to pass a non-binding resolution to oppose the escalation, let alone stand up to the White House on plans to attack Iran.
I don’t know, the NY one meets just a few blocks away, maybe I’ll check it out.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/11 at 01:54 PMOh hey SK… and why does Bono always wear those stupid sunglasses?
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/11 at 02:00 PM“Make love not War” “Swords into Plow Shares”
The chicken crossed the road.Idries Shah from the Commanding Self:
“Displacement activity, sometimes called ‘exchange symptoms’, forms a most important part of human behaviour.
As an example, people who claim that they have no interest in metaphysics are often over-reacting against just such a curiosity.
On the other hand,people who fervently claim that they are deeply concerned about such things are seldom in the right state to profit from them. Their excitement is used as a means of preventing them from going further.
Their anxiety paralyses them: but this may well be inwardly intentional.
You can see this, on an ordinary level, when you look at agitated believers in all sorts of cults and systems. Because they ‘have belief’ they do not believe in learning. They use belief, in fact, to prevent learning. This is partly because the urgent ‘desire to learn’ is a low-level, emotional activity, a form of pleasurable agitation, a displacement.
“Believers’, too, hold onto beliefs and do not allow them to be modified easily, certainly not by experience, because they really seek a systematic formula to make themselves feel stable. The space in their minds is there for system, not for truth. It is such people who imagine that there has been a great change in them when they merely exchange one belief-system for another. They are not believers in the sense understood by a genuine belief system, merely temporarily stabilized”Unless protesters can up with a better alternative to whats already in place and have the ability to implament the change...things will probably just go on as they are.
Posted by frances on from british columbia 03/11 at 02:03 PMI had a good feeling about the potential Expendable response to today’s post (perhaps I should’ve saved it for a weekday?) and you have not let me down. Classic commentary above. Thanks, all.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Dubya Land 03/11 at 02:22 PMHow informative. %D«y all means let’s mock the well intentioned for their impotent attempts to overcome their programming while offering nothing but smug quotes, dropped book titles and endless allusion to the mysterious “it“.%D%A%D%AThis blog exercises the same self absorbed redundancy that it so amply accuses everybody else of practicing. %D%AHow can people even begin to approach the concept of “anarcho-syndicalism” when the self proclaimed “anarcho-syndicalists” are nothing more than smug finger wagging smart asses?%D%AThe ad nauseas berating of everybody else’s efforts is just self-aggrandizing if you lack the courage to offer the illusive “true path” or “it” you so often sheepishly allude to.%D«y all means call everybody else who tries despite their lack of knowledge idiots but by no means ever offer any other solution.%D%AWhat a waste of time.
Posted by Tired of the Smug on from 03/11 at 02:26 PMUm… y’know, I do go through moments where I almost feel that way that Mr. TotS above does… but I’ve come to know and love the crowd here for that.
Anyway, I’ll tell you all about the new job I start tomorrow. Instead of the largest investment bank/ cog in the war machine, I’ll be proofreading for a different kind of corporate oddity… Columbia records. Y’know that cd/dvd of the month club where you can get a million albums for a penny if you sell them your soul? Well someone has to proofread all the junk mail they send you, and that someone will be me. I can’t wait!
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/11 at 03:05 PMTired of the Smug...I agree with part of your comment but you, too, are guilty of the same that your accuse us of. What do you suggest as a solution???? The way I see it, our numbers are too small in the usa to have much effect, unless we follow Malcolm X, and the “By any Means necessary” way out. Ward Churchill also says that we have be practicing feel good politics. Who will step up and be the first to take effective dynamic action? Maybe one small thing that we could do, is to openly support Chavez.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/11 at 03:09 PMLet me ask clearly if I haven’t before-- if next Sunday I have a choice btn sitting here websurfing and chatting on the internet, or leaving my house and walking the few blocks to the protest, albeit the feel good political exercise in futility, which is better? Question being, does the protest actually do more harm than good, so it’s wrong to support it in any way?
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/11 at 03:13 PMowen #8...that reminds me of back when a car manufacturer would not replace the defective latches on an SUV because it would have cost about one dollar per vehicle, which was more than they expected to pay for the law suits when kids fell out of the vehicle and were killed. You just gotta love Capitalism.
James...your new job sounds very interesting. It just inspired me to listen to Dinah Washington’s “Cool Max”. It was first recorded in the 50s and now is gaining in popularity because it is now being used in a commercial. Anyone interested in cool jazz should give a listen.......About the protests, I don’t know, but you bring up a good point. Do they do more harm than good? Maybe they do harm because they give the false illusion of accomplishing something.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/11 at 03:43 PMBe careful, folks. We can’t allow ourselves to get smug. That might hurt the movement (sic) and turn off all those mainstream Americans who deep down inside want to speak out. No, smugness just won’t do when trying to figure out ways to challenge a system hellbent on utter and complete destruction. Mind your manners...please. We can’t hurt anyone’s feelings…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Dubya Land 03/11 at 04:04 PMTired has a point, but also misses one: the reason such efforts and people invite mockery is that they are ridiculously inadequate to the task at hand. If someone posing as a cook told you they were trying to bake a cake without flour or heat, after the 18th attempt you’d also lose your patience. (Contest Proposal: best analogy for failure of left strategy, and no copping out by claiming there isn’t one.)
Instead of seeing smug, disaffected bloggers venting their spleens, focus on the obvious and simple advice contained within. To wit: the sorta-lefty actions and strategies on the table right now aren’t failing because someone points that out, though conveying that distinction is quite difficult. (For example, a few days ago with a target of David Horowitz’ ‘Campus Lebensraum’ roadshow - I tried desperately.)
Maybe the capstone of the issue is this: the difference between ‘left’ and ‘right’ in America is the former is incapable of learning from its political mistakes, and many of we Expendables resent it. The shock of realizing this is what finally drove me from “activism.” It also revealed Chomsky’s ‘activist’s bargain’ as a non-sequitur (the right self-destructs far more often than the left successfully forces an issue).
All this sweet talk about the movement reminds me of my proposal for an R. Lee Ermey School of Radical Journalism - George Seldes meets Full Metal Jacket. From what I’ve seen in the trenches, it wouldn’t hurt. And Gomer Pyle survives in this version - but goes to work for Parade Magazine.
copyright 2007
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 03/11 at 05:17 PMOwen, “slogan tweaker” is sweet.
Much obliged, JOS.
Great to see RMJ on the case again.
Frances also foots a “GOOOOOAAALL!”Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 03/11 at 05:28 PMJOS my idea of what “it” could/should be isn’t something ugly; knowledge is a beautiful thing which I think too few people access, despite the fact that it is accessible.
Marches and protests do indeed take place at the courtesy of the system which most if not all of us here abhor but I don’t see real change (to what?) happening until most people are out protesting and few are wondering why they’re doing it. Attending a protest is a revolutionary act for many people, those for whom it’s a monumental shift from their everyday consumerism deserve some sort of pat on the back for it broadens mental horizons. Agreed, a march will not stop bombs from falling or children from starving, but it is a starting place for networking among us, for the ill-informed to begin the journey through the illusion. Our societal programming is far too deep for us to be able to effectively skip right past it as though it isn’t a barrier and jump forth into some bright new world scenario, particularly when that bright new future seems to have no definition.Does it matter what Chomsky or Jensen say on the matter when the average westerner would not formulate a similar opinion of their own volition but rather sell their freedom for a tax break or a cheaper tank of gas, let alone read one of their books in some effort to understand their own humanity?
My captcha says “spirit”, until we collectively recall that we each have one and it matters, “it” won’t happen and I think knowledge is the key.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 03/11 at 06:01 PMI realised that my #23 was rather rambly, and it looked like I was rambling it all at you, JOS (I just started out with you in mind and got riffing on it.)
I wanted to clarify .....the gist of my opinion is that protests are a good place to find people with opinions different than the msm would portray.
More people must know a great deal more about the true goings on of the daily running of organized governments before I’d be prepared to mock the efficacity of a public march or protest despite the continuing status quo in government policies.Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 03/11 at 06:10 PMMickey is making a point about the overall system that puts issue, debate and action inside itself and pits us against ourselves.
I have spent a lot of time working with kids in Asia with English and Drama. Am I showing love and respect to them, breaking down race barriers and sharing culture. Or am I simply prepping them for the English language dominated world and the need to get with the program to get up in life?
That all depends on if I’m aware of this and then how I consequently run my classes.
Posted by Andy on from Shanghai 03/11 at 08:06 PMAlso:
Dead President sez “Just do what you gotta do and if that don’t work then kick the facts”.
Posted by Andy on from Shanghai 03/11 at 08:35 PM-
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/11 at 08:50 PM
James I was thinking along the same lines...sort of.
Action and protest and what works. Successfull demonstrations of civil disobedience. Boston tea party, Rosa Parks, the freedom march, women burning their bras. About personal sacrifice and unity of action. So I was thinking about....what would work now? What actions could make a meaningful statement of intent and could reach the mainstream and public at large. I came up with wierd and gory stuff....like war protesters donating blood and delivering it to the whitehouse. Flesh offerings...how many pounds of flesh could you gather at a snip a piece from a half million people? cutting hair in a show of mourning for the lost ones. Extreme. And that got me thinking about how desensitized people have become to blood and body parts.
Maybe a nude demonstration of peaceful civil diobedience could be a powerful statement. People willing to sacrifice their personal comfort, willing to get vulnerable for a cause. Cool body art and stuff.
I will be heading down to Nanaimo to join the rally next saturday. I will be thinking about all this for a while… and watching and listening.
Thanks for this space to share these ideas.Posted by frances on from british columbia 03/11 at 10:27 PMHere here, Frances. I’m all for midtown being flooded with nude activists next week. Or anytime. Vive la resistance!
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/11 at 11:57 PMdarn..I missed out on a lot of back and forth that I would have liked to have been involved with in today’s comments. I take no offense from your comments, James and Amelopsis...smug’s on the other hand...are not worth responding to simply because no one here is smug and we certainly don’t walk around being finger waving smart asses.
The action I speak of is described in Jensen’s Endgame Vol II, but can not be discussed in a forum such as this because if it were we would be in very real danger of having the FBI or some other type of government agency show up at our doors. Yes, there is action in reading a book, but this is not the action I am speaking of. If you would like to learn more about the type of action that I believe can and would actually be effective...read the book. This book is not some sort of bible (gods forbid), it is simply the best starting point I have found for researching, discovering and developing actions that will bring about real change.
I am dismissing other types of action that I have participated in and found utterly useless from my life, my thought process, my future plans. I am not dismissing anyone else’s opinion or anyone else’s ability to do more good than I ever could by participating in those types of action.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 03/12 at 12:31 AMVery creative, Mickey!
And ‘hi’ to all you expendables. Am back from Melbourne and did not want to go offline without calling in at the Cool Observer’s blog.
See you all tomorrow,
Helga from down underP.S. Oh, and I LOVED the Henry Miller quote in your previous post, Mickey.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 03/12 at 03:35 AMI’m a bit scared, because captcha is telling me “nuclear”.
And you know, growing up, that was honestly my big fear. (i’m 32, so mostly i’m thinking in the 80’s) I thought endlessly about what would happen when a nuclear war happened, how we’d mostly all die, and if we were among the few who didn’t, we probably would wish we had. I really thought it was a matter of when, not if. I couldn’t sleep one night when I was about 7 because, as I explained to my mom, I was trying to imagine being dead, and it was scaring me. (I was always atheist, though I didn’t have the words for it, so I was actually trying to imagine not being.)
Anyway...years went by with no nuclear war, and numbness to the issue set in. I think most people live with this numbness on several fronts. The damage that war does is easy to ignore as long as enough people are telling you that it helps the Iraqi/Afgani/anyone-else-whose-country-we’re-destroying people.
For me, “it” right now really is reading. I spent too many years not educating myself on the issues, and I’m playing catch up now. and each issue leads to another. I have 20+ books at home waiting to be read, and more coming in all the time, and being added to the list. I lend my books out to friends when they express interest. I reach out and bring up topics to people who I think are ready to hear it. Opening my mind to these things was fairly easy. Educating myself on them is a big task, and the more I learn the more “radical” I become. We can’t forget the ripple effect either. Because of me, I know that at least 5 people close to me have further expanded their understanding of certain issues. It will ripple from them as well.
If that is revolutionary, it will be a long slow process for sure. And “it” might not be enough. But reading Emma Goldman’s “Vision on Fire” makes me feel that I have the right idea, though “it” probably needs to be expanded at some point. She very strongly felt that the Spanish Revolutionary’s anarchists were so successful in Catalonia for the time that they were successful because the people had been educated on anarchism for generations. It was in their blood, she would say, despite (or because of?) the oppression they had faced.
So, for now, I read and lend out my books. It is a small thing, and I know that right now I’m only furthering the knowledge of people who already have been shedding their numbness and taking an honest look around. But then, we were each numb at some point.
I need to read Endgame. I’d also recommend reading V for Vendetta. I saw the movie in January, and now I’m reading the novel. Worth reading, for the extra stuff that didn’t make it into the movie.
My current thought on protests is that they help the mainstream “numb” people to see that there is a group (and hopefully a growing one) of people who are going against the grain. For many (since we’re basically herd animals), it lets them seriously consider going against mainstream thought. If protests can also provide education, all the better. I don’t think they are counter productive when they provoke discussion and thought. I can see the point that has been made, about the danger of protests potentially letting people sit back thinking they’ve done their bit to change things.
Morning everyone. Hope you all had nice weekends!
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 03/12 at 07:34 AM
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