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FightingIrish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:07 PM
Original message
Why aren’t we in the streets?
I know we are a civilized country and have a system to make things right when our government goes off track. We tried that and the people we thought were finally listening to us are now telling us to just shut up. We gave Nancy Pelosi all the clout she need to fix things and she tells us our constitution is off the table.

I’m not a young man. To many I am a pillar of the community, a professional, a business owner, family man, a veteran and a Rotarian for God’s sake, but I’ve had it with a system that refuses to work like it is supposed to. I’ve had it with a nation that will deny my sons all the things I was promised when I entered the “real world”. I have finally reached the conclusion that even the middle class is nothing but a pool of dupes for a cynical power elite that now believes even we are no longer necessary.

I’m sick of a country that has devalued the individual and put a complete idiot in its highest office and kept him there for the better part of a critical decade. I’m sick of a country led by an imbecile who takes a healthy chunk of every dollar I earn and gives it to his crony partners in an illegal, immoral, all consuming war of convenience and then taunts us with the imminence of his next strategic blunder.

I still have a few drops of hope in my tank thanks to an improbable young presidential candidate. I’m willing to give our vaunted democracy one last chance to prove itself. For the next few months, I’ll give it all I have left. If we cannot pull this country out of its death spiral by electing the president the world hopes we will, I will have nothing left to lose. If we can’t pull this off, all bets are off.
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EbenezerMcIntosh Donating Member (154 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:09 PM
Response to Original message
1. You will be, soon.
International financial interests are destroying our country. The U.S. government is going along with it. See ya on the street, pal.
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Hugabear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:10 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Yep - pretty soon, many of us may be living on those streets
The fatcats won't care. Just more cheap day labor for them.
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burythehatchet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:10 PM
Response to Original message
3. well......
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Indiana_Dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:11 PM
Response to Original message
4. I'm with 'ya! You're not alone! nt
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Runcible Spoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:11 PM
Response to Original message
5. honestly, don't hold your breath for any fundamental, earth-shaking change.
even if Obama was Jesus at this point, the best anyone can hope for is a finger in the dike of our corrupted political system.

By all means, get out in the streets. I'll see you there. But Obama is not going to be leading any major revolutions.

Maybe I'm wrong, this is one of those times it would be great to be wrong.
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napoleon_in_rags Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:15 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. You're completely right.
There is NOTHING Obama can do on his own. Our hope is exactly proportional to the extent we understand that.
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DaveJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:16 PM
Response to Original message
7. Quite honestly, it's not by choice.
It sounds like you can afford it but many of us cannot go without one days pay. Homelessness would be a vacation but the system has made the punishment for taking a day off much much worse than that. So I guess the question remains, why aren't you guys out on the streets?
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EbenezerMcIntosh Donating Member (154 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:17 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. It is not by our choice, for sure.
NT
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WheelWalker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:22 PM
Response to Original message
9. I couldn't agree with you more, comrade. I've got one revolution left...that's it.
Ironically, it's not just me. If we don't pull this off, we're all done.
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Mind_your_head Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:25 PM
Response to Original message
10. We're "keeping our powder dry"
;-)

(OR maybe we're all just cowards who allow themselves to be bullied into submission?) ..... time and truth will tell all.

Peace,
M_Y_H
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TheWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 09:37 PM
Response to Reply #10
83. Dry Powder is For Baby's Bottoms.
:)

As for the cowards who allow themselves to be bullied into submission?

I'm afraid you are very correct on that one. And I fear they outnumber those of us who aren't.

Most Americans don't want The Truth, nor can they handle it.

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HCE SuiGeneris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. Yep. It is all or nothing at this point.
I love how you expressed my sentiments so well. :thumbsup:
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rhiannon55 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:26 PM
Response to Original message
12. I'm with you
I am so sick of the lies and games and BULLSHIT that those people throw at us on a daily basis. I HATE HATE HATE what they are doing to us and to the world. I HATE how they have guaranteed a hard life for my grandchildren. I HATE that moronic asshole who pretends to be President. I can't believe how fascist my country has become.

If Obama isn't president next January, we'd BETTER be in the streets. Revolution may be the only remedy we have left...
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Rosa Luxemburg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
13. many people are saying oh well let's get more in debt!
what happens if there's no more credit cards?
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seriousstan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
14. Because we're behind our keyboards...DUH!
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Wednesdays Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:31 PM
Response to Original message
15. Why? Because the M$M will make them all look like a bunch of kooks
and terraists.

Their ranks would get filled with counterspies and agents provocateurs.

If they were hardy enough to get through tear gas, rubber bullets, tasers and god-knows what newfangled anti-riot weapons police squads have up their sleeves, they'd then face machine guns, tanks, and helicopters. Not to mention any rightwing militia-types who would be more than happy to "take out a few lib'ruls".

I'm not trying to throw a wet blanket on your spirit, but when you say "take to the streets" people had better REALLY take to the streets.
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undeterred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:35 PM
Response to Original message
16. We can't afford to be arrested.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:36 PM
Response to Original message
17. Because:
a) Too many people are still too comfortable to risk losing what they have;

b) too many people cannot afford to take even one day off, much less risk getting arrested & all the problems & expenses that creates, to take a chance at hitting the streets, only to have everything remain the same.

Until enough of us have nothing left to lose there will be no revolution. The poster above, who said that Obama will only be a finger in the dike of corruption & decay in our system, was spot on.

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spag68 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:39 PM
Response to Reply #17
19. Janis
another word for freedom, is nothing left to lose
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spag68 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:37 PM
Response to Original message
18. Hitting the streets
I thought that this summer when the schools let out, we would see some action. But no, it hasn't happened. The only thing that I can think of, is there is no draft of young people to be sent off to die. By privatizing the military the rethugs have figured out what did them in back during the Nam. I can't blame this on young people entirely, none of us have been up to the task. I believe the best first step could be a campaign to put signs in front of our houses declaring our support of impeachment. I know it gets attention, because he number of key scratches on my old fully "signed" car have increased since the signs went on.
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wundermaus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:41 PM
Response to Original message
20. The only reason to be "in the streets" is provide target practice...
for the Blackshirts. There is only one way left to fight and win a revolution in America and here it is: A national (or even international) minimalism boycott. Cut up your credit cards, pay off ALL your debts. Buy only what is necessary and nothing else. ACT like you are at WAR. Victory gardening, recycle everything, no unnecessary travel, and then hunker down for a long, bitter fight. Get involved in local government and get knowledgeable enough to get elected and walk the walk. Take it back block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, town by town, city by city, state by state... until we, the people are back in charge. It might take us 10 years, or 20 years... but what is the alternative? There is no alternative. Liberty or Death.
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:44 PM
Response to Reply #20
22. DING DING DING We have a winner!!
Edited on Wed Jul-16-08 11:52 PM by cliffordu
Best post on the subject yet. Thanks

I have done EVERYTHING in your list except run for office.

After 9/11 I got mad and got out. Killed the car and killed the debt. I live in an old Airstream on two acres.
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Raksha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #20
35. You're absolutely right...act like we are at war,
because in fact...WE ARE! We didn't start it, but we are under siege all the same.
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agent46 Donating Member (424 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:31 PM
Response to Reply #20
74. What the maus said... n/t
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:43 PM
Response to Original message
21. I've been glib about this before.....
I've also been on the barricades at riots over the Vietnam war after I came home.

I don't know if enough people in this country give a shit to riot about anything.

Not enough to actually get off their ass and do anything except kill the neighbors for their big screen television if society actually breaks down over bank failure, snack food shortages because the trucks are halted.

Unlike third world countries where politics are a matter of life and death- food and starvation - the idiots in MY country think politics are a spectator sport like a football game or bridge.In MY country politics are nothing more than another reality show. Unbridled consumerism is disguised as democracy. Credit is freedom.

And it HAS been for the last 50 years.

If the shit hits the fan there WILL be a type of mass psychosis; INDIVIDUALS already isolated by their McMansions and automobile culture incapable of reaching a point where a group effort will be worthwhile.

Americans - white middle class americans - are completely unprepared for the kinds of conditions that existed during the great depression. We cannot grow our own food, mend our own clothes or gather together to form communities for the common good.

Getting psychotic "individuals" organized into a mass of people to take to the barricades might just be impossible.
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Mind_your_head Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:58 PM
Response to Reply #21
24. There will be "rioting in the streets' when there are Snack food shortages....
that's really good/honest. *snark* heh
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:15 AM
Response to Reply #24
31. Heh. The snack food revolution...
"Let them eat Twizzlers"
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billyoc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:54 PM
Response to Reply #31
86. Oh, God, the red ones. That's the last straw for me.
They pushed me too far. :hi:
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WheelWalker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:59 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. You're right, of course. That being said, failure is not an option.
No retreat. No surrender.
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:01 AM
Response to Reply #25
26. That's right. I'm ready.
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Truth4Justice Donating Member (806 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:38 AM
Response to Reply #21
41. Getting anyone organized like in days of old would be like herding cats. Too many "individuals".
This country is done for, for at least a generation or more, IMO.
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1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-16-08 11:53 PM
Response to Original message
23. please accept my innocent and ignorant question...
i see many posts like this saying "we should be in the streets."

ok. let's say we do that. we are in the streets.

what does that accomplish? do we just stop work? do we burn things? what?

and how exactly does "being in the streets" change our current situation.


don't take this the wrong way. i have tried to imagine a scenario where strikes or violence or mayhem might improve things and i am drawing blanks.

you guys that know about this might attempt to inform others (and i'm sure its not just me, i'm just stupid enough to speak up) about how this would work.


thanks in advance...

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FightingIrish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:06 AM
Response to Reply #23
27. We live in a country that was born of civil disobedience
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 12:07 AM by FightingIrish
Things got so bad that the opposition to tyranny could not remain invisible. I've been in the streets peacefully against the war, against the surge and against all the stupidity that got us in this mess. I have campaigned for better leaders and spoken out when it was not in my financial best interest to do so. I'm not an anarchist or a radical. I have just lost faith in a system that expects us to conform even when it is not holding up its end of the bargain. If four out of five believe we are on the wrong track, why are the majority sitting in their seats and going along for the ride? Why don't our representatives represent the four who want change instead of the one who thinks this is the way it should be?
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1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:31 AM
Response to Reply #27
34. thank you, and i am not opposed to getting out into the streets...
for me its just "to what end?" yeah, we could strike or riot. burn things. but what positive impact would that have on the lives of everyday people?

your post did get me thinking about what an effective form of protest would look like.

if everybody just stopped buying gasoline. not for a day, but like a month or two. that would shake them to their core. but its not practical. people have to get to work and go buy food and whatever.

my only thought is that we would have to protest something non-essential, not food or transportation. like movies or cell phones. if no one went to the opening of the next major hollywood flick or if everyone just shut off their cellphones for two months, we might get their attention.

i'm shooting blanks here. the protest must be meaningful but something everyone can participate in.

what is it?




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agent46 Donating Member (424 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #34
75. To what end?
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 01:18 PM by hard rains
Good question.

My view is "taking to the streets", if done strategically with planned massive coverage on the internet and other media as part of the package, would serve to strike the liberty bell (so to speak). With the right use of political "theater", a carefully crafted message could resonate and rouse others to action - including the support of the international progressive community. It would have to be dramatic, clear headed, non-violent and absolutely overwhelming. One well placed strike at the heart could initiate a cascade of reactions throughout the system. Consciousness changes. Tangible local and national changes follow. We have communications methods and means - technology at our fingertips that is unparalleled in history. Cell phones, cameras, networks, Youtube, bloggers, flash crowds, meetups and so on; not to mention the tools of the surveillance society currently being set up that could conceivably be used to our advantage in innovative ways.

We need new strategies for the media age. We need to come up with out-of-the-box ingenious ways to organize and make use of all these powerful resources. The first thing to do is to take stock of our resources and strengths and invent novel new ways to make them work for us. Where in our midst is the genius that "Necessity" gives rise to? It's here somewhere. We need to conceptualize a way to use everything at our disposal. Taking to the streets is an anachronism in and of itself, but remains a metaphor for what must happen. The purpose would be to strike a resonance powerful enough to interrupt the hypnosis of fatalism, lethargy and political impotence that has taken hold. The purpose would be to ignite the fuse of awareness nationally and globally, as it were.

How now?

~Citizen Mick
</end rant>

:hi:
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WheelWalker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:06 AM
Response to Reply #23
28. Well, let's say you have an issue that you feel very strongly about....
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 12:08 AM by The Village Idiot
say capital punishment. Or global warming. Or torture. or anything. Make a sign. Go out at noon for an hour, wherever you are, and carry that sign down the middle of the street. Every day. For a week. For a month. For a year. When every individual who thinks they should stand in the street to get noticed doe it, the street will be full. Meanwhile, you might make a difference all by yourself. Maybe. Or not.
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:10 AM
Response to Reply #23
29. Read about the French Revolution...
Conditions of a small ruling class getting all the food and riches while the population starved was a lot of what shoved the population over the edge......

Blood in the streets MIGHT be the only thing that will change anything.

Which might be why Blackwater has a standing private army of what - 100,000 men??

To prevent just that.

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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:03 AM
Response to Reply #23
46. Yours is not an ignorant question - it is a very valid question.
Read post #20 by vmaus. That is the action that needs to be taken.

He's right that hitting the streets will only provide target practice for Blackwater & probably get you arrested or possibly even maimed or killed. Until the masses are cold & hungry & there are 90% of us on the streets, hitting the streets will do nothing except cause harm to the few that do it. The media will spin it as a bunch of cooks who got violent & needed to be restrained - not a group of civic minded individuals who are concerned & fighting for the very life of their country & communities.

It's a very sad fact, that I have seen with my own eyes over the last 7 years, that people do not wake up to the atrocities being done in their name & sometimes to their own neighbors, until it hits them personally. To a degree, this is human nature, but I place lots of the blame on our excessive "the individual rules" attitude. We no longer value community in this country. Actually, it's more accurate to say that our definition of community is so narrowly defined that it no longer includes anyone that we disagree with or anyone that we find undesirable. What I call our 'here & now' communities -- the people we actually share our physical realm with, people that shop at the same grocer, people that drive on the same streets, -- are suffering severely because of our intolerance & narrow scope of community.

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roody Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:15 AM
Response to Original message
30. Pastors for Peace is out there, disobeying.
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FightingIrish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:26 AM
Response to Reply #30
33. We need alot more of that.
An elderly nun who taught me in high school has been routinely jailed for protesting against the School of the Americas. It's time for more than just the usual suspects to stand up. When people with fortunes and reputations to put at risk step forward others will follow.
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roody Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:03 AM
Response to Reply #33
37. It's coming. I am expecting a critically massive
change in human consciousness and a peaceful revolution.
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TheMightyFavog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:23 AM
Response to Original message
32. Oh, but people around my neck of the woods took to the streets just recently...
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1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:51 AM
Response to Original message
36. again. machetes to the throats of the privileged might make us all feel good?
but how does shutting down the economy of a nation, that would mean that most of the citizens of that nation would not get paychecks and that action would push most of them over the edge financially, accomplish anything but anarchy?

is that the point? millions of people get to starve and have their lives ruined so that we can exact some sort of blood revenge on "the man"?

i hope not. i guess i don't get hate. i don't hate.

but, whatever... fuck up those on the edge for your hate. my god...


fuck me...


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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:13 AM
Response to Reply #36
38. The economy is going to be shut down by the very corporations that run this
nation. Not by a bunch of idiots rioting in the streets.


The Congress and Presidency are little more than enablers of the most egregious greedbags in the history of the planet. They have bankrupted the nation with a war on credit, deregulation of the banking system and the unbridled speculation in oil and other energy. Enron. They have slurped up and sold off the entire manufacturing base and left the infrastructure in this country to rot while giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy and those very corporations stealing your retirement.


Blood in the streets will be a consequence of collapse, not the cause.

Store food.

Learn to defend yourself.

It cannot go on like this much longer.

chicken little might be right, this time.
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1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:49 AM
Response to Reply #38
39. ok. cool. so its just going to take care of itself. i don't have to be an "idiot" ...
rioting in the streets.


*practices kung foo moves while storing food...*

got it. check. assumes "crane kick" pose...

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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:36 AM
Response to Reply #39
49. Idiot in this case is not pejorative. I am one of those idiots.
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 10:37 AM by cliffordu
edit for spEling(sic)
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readmoreoften Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:27 AM
Response to Reply #36
40. An organized working class taking over the means of production does not cause 'starvation'
Capitalists produce NOTHING. They create nothing. They manufacture nothing. They are not doctors, lawyers, vets, farmers, elevator operators, or policemen. They don't know how to change their oil or cook their own meals. They are unnecessary for the health as leeches.

Yes, anytime a structure is shaken up lives are at risk. So what. How many millions of people have been slaughtered by this system?

You say that you don't understand "hate". I don't understand how you can't understand why an Iraqi might hate you for what you haven't done.
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:43 AM
Response to Reply #40
52. I would personally begin any revolution by taking to task all the speculators...
And I disagree on one point.

Leeches actually produce a value when used to drain coagualting blood from the sites of reattached limbs....

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Truth4Justice Donating Member (806 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:40 AM
Response to Reply #36
42. This isn't' about "getting revenge" on "the man". Its about saving our country and our lives. n/t
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 02:40 AM by Truth4Justice
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datasuspect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #36
68. when secretary Not Sure switched from Brawndo to water
we got burrito coverins, but the chex stopped.

and my shit got all emotional.
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NuttyFluffers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 05:48 AM
Response to Original message
43.  “You can always count on America to do the right thing,...
... but only after it has exhausted all other possibilities.” -- attributed to Winston Churchill

perhaps it's a statement that applies to more than just the gov't? ;)
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MrSlayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 06:12 AM
Response to Original message
44. HAHAHAHA! You aren't serious? Right?
Because people are too self-absorbed to run out in the streets. I myself, am guilty of that. When the crunches really hurt everyone, is when some sort of Revolution will happen. By then it will be too late to really do anything about it. American society is being, and has been for a long time, conditioned to accept corporate rule. The movie "Idiocracy" wasn't far off the mark.
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leveymg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 09:15 AM
Response to Original message
45. Amen, and pass the ammunition. I've got your back. eom
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zanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:04 AM
Response to Original message
47. Because, no matter how bad things get....
"It can't happen here".
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dysfunctional press Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:11 AM
Response to Original message
48. we drove to dc from chicago in january 2001 to 'take to the streets' to protest the coronation...
i had assumed that many many many more people would have done the same.

not too many did, considering the size of the population.

my wife and i, and the banner i made even made it into fahrenheit 9/11:


but just like today- apparently not enough people are as of yet pissed-off enough to take to the streets in numbers big enough to be seen/heard AND make a difference.
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Imagevision Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
50. Freegin gas prices aren't any help...!
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exothermic Donating Member (570 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
51. There are no keyboards out there.
:shrug:
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Common Sense Party Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-22-08 10:54 AM
Response to Reply #51
89. DING! DING! DING!
Duzy worthy.
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:45 AM
Response to Original message
53. My wife is in the street every week on Saturday,
with a huge sign that says "IMPEACH" on one side and "WAKE UP!" on the other. She's joined by 4 or 5 others, who've been there since before the invasion of Iraq. They don't get lots of others to stand with them, but more and more support all the time from dwindling numbers of motorists and increasing numbers of pedestrians.
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shadowknows69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:16 AM
Response to Reply #53
56. Your wife rocks!!!
That's what it's about. If we had a million doing this every saturday in one place someone would have to notice. If a million of us started blocking highways someone would notice.
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otohara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 10:48 AM
Response to Original message
54. Oh There Will Be People In The Streets of DENVER
grrrr.....I want to go downtown and hang out during the convention and enjoy the excitement, but there will be many protesters, who I think should save it for St.Paul Minn. Go to the GOP convention people, they are the one's who dug us into this hole.
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:11 AM
Response to Original message
55. It's because there is no common culture anymore except TV
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 11:18 AM by Lydia Leftcoast
TV keeps us in our living rooms instead of out talking to our neighbors. TV fills our heads with what commercial interests want us to hear, drowning out what we know in our hearts, telling us how to think about things, and replacing traditional cultures and means of expressions with increasingly awful commercially produced "content."

I've recently seen two films about people taking to the streets: The Singing Revolution, which tells how Estonia (along with the other Baltic States) helped precipitate the break-up of the Soviet Union, and Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, which tells about the role of music in the struggle against apartheid.

Estonia has a strong musical culture, including literally thousands of folk songs, and a love of choral singing, nurtured from an early age with children's choirs. Since the middle of the 19th century, while Estonia was still under Czarist Russia, there has been a national choral festival every year. The Soviets allowed these festivals to continue, although in censored form: no patriotic songs, no religious songs, and required singing of the Soviet national anthem. In the 1980s, these festivals became the venues for acts of rebellion, such as unscheduled, unapproved singing of Estonian patriotic songs or displays of the old national flag. In time, political demonstrations turned into song festivals, and song festivals turned into political demonstrations.

The other Baltic States have strong musical traditions, too, and perhaps it's no coincidence that these three nations were able to pull off an amazing feat of non-violent resistance: a 600-km (about 400 miles) human chain stretching from the southern border of Lithuania through Latvia and to the northern border of Estonia.

Black South Africans are another people with a strong musical tradition. I once heard a radio documentary on this subject, and it was clear that singing is a part of everyday life, not just solo singing, but singing in parts. (Ladysmith Black Mambazo is just one representative of an extensive tradition of men's singing groups, and I once saw a documentary about all-night contest for such groups.) There's also a tradition of making up songs on the spot and having other people improvise harmonies.

Add to this the fact that few whites in South Africa bothered to learn Zulu or other African languages beyond what they called "Kitchen Kaffir," a few simple instructions to servants.

It was only natural that people would sing as they marched and that the words they sang were extremely defiant. One of the favorites, first sung in the early 1950s, was "Look out, Verwoerd (the prime minister who was one of the masterminds of apartheid), the black man is coming." One often sung at funerals was, "Our heroes have gone away, but we're still here."

This film interviews former exiles, such as Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba, and former activists and guerillas about the role that music played in their part of the struggle. It ends with a joyous, music-filled celebration of Nelson Mandela's release from prison.

Seeing how music united people and kept their spirits up in two very different countries made me think about the situation of non-commercial music-making in this country. Perhaps it's no coincidence that music is one of the first subjects to be cut when a school district is having budget problems, while sports have come to dominate more and more of the entertainment landscape. Music, especially choral singing, promotes a "we're all in this together" mentality, while team sports promote an "us against them" mentality.
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windoe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:47 AM
Response to Reply #55
58. Great post, folk music here in the 60s
was a driving force to end war. Music unifies and creates cooperation and harmony.
Recently on PBS was a reunion of all the folk singers of the 60s--it was so deeply moving to hear these songs, you just don't hear them anymore, as if they just disappeared. Yes, they are VERY powerful!! If they were revived, we would see a lot of action.

All these songs resonate again, they are meant to strengthen resolve, remind us of who we are, and lift hearts :hi:
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #58
63. The U.S. civil rights movement was another "Singing Revolution"
not only the well-known "We Shall Overcome," but also "We Will Not Be Moved" and other rousers.
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #55
71. I am compelled to disagree.
Children shunned (or worse) by society usually turn to alternate means; perhaps as surrogates. Shunned solely because they are different in some small way. (Just one example of many, which is why I'm not sure television deserves the whole blame.)

Television may be an extension of the human condition, but the human condition itself is the core issue.

Neither are music or video games that promote ill activities.

What people often forget is not the how, but the why. When we let the media raise our children, with no adult supervision, of course immoral, criminal, or other unsavory behavior will rise. The media loves to be crude, but nobody (anywhere) is still saying "In order to have a civilization, remember we are lampooning things". Patronizing, yes. But children aren't born - they're taught.

Circa 1950, students got a rap on the wrist for chewing a piece of gum. These days, a student could chew it, share it, spit it on the teacher, and then find an excuse to sue the school system and win. What caused the rules to become lax. How. Why has nobody taken noticed and corrected things and remind us of basic facts?

And you're right - modern television is awful. Nobody wants to take chances on even innovations; digging up corpses of old shows just to give them fancy effects and shallowness is all the rage.

I know I'm missing your point, and I ought to check my blood sugar level too. Just my two cents, looking from the outside in.
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #71
72. Those who see through the façade are usually isolated
That's one of the effects of the over-commercialization of everyday life.

The purpose of commercial entertainment is to make ordinary people believe that everyone is affluent, fashionably-dressed, physically attractive, athletic, and enjoying a fantastic love life--except them. The unspoken message is, "Buy our products and you, too, can be one of the Beautiful People."
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shadowknows69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:18 AM
Response to Original message
57. I'm pretty much physically disabled and I can't afford a wheel chair
Or I'd roll out there every day. I've got spare time. Problem is one man or a million people won't matter if we're not noticed, promoted or engaged.
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ColbertWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
59. It's hot.
I'm tired.

My feet hurt.

No one else is.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
60. I've wondered that since November, 2000. I guess we're simply not as brave as Romanians, Czechs, etc
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 11:53 AM by WinkyDink
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shadowknows69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:55 AM
Response to Reply #60
62. I'm afraid that's the ugly truth it comes down to
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MadrasT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
61. FightingIrish
We're on the same page, and :yourock:
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Imagevision Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:57 AM
Response to Original message
64. Cheney says no to 60's style protest/marches, "they" will stop us from occupying the streets
we don't have the rights we did in the 60's...
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shadowknows69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:02 PM
Response to Reply #64
65. Now we could all be declared enemy combatants and detained indefinitely
Let's face it, they have us scared shitless.
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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
66. Well said! Please elucidate here:
"then taunts us with the imminence of his next strategic blunder."

To what do you refer?
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FightingIrish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #66
69. IRAN
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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:16 PM
Response to Reply #69
70. Now I know I need to chill. thanks. nt
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alfredo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:10 PM
Response to Original message
67. It's too fuckin hot, I have a ton of e-mail, and I have to watch
this rental movie before it times out.
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Initech Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 12:27 PM
Response to Original message
73. This is American politics in a nutshell and why we are not in the streets:
"I like what the puppet on the left says." "No, I like what the puppet on the right says." "Hey look, there's one guy holding up both puppets!" "SHUT UP! Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control. Here, here's Dancing With The Stars. Watch this and get fat and stupid. Hey look, it's American Idol. Oh and keep drinking Pepsi you fucking morons!!!"
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La Lioness Priyanka Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
76. do you want to lose this election? seriously, if we go into impeachment proceedings now
and get into a bitter battle with the republicans, obama's chances of winning will be in the toilet.

glad pelosi has the common sense to know this.
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #76
78. Unless impeachment proceedings bring all the dirt out into the open
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 06:01 PM by Lydia Leftcoast
:shrug:
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crimsonblue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 04:04 PM
Response to Original message
77. I'm not in the streets
because I'm waiting for a pirated movie to finish downloading....
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whatchamacallit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 08:50 PM
Response to Original message
79. Because GITMO, FISA, extraordinary rendition, legalized torture, suspension of Habeas Corpus...
Have cowed us. Most Americans are scared shitless of the Mafia known as the Bush administration.
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FogerRox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 08:53 PM
Response to Original message
80. Go to MyBarackObama.com and create your Obama rally, event party
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paparush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 09:03 PM
Response to Original message
81. I spent a day in the streets in DC, January 2007. We'd just won the House and Senate
and we were going to bring the troops home, repeal the Patriot Act, and reign in Bush. I heard John Conyers and Maxine Waters give impassioned speeches on the Mall. Jane Fonda was there. The streets were jammed. Maybe half a million strong. It was powerful.

18 months later....nuthin. Not one goddamn thing. Ok. Gonzales is gone, but replaced by as bad if not worse.
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laststeamtrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 09:17 PM
Response to Original message
82. "Nothing's over until we say it's over. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"
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NNN0LHI Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 09:42 PM
Response to Original message
84. That is so pre-Kent State
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Blue-Jay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 09:44 PM
Response to Original message
85. My WiFi doesn't reach that far.
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billyoc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:00 PM
Response to Original message
87. When the pain of doing nothing gets bad enough, the people may act.
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jayfish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 11:13 PM
Response to Original message
88. In A Nutshell.
People are afraid to lose all the stuff they've been loaned by the bank.

Jay
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