The Death of Egalitarianism



So, to recap:  We would like to acknowledge your extraordinary work, which has brought untold benefit to countless people.   However, we are devoted to the concept that no one is better than anyone else.  Your extraordinary accomplishments therefore disqualify you from speaking.

Move along.

10 comments:

BillT said...

Your extraordinary accomplishments therefore disqualify you from speaking.

Thereby confirming their lefty/nihilist orientation.

Again.

C'mon, winter. One good cold snap will evict them...

Anonymous said...

You are missing the whole point of the movement. Open your ears and your minds and put yourself in anyone of these peoples places. This is a positive thing and it is all about fairness and compromise. We need to rebuild Americas infrastructure and the majority of the jobless are labor oriented. There s your jobs.

Grim said...

I'm sympathetic to the complaint that America could use infrastructure improvements (although see here if the hope is that this will improve the economy). The issue here is their refusal to listen to someone they plainly respect, who has taken time out of his day to come give them advice on how to effect their goals. This is no way to run a railroad.

Part of the problem for the laborer who is hoping this movement will help him is that he's being led by guys who plainly are not laborers. The "block" in this case is definitely not a boilermaker! Neither is the guy with the megaphone. Insofar as labor throws its hopes in with this movement, they are unlikely to see any positive results.

Indeed, if anything this treatment of Congressman Lewis is going to hurt labor. Labor has a powerful lobby, and Lewis is a confirmed ally of that lobby. However, you can only tell a Congressman to shut up so many times before he's going to decide that he isn't that interested in what you have to say, either.

What would be of use is a joint labor/small-business movement, one where unions agree to bring their substantial lobbying power to bear to reduce burdens on small business, in exchange for small business agreeing to ensure that new jobs are created as quickly as possible. There will need to be some discussion in order to determine what's reasonable (a $20/hr minimum wage is probably not within the realm of possibility for small business!), but there is a lot of potential for real results there.

Anonymous said...

The incivility of all the Occupy [location] protests seems to be increasing as the movement expands. I'm not certain if this is because they feel emboldened because more people are taking part or because the longer the protesters spend in eachother's company, the more the feedback increases.

Example: A group tried to march into the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum with their banners and signs. Apparently someone got rude when the guards requested that they leave the banners outside, leading to the use of pepper spray on the marchers and a few arrests. I'm not sure how "Occupying" the Air and Space Museum promotes egalitarianism and job creation, especially since so many of the items on display were created by either small groups of unusual people, or by large corporations (Boeing, North American, Ford). A B-17 or F-14, or 737 for that matter, is not exactly a shovel-ready project for unskilled or semi-skilled labor. The same spirit that blocked the congressman in Atlanta seemed to be moving the D.C. marchers.

LittleRed1

Texan99 said...

The protestors objected to the drone exhibit. As Glenn Reynolds or someone said, if it's drone attacks they don't like, it's odd they didn't go further down the mall.

Anonymous said...

This is a positive thing and it is all about fairness and compromise.

I'm sure there are some fools participating who buy that crap but this has nothing to do with constructive criticism. This is a Soros funded, White House organized political theater. It's the first act heading toward the violence the communist community organizers crave. If they think America can be scared into not making a change at Pennsylvania Avenue they will burn us down.

I'm no vet like so many here. I was one number away from the Vietnam War draft. So I spent the '60s hanging out with Bill Ayers types. I know folks who addressed a million people in Havana with Fidel doing their intro. These wicked traitors are more powerful now than ever. If you don't think so you need to "repent"; think again.

We're "this close" to losing our freedom. There are rich and powerful people who wish it so. They've bought and paid for "Occupy Wall Street". That you think it has a positive point proves your gullibility. Sorry, but that's a fact.

I'm impressed that Herman is turning it up on these anarchist bastards. He gets it. He is LEADING while "conservative" politicians are pulling their punches. Herman said he thinks his POTUS ID code should be "Cornbread". God, I love guys like that. Kick ass Cornbread.

RonF said...

Why is everyone repeating what the announcer says?

Grim said...

That is "the people's megaphone," which allows the speaker to be heard apparently at a much greater distance than even the megaphone itself. It also has the effect of conveying that the words of one are the words of all, a fairly powerful psychological/rhetorical technique. Unfortunately, it also requires no one to speak more than a few words at a time, which hampers discussion quite a bit.

raven said...

These people are dumber than a fencepost. I have run into them all my life, and 99% of them could not put a coherent argument together to save their lives. 40 years of socialist indoctrination in the schools has done it's work well.
What we are looking at here is the doublethink Yuri Bezmanov and George Orwell warned us about.
They have no idea where wealth comes from, what it is, or how to generate it.

Texan99 said...

Garn. Everyone knows where wealth comes from. You get it out of Mommy or Daddy's wallet, or you pick it off a tree, if you can get The Man to quit unfairly guarding the tree.