03 October 2011
Wall Street: Notes On The Occupation
This past weekend I received a death threat for being a banker. I have received emailed threats of physical violence before, which I suppose is a hazard of the job. This one was an anonymous email in support of the ongoing 'Occupy Wall Street' demonstrations around the country that began last month. These events were ostensibly meant to protest the issue of "wealth inequality", which is like trying to blame the sun for rising. But actually they represent a feeble effort by the usual political troublemakers and urban filth--with aid from operatives in the current ruling regime--to counter the rise of Middle American political activism. It is an attempt to encourage support for radical policies of wealth redistribution and racial retribution. That they blame and target Wall Street and not Government--which is the real source of the economic crises bedevilling America--betrays their true intention. After all, the scruffy street-demonstrators are merely the foot-soldiers, the 'boots-on-the-ground', of the same hegemonic interests that have been in power for decades. Who is occupying whom? In any event, the anti-Wall Street crowd are cowards. Wall Street is a soft target. Banks and bankers are easy prey. For the time being, that is. As I have pointed out on more than one occasion, we are reaching a place where it will be shocking not that such threats are made, but that they are not carried out with relish in reply. In other words: bring it on. Today Wall Street. Tomorrow, Middle America. We look forward to the day.
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11 comments:
I am an unthreatened banker at the moment pleased to be the object of the masses's scorn. My retort is always to blame the borrowers who failed to meet their contracted obligation to repay that which they had borrowed. I will happily disgorge, i aver, my profits if the slime return the bass boats and tacky vacations they purchased with the borrowings on their dwellings. Fuck, as my friend often says to beggars, the poor.
Alas, LBF, reading your blog always inspires me to give up my tech job and make my future next door at Barclays! To imagine, working somewhere that contributes to the revulsion of the uncouth masses AND doesn't have "casual friday" ... bliss
I don't think these protests are orchestrated by anyone in the Establishment. These kids THOUGHT they were part of the elite; that is why they took out huge loans to attend "prestigious" schools, where they spent four years writing six page papers on the wonders of gay marriage. All that made them feel very special, but when the tuition ran out they found themselves unemployed and totally unprepared for the real world. They feel betrayed or cheated, not realizing that it is mostly themselves and the government that is to blame. They are the "useful idiots" that have now been discarded, and their protests are a sign of impotent, misdirected frustration. Meanwhile, the urban underclass continue to get their government checks no matter what, because the current administration needs their votes to get reelected.
Acquiring a modern liberal arts degree and expecting comfortable middle class employment is the modern version of the South Pacific cargo cults of the 1950s-a form of magical thinking. The sense of entitlement acquired with these BAs in "Women's Studies" and "Communications" and PhDs in "Education" would be laughable except that the only ones actually laughing are the administrators who managed to talk class after class of otherwise intelligent people into wasting four-six years of their lives and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on these now-worthless pieces of paper.
I received a reasonably serious death threat once. Just let them try, I say - if, that is, they want certain of their body parts nailed to the floor, while I call the police.
By the way, on posting on my site - even I cannot comment on my own site, except anonymously - although I am logged-in and can control the site. So I suggest that you do the same for the time being and just sign off 'LBF'. i shall look into it all at some stage.
LBF, great observation as usual. My brother who is a private banker in Boston told me that the protest on Monday was only 100 or so, which was of great relief to him. However, I still would have opted for the water cannon and rubber bullets.
It burns me to the core to see these upper middle class snots wearing their $350 Nike one of a kind designer sneakers and their oh so cool limited edition sweatshirts that cost a few hundred a pop.
The US needs to reinstate the draft and ship all these ne'er-do-wells to some far flung corner of the globe and let them get a taste of life without capitalism.
Here in the city, it is believed these cretins are being paid by one of the unions to incite trouble.
Instead of storming the barricades, these leftist pawns are playing out awful, impotent street theater. Their pacifism indicates a lack of manly spirit, not genuine philosophical convictions; one need only look at the poorly shaven hipsters milling about Wall Street to confirm this. The weaknesses in the liberal monolith are showing more and more every day.
Well said. As you have stated before, along with many others, we are tribal beings. Most Americans under 30 are only smart enough to parrot talking points and be overly smug with being apart of something which they perceive as being greater than they are.
I saw a t-shirt the other day that said "If I had a dollar for every time that capitalism was blamed for problems caused by government I would be a fat filmmaker with a baseball cap."
The whole public school system (of which I naively chose over private as a kid, sometimes my parents gave me too much liberty in my childhood decision making) teaches kids to never question government, especially since all public schools are completely subservient to them for funding. Of course government, state sponsored media, and progressive organizations love to exploit this and push the kids into being pawns for their desired social change.
Most of the people involved in this sort of thing have had a lifelong membership to the "government can do anything" club and cannot be challenged by logos, because their membership was formed purely on the basis of ethos and pathos.
After all, they are the entitlement generation, a government handout is better in their eyes than a days worth of hard work and ingenuity.
Peers, even if easy to identify with your opinions, as I am myself being threatened and having a friend with scratches in his car by the angry mob, do not let yourself down to the same level. They want people to get aggressive, which provokes fellas knowing theyre stronger, more powerful, but do not let them succeed in their none-sense mission.
Stay calm and be sure to be able to look in your mirror each night and be content with who you are.
You musn't get all angry. Not our niveau!
Live and let die.
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