Mob Rule
The most frightening thing about the mobs that are proliferating in our cities is their unabashed ignorance. One is tempted to say stupidity, but that wouldn’t be accurate or fair. Stupidity implies the “occupiers†were born lacking the capacity for rational thought. That’s not the case. It took years in the public school system and in college to arrive at their present condition of ignorance. No, that’s not accurate either. They know what they have been taught.
They have been taught that capitalism is bad and socialism is good. They have been taught that it is noble and moral to take money away from “the rich†(i.e. anyone who has more than they have) and give it to the more deserving (to them) or anyone they have been taught to regard as victims of “the system.â€
The poster child for the mob is Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. The descriptor child is used deliberately because one can hardly say that the inane drivel Jackson is spouting is the product of mature thought.
“I believe in the direct hiring of 15 million unemployed Americans. At 40,000 a head, some more than 40,000 some less than 40,000, that would be $600 billion. It could be a five-year program,†Jackson said, going on to add money to bail out cities and states. “For $804 billion, we help Americans, we bail out the cities and bail out the states and we do it through direct hire.”
Jackson wants the president to do that by fiat. Forget Congress. Forget the Constitution. Where the money comes from is not Jackson’s worry. Dictators have absolute power of redistribution, don’t they?
The “occupiers†have been nurtured on multiculturalism and the moral superiority of diversity. Never mind the e pluribus unum stuff. The 20 somethings camping out in Zuccotti park would be unable to answer even the most elementary questions about the system of government that allows them to defecate on police cars and disrupt traffic. (See The Price of Ignorance for a more complete exposition on this topic.) They have been taught an adversarial culture in which American history is simply a record of injustices at home and abroad. See An Educational Retrospective for more of what they have been taught. Long gone is the public school system that was tasked to transmit a common culture rooted in English literature and Western European history.
The mob knows nothing about the struggle to build the republic or the thinking that created the Constitution. They know nothing about what happens when mobs mobilize for equality, or the French Revolutionists willingness to sacrifice liberty in the belief that they could attain it.
They don’t know the derivation of the term “useful idiots†or that it describes the naivete of those who think they are a force for good when they support a cause that will inevitably enslave them. Perhaps they have forgotten or weren’t listening when candidate Obama announced his  “National Service†plan.
“We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing national challenges.”
Rahm Emanuel elaborated on what this means in a 2006 interview on CNN. In the Obama/Emanuel lexicon “ask†is a euphemism for “require.â€
It has been widely reported that the “occupiers†do not seem to have a coherent message or purpose. It isn’t coherent but it boils down to “more.â€Â But in the ‘brave new world’ they think they want it won’t be the more they are expecting.
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The Emergency Committee for Israel, a Republican group, has become the latest to claim the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in lower Manhattan is anti-Semitic.
The group has created a video advertisement that shows anti-Semitic signs at the protests. The video will air in a “substantial” buy in New York and Washington, D.C., according to Politico.
The ad says that Democratic party leaders are “turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic, anti-Israel attacks.”
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In the Obama/Emanuel lexicon “ask†is a euphemism for “require.â€
No government ever “asks”, except as a rhetorical device. As Washington said, government…is force. Linked.
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De-humanizing the individuals protesting as a mob makes dismissing their anger seem agreeable and I do agree on the majority desiring socialism. However, I can not agree the majority are uneducated on American history and current affairs, I just reject their conclusion. While I do wholeheartedly disagree with the conclusion the occupy groups have reached and their lack of solutions is laughable, the anger with the status of our country is justified. I can not find fault with protesting this development. The occupy groups have succeeded already in creating dialogue and putting some pressure on public officials to live up to their responsibilities. I don’t see any further benefit in the occupy groups continuing and ideally the passion of these protesters should be harnessed into something more productive if possible.
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What else do you call a chaotic, confused and incoherent assortment of individuals throwing a public tantrum? They are puppets manipulated by politicians who think the mobs will help get them re-elected and leftist ideologues who want to replace capitalism with a socialist nirvana. The mobs’ anger is misdirected. They have been told that it is all Wall Street’s fault and the rich are to blame. How convenient. The politicians and the bureaucrats responsible for the policies and the rules requiring banks to finance mortgages for unqualified borrowers escape accountability. The mobs are clueless. Just listen to the interviews. Even sympathetic reporters cannot make them look better than they are.
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Ken Stack Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Again I disagree with the protesters views as well but you’re overgeneralizing the profile of the protesters. Due to their unity only in anger they capitalize on this in attracting a diverse group. Many do advocate for socialism, many are nut-jobs, and many of those nut-jobs are interviewed by the media because they will be a good interview. Not every frustrating occupier is this crazy. Jessie LaGreca for example was perfectly articulate and intelligent on ABC news This Week with Christine Amanpour two weeks ago.
The movement then has a bias to the left but that does not mean its run by a larger entity. Given the disorganization and inflammatory rhetoric it is tempting to say only a political organization could run something so poorly and be behind this! Listen, if you’re not frustrated with the direction we’ve gone in as a nation and can not sympathesize with that sentiment you’re not viewing these occupiers as human beings. You can still disagree with the tactics and criticize every last one of them but the frustration is universal in this nation to a degree.
Some but not all politicians are trying to ascertain the staying power of the group and be on the correct side of public opinion. Some politicians are nearly as frustrated with the will of our political system as the protesters. The politicians are reacting the protests, not the conductors of this incoherent orchestra.
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If we, and by “we” I mean liberty and America-loving citizens, are to save this country, we have to retake the education ground. The Left hold it. It is strategic and they know it. It is the core, the foundation to their continued destruction of our culture, society and country through the indoctrination of our youth. Public schools are the Left’s madrassas. True patriots must push for private education. Making public schools compete for customers against private schools and home schooling, will eventually severly diminish public education. Then, America can return to capitalism, free enterprise, liberty and God.
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You are exactly right. The Obama administration’s drive for national standards removes the last vestige of control from the states. The states, being in fiscal disarray, have eagerly signed on. The independent charters are growing in enrollment and reputation. We need to make sure they stay independent.
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I would agree with Jesse LaGreca’s inelegant assessment of people having been “screwed over.” However, the protesters’ anger is misplaced. Those who voted for Obama (and that probably includes most of the occupiers) were used as they are being used now by the unions (who are feeding the occupiers) for his reelection and by the president himself.
I have plenty of sympathy for those who have been hurt by the profligate spending policies of this and prior administrations (and not just Democrat) but I fail to see how punishing “the rich†is going to help anyone.
I don’t hear any protests about the billions wasted on Solyndra and other companies chosen for their political connections and because they represent an ideology the administration favors. Nor are they complaining about the new stimulus bill that will do nothing to produce private sector jobs.
Why do they think the government can produce jobs?
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I have corresponded with many of my populist, left leaning friends, who are not necessarily ideologues, but were propagandized to death on the Tea Party and so never had the outlet that many libertarians, right leaning independents and conservatives had. This movement attracted them because it was not pre-packaged as racist and goofy by the MSM. For those “lost souls”, I feel some empathy. They are as frustrated as the rest of us, but are ignorant as to the root cause of the problem, Government. The only thing I can’t figure out is why they have no ire about Solyndra and the other crony capitalist undertakings with GE and the car industry. I guess because the foreclosure/housing pandemic touched them and the banks are such easy targets (made easier by being deemed “too big to fail”) and touch nearly everyone. The Left is making the most of it and sadly, sucking in the ignorant.
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