You've got to hand it to the Republicans, they know how to train liberals.
They've done it so well, in fact, that they don't need to even blow the whistle any more. Liberals, especially Democrats, will throw each other under the bus at the slightest umbrage taken by Fox So-Called-News. Our President is the champion at this. Most recently, he fired EPA official Al Armandariz for some benign statement about "crucifying" law-breakers. It was an analogy, in context and perfectly reasonable. Still, Republican outrage meant that poor Al had to fall on his sword for the raft of cowards that are the White House these days.
But in the case of May Day protests, liberals didn't even wait.
May Day protests were held in something like 100 cities around the country. Tens of thousands of Americans who are tired of being screwed by the corporate oligarchy took part. And in a few cites, punks calling themselves anarchists did some vandalism.
Can I pause and say: anarchists? What the fuck is this, 1908? I'm sorry, but I picture swarthy, mustachioed eastern European types with hats and black overcoats, holding one of those round, black bombs with a fuse sticking out of the top. Now, I don't have CNN playing 24-7, but I follow the news. I have not heard of anarchists until the newspaper stories the day before May first of the police gearing up to stop the anarchist threat. Seems to me, that when working people are focusing on the real threat, the one percent that are robbing us blind, out pops the boogie man - in this case anarchists.
So anyway, "anarchists," broke some windows, did some graffiti, and lit of a few smoke bombs. Wow, are we going to be alright? Will the country be able to heal after this brutal attack on the homeland? And the people who were the most pissed seemed to be the the 99% - the peaceful protesters. And I suppose they should have been. A few assholes came in and disrupted their protest, and riled up the police. But man oh man, have they been trained. The anarchist outrage message was totally captured by the establishment. The message of economic and political injustice was wiped off the lips of both protesters and news reporters.
Now, here's how the outrage/apology machine works. Usually, a journalist has to confront a liberal about someone's behavior. This works to derail said liberal's message. This is because there is a conservative on Fox demanding an apology from everybody not in their ideological bunker. They have to express outrage, and then demand that the liberal renounce the person for their statement or action (almost always, a person that the liberal doesn't even know, nor is associated with except maybe, distantly or tangentially). In the case of the May Day vandalism, liberals were self-flagellating instantly. The didn't wait for Fox, or CNN, or anyone.
Callers to liberal talk radio were all chiming in about how they needed to DO something about these anarchists. Liberal hosts were saying how peaceful protesters had to identify anarchists and point them out to the police. Really? Do the police's job instead of protest?
Fuck that.
Which Republicans do we remember apologizing for the killing of doctors, or the bombing of abortion clinics? They don't, they stay on message. They say "well, of course these actions were horrible, but what do you expect when this socialist blah, blah, blah..." You get the point.
I say, do like the Republicans do - keep the message up front. When asked about anarchists, say "although I don't condone the actions of a few radicals, I fully understand their frustration with the corruption in our government and our financial system." Now, this is bullshit, because we don't know precisely why some punk smashed the window downtown, because it's YOUR MESSAGE! Take the attention from the smoke, the pepper sprayings and the broken glass, and use it to drive the message home.
By the way, the pavlovian media will come back with outrage, implying that you condone the smashing of windows. Don't retreat! Here's the response:
"Add up the cost of all of the windows broken in every protest today, combine that with the clean-up costs of any other vandalism in the area of the protests, and I'm sure it will not be more than a tiny fraction of the cost to working Americans for the fraud committed by the 1% in the last few years."
And when they press you, say:
"Until they start arresting rich criminals, I have no interest in arresting poor criminals."
In the past few years, the SEC and the justice department have found numerous cases of fraud, bribery and money laundering. In only a small handful of cases have I heard of executives actually being prosecuted. Most often, by far, the corporations pay a fine, and admit no wrong-doing. The Obama Administration will call these fines "historic" and "unprecedented," but they are almost always a fraction of the actual amount taken in by the criminal act.
Think about that...you commit a criminal act of fraud that makes you billions, and you get fined in the hundreds of millions. Who's not taking that deal every day? But that's how it works, and that's why people are so pissed.
Let's say I rob a bank, and take the bank for 20 grand. When the police show up, I hand them five grand and we shake hands, and everyone goes to lunch. Who's not robbing banks every day under those circumstances? This is what you say to reporters, to everyone - there's two sets of rules, and were pissed!
Rich people pay a fine, working people go to jail. It is fundamentally un-American, and a violation of the principles of justice and of the rule of law. People aren't all civics geniuses, but they know when their core values are being violated. This message will win - stay the fuck on it!
As for the OWS/May Day message of economic justice, that's harder, but not impossible. Americans all think they will be rich some day. That's why the unfairness of the tax code eludes most people. Everyone thinks they pay too much tax, and they sympathize with the rich in that regard too. But the message is the closing off of opportunity. Americans feel that every day. They know wages have stagnated, they know college is virtually unaffordable, they know they get reamed every time they fill up at the pump. This happens because the corporate elite buy our political leaders like they were cheap whores. They buy those whores, but we get the dick. We get the jiz of corporate greed blown all over us, and we're pissed.
We're not pissed because they are rich and we are not. We are pissed off because the system is not fair. It is corrupted by money in our political system, and our system now works mostly for the benefit of the source of that money. That is why the money in our economy flows up, and stays there.
So, when the question is asked, "what about those anarchists?", blow the question off. Change the question to one of economic unfairness and political corruption. Pound the message home.
Again, and again...and again.
