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But what will complaining do? Protests are effective at shaping government policy, but they seem to be protesting some nebulous inequality, not anything concret

by wisty 15y ago

But what will complaining do? Protests are effective at shaping government policy, but they seem to be protesting some nebulous inequality, not anything concrete that the government can do. OK, we all have our opinions on why the government is screwing up, but I doubt there is enough coherence within the protesters' opinions'. You can stop a war by protesting, as all it takes is an executive order from the President. It's a concrete measure. If they were protesting for a bill to stop bailouts, and give the bailout money directly to tax payers (which can filter up to banks), then it might be worth protesting for. If they wanted some specific legislation passed, it could work. But unless there is some step that Congress feels pressured to do, they are just a disorganized and unplacatable rabble, which can only be ignored, or contained by force.

blendergasket 15y ago
I think of this like horsetails in my Mom's garden. My mom's garden is shot through with horsetails, but it's really all one horsetail connected by a single, massive rhizome. If you pull up one horsetail stem it won't do a thing to the horsetail as a whole. If you pull up 100 horsetail branches the horsetail might be slightly weakened, but it'll come back. These things've been around since the time of the dinosaurs. If she wants a garden without horsetails she'll have to get a backhoe and uproot the whole thing, then plant a new garden. The horsetails will come back eventually, then she'll have to do it again, but for a little while she'll have a nice clean garden. There is a fundamental sickness in the system. A giant, rhizomic structure of venality and corruption that has undercut and basically replaced the system I, as an American, have been raised to believe is the proper form of government, with a government where all activity is dictated by power wielding corporate interests. Greed has become the dominant ideology; all branches of government and the media have become subsumed by it. A just and functional society is not and will never be an emergent property of a greed-based system.

by wisty 15y ago

blendergasket 15y ago

I think of this like horsetails in my Mom's garden. My mom's garden is shot through with horsetails, but it's really all one horsetail connected by a single, massive rhizome. If you pull up one horsetail stem it won't do a thing to the horsetail as a whole. If you pull up 100 horsetail branches the horsetail might be slightly weakened, but it'll come back. These things've been around since the time of the dinosaurs. If she wants a garden without horsetails she'll have to get a backhoe and uproot the whole thing, then plant a new garden. The horsetails will come back eventually, then she'll have to do it again, but for a little while she'll have a nice clean garden. There is a fundamental sickness in the system. A giant, rhizomic structure of venality and corruption that has undercut and basically replaced the system I, as an American, have been raised to believe is the proper form of government, with a government where all activity is dictated by power wielding corporate interests. Greed has become the dominant ideology; all branches of government and the media have become subsumed by it. A just and functional society is not and will never be an emergent property of a greed-based system.