Sun Nov 11, 2012, 06:02 PM

Thomas Frank: Why Occupy failed and how it's more like the Tea Party than anyone wants to admit [View all]

Last edited Sun Nov 11, 2012, 06:06 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

Excellent review from Thomas Frank, author of What's The Matter With Kansas and other books. It's a long one, and closely reasoned, so I'll just post a paragraph and let everyone read the rest.

The reason Occupy and the Tea Party were such uncanny replicas of one another is because they both drew on the lazy, reflexive libertarianism that suffuses our idea of protest these days, all the way from Disney Channel teens longing to be themselves to punk rock teens vandalizing a Starbucks. From Chris Hedges to Paul Ryan, every dissenter imagines that they are rising up against “the state.” It’s in the cultural DNA of our times, it seems; our rock ‘n’ roll rebels, our Hollywood heroes, even our FBI agents. They all hate the state—protesters in Zuccotti Park as well as the Zegna-wearing traders those protesters think they’re frightening. But here’s the rub: only the Right manages to profit from it.

http://www.thebaffler.com/past/to_the_precinct_station

This could have been subtitled "How narcissism has destroyed the American left."

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88 replies	Author	Time	Post
Thomas Frank: Why Occupy failed and how it's more like the Tea Party than anyone wants to admit [View all]	salvorhardin	Nov 2012	OP
has it failed?	hollysmom	Nov 2012	#1
I'm afraid we must accept the words exactly as written. How could they possibly be incorrect?	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#13
Richer, whiter, much better educated	SocraticGadfly	Nov 2012	#47
Oh, on the lack of organization? And leaderless?	SocraticGadfly	Nov 2012	#48
Little too early to say Occupy failed--the newest stuff, like debt collection and	msanthrope	Nov 2012	#2
I agree with this...	one_voice	Nov 2012	#18
Bookmarked for later. LOL@OWS, what a farce.	sagat	Nov 2012	#3
There is a farce here, and it isn't Occupy. Enjoy your stay.	kestrel91316	Nov 2012	#14
Geez, before OWS all I remember hearing was 'austerity this' and	coalition_unwilling	Nov 2012	#57
Yes, that was Occupy's biggest success, imo	deutsey	Nov 2012	#73
I started reading this	RainDog	Nov 2012	#4
Horseshit written for simple people.	UnrepentantLiberal	Nov 2012	#5
What a bunch of simplistic utter crap. Take it to Freeperville!	MotherPetrie	Nov 2012	#6
People speaking truth to power don't fail as long as they keep speaking it.	Tigress DEM	Nov 2012	#7
You might actually read Thomas Frank's review to find out how Occupy is like the Tea Party.	salvorhardin	Nov 2012	#20
Psssst:	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#22
No thanks. Not watching 2016 either.	Tigress DEM	Nov 2012	#87
Occupy hasn't failed... period. They are winning step by step.	defacto7	Nov 2012	#8
The link doesn't open for me which is a shame because I could use some belly laughs	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#9
Uhm, yeah...	blogslut	Nov 2012	#10
LOLOLOL	WiffenPoof	Nov 2012	#19
Tell me Mr. Frank and I usually respect you	nadinbrzezinski	Nov 2012	#11
THIS Occupy??	kestrel91316	Nov 2012	#12
The answer is no. Such an accusation cannot be.	mmonk	Nov 2012	#62
What a load of garbage. n/t	backscatter712	Nov 2012	#15
And the disinformation campaign begins.	Cleita	Nov 2012	#16
Huge DUrec!!...nt	SidDithers	Nov 2012	#17
Yeah, and Astroturf is the Same as Real Grass	AndyTiedye	Nov 2012	#21
It is! It is! He can prove it!	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#23
You honestly think Thomas Frank is engaging in astroturfing?	salvorhardin	Nov 2012	#25
No, but the Teabaggers Certainly Were	AndyTiedye	Nov 2012	#33
K&R!	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#24
It most definitely had a subliminal/unconscious effect.	Michigan Alum	Nov 2012	#26
What a bunch of BS.	JaneyVee	Nov 2012	#27
By my count this is 798th proclamation of Occupy's demise. Strangely, they don't seem to have TV's	Egalitarian Thug	Nov 2012	#28
Occupy was there	Autumn	Nov 2012	#29
He simply doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about.	byeya	Nov 2012	#30
"..it's had for someone lazy and who wants to pontificate not to make an ass of himself."	salvorhardin	Nov 2012	#31
You'll have a MUCH better discussion if you try not to insult your opponents. nt.	OldDem2012	Nov 2012	#41
Exactly!	salvorhardin	Nov 2012	#45
Whooooooossshhhhh. Sound of my post flying over your head at 100,000 feet. nt.	OldDem2012	Nov 2012	#53
It failed to be the counter to the Tea Party because the tea party was taken over by	jp11	Nov 2012	#32
"OWS can still be more than the tea party IMO if it works on getting progressives elected where they	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#35
Well okay then.	jp11	Nov 2012	#36
Please remember that most of the worst police brutality against Occupy was done by Democratic mayors	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#42
How very inconvenient for you to bring that up. n/t	Egalitarian Thug	Nov 2012	#59
An inconvenient truth. Occupiers are still being beaten and arrested and harassed by police across	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#60
That can't possibly be true because, as the OP indicates, Occupy has failed and is dead.	Egalitarian Thug	Nov 2012	#79
:)	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#80
+1	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#86
That was quite possibly one of	JoeyT	Nov 2012	#34
It's unfair to compare OWS to the tea party. One is a real movement, the other is corporate funded	DireStrike	Nov 2012	#37
Horse Shit	Teamster Jeff	Nov 2012	#38
Hmmm...OWS NYC just Tweeted this...	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#39
Yes. Justice, not charity. n/t	OneGrassRoot	Nov 2012	#43
+1000!	SammyWinstonJack	Nov 2012	#72
I don't recall reading about any of the Tea Nazis volunteering to help the victims of Sandy. nt.	OldDem2012	Nov 2012	#40
I was a fan of OWS when it was beginning... but it never evolved to my liking...	Comrade_McKenzie	Nov 2012	#44
What is a movement?	tama	Nov 2012	#81
Indeed.	CanSocDem	Nov 2012	#46
LOL! Thomas Frank used to write a column for THE WALL ST. JOURNAL.	Zorra	Nov 2012	#49
Ruh-roh!	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#54
and yet we all talk about the 99% and the 1% as if it has always been a part of political dialogue	RepublicansRZombies	Nov 2012	#50
Seems to me that Occupy Sandy is getting national coverage.	Warren Stupidity	Nov 2012	#51
LOL	Starry Messenger	Nov 2012	#52
I know of and hear from OWS...	99Forever	Nov 2012	#55
Or it could be titled "Clueless Guy No One Has Heard Of With A Worthless Opinion"	Matariki	Nov 2012	#56
No one has ever heard of Thomas Frank?	NoPasaran	Nov 2012	#71
I think it is the final 3 paragraphs with which i take issue:	coalition_unwilling	Nov 2012	#58
They seem less relevant to the present USA, and you'd have to question their success	muriel_volestrangler	Nov 2012	#68
OK, please explain to me what "Mississippi in the fifties" has to do	coalition_unwilling	Nov 2012	#74
muriel_volestrangler is right	salvorhardin	Nov 2012	#69
I like and deeply respect Thomas Frank and this article has definitely	coalition_unwilling	Nov 2012	#75
Theory?	tama	Nov 2012	#82
1848? Really?	NoPasaran	Nov 2012	#70
1848 scared the shit out of the ruling elite, just as OWS scared the shit out of the 1% parasites. I	coalition_unwilling	Nov 2012	#76
Well there's 5 minutes of my time I'll never get back.	Le Taz Hot	Nov 2012	#61
Narcissism will destroy the "centrists" or corporatists.	mmonk	Nov 2012	#63
loads of lulz	KG	Nov 2012	#64
President Obama	aandegoons	Nov 2012	#65
The anger that permeates some of these posts is very much like the Tea Party anger.	randome	Nov 2012	#66
Hilarious! Who writes this stuff?	Zorra	Nov 2012	#77
When was OWS ever a movement against state power?	6000eliot	Nov 2012	#67
It has been anarchist initiative from the beginning	tama	Nov 2012	#83
OWS is like the Tea Party?	Oilwellian	Nov 2012	#78
Until Tea Partiers face excessive police brutality and are no longer corporately-funded,	Jamaal510	Nov 2012	#84
Ocuppy wasn't as successful as the Tea Party	Mr.Turnip	Nov 2012	#85
The tealiban are funded by the Koch brothers. Occupy is a populist movement.	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#88