When the riots begin

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Inequality does seem to be the rallying banner. Consider this though: if you regard a large enough inequality as evidence of oppression, then the dramatic gulf between the average American and the average Brazilian/Chinese/Indian is proof that Americans as a group are oppressing others elsewhere in the world. Third World country leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong and Hugo Chavez have taken just such positions. Do you agree with them?

So according to your own arguments, and allowing that we extend the lens to look at humanity beyond the pale of America’s borders, the very Americans who now claim that they are oppressed are in fact oppressors themselves. How else do we explain the disturbing fact that the Chinese worker, who labor so arduously to produce the iPhone, cannot actually afford to buy one themselves? These noisome protestors claim to be victims when things do not go their way, but blithely ignore the suffering of others when they are in the groove and get to party full swing.

What I see is the lament of the hedonist who cannot satisfy his or her cravings and it is disgusting.

Unlike the other contemporary expression of popular discontent, the Tea Party movement, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are showing clear signs of veering towards violent political expression. The Occupiers, as they are now called, are happy to be arrested in the name of living up to other protest movements like the civil rights and the anti-war protests of the 1960s and 1970s. Except that unlike the protesters of the last generation, the battlements of the Occupiers are devoid of any flag of purpose beyond the rant that the good life they believe to be a birthright is beyond their grasp.

Such displays of needy greed are unwholesome and disgusting. Not unlike the hooligan students of Greece, the Occupy Wall Street protesters in effect ask for the entire system to be overturned so that they may benefit. Why pay off your debts, much less the debts of an earlier generation, if you can simply repudiate your obligations by screaming and shouting?

Many people think that serious criminal acts were perpetrated by Wall Street insiders in both the NASDAQ and real estate bubbles, and I am one of those who believe that very serious crimes were committed. Unlike the general public though, I have personal experience in dealing with serious financial crimes. Like everyone else, I want these crimes exposed and the criminals prosecuted. But justice can never be achieved if the people choose to remain ignorant. What hope is there for the truth if the American people base their critique of the financial system on the documentary “Inside Job”; which was funded by George Soros and purports to be the definitive account of the financial collapse of 2007/8.

Thus misinformed the useful idiots charge on. If they had but once mentioned how puzzling it is that Lehman Brothers collapsed the way it did, I would respect them more because they would be really on to something. Or if they would question how the Obama administration should try so very hard to resurrect the very same shadow banking system that had brought the country to the brink of disaster, I would reappraise my judgment of them. Alas, they just to vent, they do not want to think.

They are finally going to clear out the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Some of these spoilt brats are not going to take it well.

Give a definite date to within three months, when the riots will begin. OWS is not a riot. It is a pain in the butt.

ruveyn

Don't be silly, no one can give you a definitive date. But from the looks of things, the breakdown I have been talking about will happen in the near future. They have postponed the "cleansing" of Zuccotti Park because passions are running very high. The protesters are bracing for violence and even prepping for it. They are definitely not going to leave peacefully. Certainly the police in other places like Seattle and Los Angeles where memories of riots are still fresh are on high alert. It will not take much for the situation to explode. Like I said, there are people who want the riots to happen. Imagine looting Nordstroms or Saks...

I'd say it's holding pretty well, since your first post dates back from June 2011 and your predictions have yet to realize themselves. =/

Violence of some sort is vital if Occupy Wall Street is to legitimize itself. If protesters disband and leave Zuccotti Park simply because they were told to do so or because of deteriorating conditions as winter approaches, then everything they have done would have been a meaningless sham. Protest movements need to claim persecution and oppression in order to sustain and solidify interest; especially for groups like Occupy Wall Street which have no discernible ideology or leader that allows participants to coalesce around. They need to make it seem that they are getting beaten up because the maltreatment will automatically allow them to claim the moral high ground. Only with violence can Occupy Wall Street hope to endure.

The authorities have decided to allow the protesters to stay where they are for the time being. It is hoped that cold weather in the coming weeks will send people home. But having already put the self styled activists on high alert with threats of eviction from what really is private property, the justifying foundation for “defensive violence” by the extremists within the group has already been laid. It will be interesting to see if the punks leave quietly. I doubt that they will because some of these people really do believe that capitalism has not only failed, it is actually evil. And since capitalism arises directly from precepts of freedom and the rule of law, anyone who believes that capitalism should be gotten rid of will see no reason to respect the freedoms of others or to obey the laws that guard the rights and properties of the capitalists. In other words, I think that it is likely that they will riot.