Occupy Boston Protesters in Their Own Words

Massachusetts political jack-of-all trades (and friend o' Reason) Garrett Quinn went down to Occupy Boston with a video camera, and let protesters describe what it is that they're doing. Not hippie-punching, just a snapshot, including some anti-bailout, anti-Federal Reserve, anti-cop abuse and anti-Obamacare sentiment, among the other stuff:

Comments

[White Indian]

Ain't the city-State grate (ing?)

[Dirty Hippy]

What are the goals of Occupy Boston?

Fuck if I know.

[steve walsh]

God almighty, what a bunch of inarticulate, unguided fools.

[White Indian]

Got Faux Gnus?

[Tony Boloney]

So many punchable faces, and only two fists.

[cynical]

So many sprayable eyes, you mean.

[White Indian]

"Think about an animal in a zoo...they become psychotic..."

Richard Manning on the Psychosis of Civilization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5iBOXcoP_8

P.S. Schizophrenia and Civilization by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. explains why Richard Manning is correct.

[Blackfoot Honkey]

Pete the Ventriloquist was driving through Wyoming on the way to a comedy club performance when his worn-out old car broke down on a lone stretch of highway. He knew he wasn't too far away from the next small town junction, so he decided to lock up his car and cover the distance on foot. The highway being somewhat remote, traveling through farm and grazing lands, as he walked he came upon a sheep herders field, where a small flock of the animals were being guided and grouped by a frisky little shepherd dog. Sitting on a horse near the fence alongside the highway shoulder where Pete was traveling sat a stern-looking Indian, overseeing the activity. Since he'd been walking in the hot sun and needed to take a short break, Pete decided to stop and engage the Indian for a few moments.

"How's it goin', there, Chief?" he asked after he'd sauntered up to a fence post to lean on. The Indian calmly turned his head towards Pete, his deadpan expression unchanging, then slowly looked back to his sheep. Thinking perhaps he'd gotten things off to a bad start by adressing the Indian with the word "chief," Pete thought he might make another attempt at a friendly greeting, so he said, "Things going alright for you today?" The Indian gave a slow, cursory glance toward Pete, but his stoney expression remained set.

With the realization that the Indian simply wasn't interested in being responsive to his greetings, Pete decided that he might try to have a bit of fun while he took his short break from walking. So he said, "Man, that's a fine-looking horse you've got there. Real smart too, I bet. Does he talk?" The Indian's expression suddenly turned sour and, seemingly annoyed at such an absurd suggestion, he responded curtly, "Horse no talk." Pete saw his opportunity, so he continued, "I dunno, that looks like a talking horse if I ever saw one. Let's find out. How's it goin', horse?" He then used his ventriloquism abilities to disguise his voice and make it appears as though a voice was coming from other than his mouth, and made the horse seem to say, "Terrible. I have to stand here in the hot sun with this guy on my back all day, getting all sweaty and smelly from having a saddle on, and this goddamn bridle just kills my gums. It's horrible."

Hearing this, the Indian's expression suddenly turned to stark surprise at the notion that his horse was actually "talking." Pete realized he had the Indian completely conned. "See, I told you that horse looked like a talking horse!" he said. At that moment the small dog came sauntering over to where the Indian was perched on his steed. At this, Pete saw another chance, and while the Indian was still in awe over his talking horse, he pressed on: "Your dog, here, also looks really smart -- does he talk, too?" The Indian gathered himself somewhat and replied. "No. Dog no talk." Pete said, "Well, let's see. How ya doin', there, dog?" Again, Pete used his ventriloquism, and disguising his voice as though to make the dog appear to reply, said, "Awful, man -- I run around here in the heat doing all the work, looking after these stupid, stinking sheep, and this guy just sits on top of his raggedy-ass horse. It sucks."

Now the Indian was really stunned, believing that he had both a talking horse and a talking dog in his possession. Pete was amazed at the Indian's gullibility, so he pushed further. He noticed that a few of the sheep had strayed over to the where the dog was standing near the horse, so Pete decided to keep it going: "Wow, Chief -- you sure do have a lot of smart animals around here! A talking horse AND a talking dog? Why, I'll bet even some of these sheep can talk." Hearing this, a panicky expression suddenly overcame the Indian as he blurted out, "Nuuhh -- sheep LIE!"

[Lord Humungus]

needs more hippie punching.

[Drake]

The goal is to have a hippy camp-out during the last warm weekend of the year.

[AlmightyJB]

Exactly. Clueless these kids are. That Shannon chicks pretty hot though.

[Greg]

She's probably just waiting for the right small business owner to sweep her off of her feet

[JW]

"Corporations are putting businesses out of business..."

Jesus fucking wept.

[Crapitalist Fucking Jesus]

"...there is no doubt that on the whole Wal-Mart has a depressing effect on the well-being of other local retail businesses..."

Wal-Mart and the Local Economy
Mitch Renkow, Professor and Extension Economist
North Carolina State University
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
Agricultural and Resource Economics
November/December 2005
http://www.ag-econ.ncsu.edu/VI.....vdec05.pdf

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I don't fucking care about the effect Wal-Mart has as long as the government doesn't give them special advantages.

FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME, THE ROOT CAUSE IS NOT THE CORPORATIONS, IT'S THE DAMN GOVERNMENT GIVING AWAY OUR MONEY AND PROPERTY AND PLAYING FAVORITES. THE GOVERNMENT HAS TOO MUCH POWER.

Do you fucking get it yet? Wal-Mart has a right to exist, but the government doesn't have a right to nullify property tax law for them or use eminent domain to get them a nice site for their store. By the same token, small business and minority set-asides are government institutionalizing a gamed system that can be abused and is. It is therefore corrupt and immoral.

[corporations = government]

Corporations are just a government derivative, and would not exist without the state.

The agricultural city-State has always been all about privation property and privileges for the emergent elite.

And don't forget....

"Agriculture creates government." ~Richard Manning, Against the Grain, 73

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Yes, I'm convinced now. I yearn for the tribal days. They're so much more desirable. Just ask the Libyans and most of Central Asia.

I'm done being trolled now.

[Central Asia?]

Central Asia has been civilized the longest. Are you being stupid on purpose?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Yes, you're correct, there are no tribes in Central Asia nor even on the Arabian Peninsula. Now that you mention it, I've never heard of tribal allegiances in Afghanistan or Pakistan, what was I thinking? For God's sake, the Brits were right this entire time, we can just divide that whole area up along arbitrary lines and group them all together the way we see fit. No repercussions will come of it.

[JW]

Scruffy: Chrome + Reasonable.

Life is bliss.

[Chrome + Reasonable]

Libertarian Circle Jerk.

Ignorance is bliss.

[JW]

**Hugs his ignore list**

Roaches check in, but they don't check out.

[40 year old virgin]

Don't let anybody pop your cherry, intellectually or otherwise, JW.

[40 year old virgin]

Yes, you're correct, there are no tribes in Central Asia

Correct, libertarian liar.

All of Asia is subdivided into nation-States, an even more occupational variation of the agricultural city-State.

Any vestigial tribal allegiances forced into nation state, and not a tribal sociopolitical typology.

Nice try, Scruffy, but you just show how intellectually bankrupt is this no-nothing fantasy called libertarianism.

[Alex]

"No-nothing".....

Hey, isn't that "something"? Or did you, in all of your glorious intelligence, forget that the word is "know"?

Yep, you sure are super smart!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I snickered at that part.

[White Indian]

Even more evidence that Reason is mainly about defending the establishment status quo.

It's not that you're there - but you want to preserve the chance.

Successful dominators are Republican.

Wannabe dominators are Libertarian, whining how they're oppressed, cravenly wanting to oppress.

[Drake]

Snarky comments is your evidence?

[White Indian]

What you call snark is actually Pseudospeciation.

Pseudospeciation leads to dehumanization.

Dehumanization is the stuff of Ayn Rand's fantasies -- and Pol Pot's behavior.

Sweep aside those parasites... ~Ayn Rand

[Unleash the Cops!]

More pseudospeciation, dehumanization, calls for aggression:

Cops must be unleashed, and allowed to administer instant punishment ... unleash the cops to clear the streets of bums and vagrants. Where will they go? Who cares?

~Murray Rothbard
Essays of Murray N. Rothbard
Edited by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Ch5.html

Got Pol Pot?

[Yawn]

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

[Resto Druid FTW]

^THIS^ This kid takes an anthropology class, posts what he hopes to be obsure works that prove nothing, and viola, an instant idiot. Misguided as well.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

What you call snark is actually Pseudospeciation.

Why, no. No it's not. Run along now.

[Yawn]

yaaaaaaaaaaawn

[Drake]

Certainly not the best Sabbath album.

[Drake]

So snark is a gateway drug.

Hitler started out as a wise-ass making sarcastic comments about officers during WWI. Next thing you know, 20 million people are dead.

[That Skeptic Guy]

"whining how they're oppressed, cravenly wanting to oppress."

Sounds like the past 150 years of socialism.

[Pantless Deviant]

The primary goal of these layabout idiots is nothing more than entertainment. This kind of street theater is what they do for fun; instead of hitting a college football game on Saturday afternoon, they gather at what in the '60s used to be called a "happening" -- it's simply the Hip Place To Be, dressed up in the guise of Social Concern.

The other major factor is that these kind of happenings serve as therapy for the gatherers -- a way to let them feel as though they're accomplishing . . . something, without actually getting tangible results in the process.

[Hosni Mubarak]

That's exactly what I thought.

[99%]

Football is so competitive (yuck!).

[Cooperation beats competition]

Perry W. Buffington, Ph.D. says:

Which works better, competition or cooperation? The answer, without equivocation, is cooperation. Although most people are surprised by this, scientists have repeatedly verified it in hundreds of studies since the late 1800s. Yet big business, the educational system....

Got that Public Education working for ya there, bold libertarian? LOL

[Drake]

Sure. Steve jobs made his $8 billion by cooperating? He never went out of his way to introduce better products than the "competition".

[Cooperation beats competition]

Know-nothing ibertarianism is intellectually bankrupt.

[Drake]

Really Nana?

[I'm not listening]

Marty Brounstein says:

For many people, the biggest challenges they face... deal with communicating to others.

"Communicating Effectively for Dummies"
ISBN-10: 0764553194

[Joshua]

Like the cooperation of a free market where if I want something and somebody wants to sell it to me & we make a trade? Works for me!

[That Skeptic Guy]

"Like the cooperation of a free market where if I want something and somebody wants to sell it to me & we make a trade? Works for me!"

No, cooperation in the sense that the government tells you to do something, and you do it or else go to jail and lose everything you have.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, it's all about image. Same as always.

[steve walsh]

"The primary goal of these layabout idiots is nothing more than entertainment."

The secondary goal being to get laid.

[Restoras]

Meh. Inarticulate, bored hipsterz upset with the dawning (on them) knowledge that life is not a picnic, no one owes you a living, and ultimately you are responsible for the choices you make.

[Erich Honecker]

Ja, that's exactly what I thought.

[Floyd]

I doubt that, since East Germany was predicated on the idea that someone *does* owe you a living, and that the state is ultimately responsible.

[Floyd, city-Statist]

You figure the agricultural city-State owes you privation property rights -- the government's biggest (Land) enTitlement program -- right?

You and Erich Honecker are two peas in a pod on the Mises-Marx axis of evil.

[Floyd]

Could someone translate that into English?

[Restoras]

I think you have to know the original Klingon - it doesn't translate well based on logic and reason.

[BakedPenguin]

....in their own words

Herp derp?

[JW]

It's really cute how these kids haven't had their hopes and dreams crushed underfoot by reality yet and the malaise of learned helplessness hasn't seeped in to their zeitgeist.

Of course, being a libertarian, that happened to me decades ago. You get used to it, kids, you get used to it.

[Drake]

Like Restoras said - it is just starting to dawn on them and they are pissed as hell. So they will camp out and hold their breath until somebody changes reality for them.

[JW]

It's more than that, though.

These upper-middle class schmucks still think they can effect any significant change today, esp. with an incoherent movement, that doesn't involve shooting people.

Yeah, go ahead and occupy that park with your impotent rage and drum circles and convince yourself that you are really doing something good and that the powers-that-be realy, REALLY want to hear Truth? spoken to them. It'll make for great rocking chair memories.

[Marie Antoinette]

go ahead and occupy that park with your impotent rage

That's exactly what I thought.

[Floyd]

Oh, I get it now - snarky response for each deposed leader. So what's the goal, then - deposing Obama? That would at least be a coherent message.

[Pantless Deviant]

Charles Cooke has a spot-on take of this nonsense over at National Review Online:

Far from being the Lexington of the Left's revolution, Zuccotti Park has become the stage for something quite different: It is the first posthumous Grateful Dead concert, with a sprinkling of Brechtian aestheticism thrown in for good measure.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....-c-w-cooke

[Nicolae Ceau?escu]

That's exactly what I thought!

[TAHMMY]

FACK YOU FEDERAL FACKIN RESERVE! YOU AHH WORSE THAN THE FACKIN YANKEES! YANKEES SACK! DAHKIES SACK! FOOTBALL PEDROIAHH IS THE GREAHTEST PLAYAH OF AHLL FACKING TIME! TAHMMY FACKIN BRADY IS THE GREATEST FACKIN QUAHTAHBACK OF ALL FACKIN TIME! DAHKIES SACK! HOW YOU LIKE DEM APPLES!

[bosty]

needs more "WICKED RETAHDED"s

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I find it amusing that they get the concept of the big banks and the Fed being implicitly involved in the fundamental financial problems, but it ends right about there.

RP has made some inroads into their consciousness, the problem comes with the differences in recommended solutions.

[Occupy the Creationist Museum!]

R(evol)ution minus (Evol)ution is just R(etarded.)

[Zombie Jimbo]

Why? I'm guessing the gift shop would be fun, but do they have a nice food court, too?

[Almanian]

I am the 1%

[Richard Fuld]

That's what I said!

[cmoney]

oh hai Shannon Buada

[cmoney]

For the record, that park they're on, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, is the crowning achievement of the $15B boondoggle known as the Big Dig.

[Benjamin]

Oh, to be young and politically naive again. I worked on Clinton's campaign back in 92 and even met him a couple of times. (Hey, at least he didn't get much done and had a growing economy.)

This time around I could camp and if I spewed forth the proper hatred of banks and corporations; I'd have a pretty good chance of getting laid. That and digital camera's to record said events for posterity makes me a tad jealous of these young whipper snappers. Of course I'd look back and want to throttle myself, but the pictures/video would be nice.

[40 year old virgin]

the proper hatred of banks and corporations; I'd have a pretty good chance of getting laid

40 year old virgin libertarian?

Empathy is what women crave, dude. Gityasum.

LOL

[ChrisO]

It's funny (and frustrating), because in watching this you can almost see a few libertarian items rattling around in their heads, in amongst all the mindless college-lefty spew about evil corporations and banks.

There might be some raw material there to work with, if they could be de-programmed from the Chomskyite crap they've been taught in school.

BTW, I'm pretty sure I knew the basic functions of a bank by the time I was 12 or 13, if not before. I'd be curious to ask some of these folks exactly what they think a bank does.

[cmoney]

hold on to your money, water it, and let it grow?

[toaster oven]

Garret is very ahticulate.

[That Skeptic Guy]

It's just people parroting the same old hippie idealism with one mention of Obamacare and the Fed.