Stop Me Before I Vote Again

i find this banal yippie like
lampooning
of the futility of this jobs march
or any jobs march for that matter
idiotic cynicism ...at best

and
to conflate rank and file mass movement types
that hauled their asses to DC
with their often Dembot controled
union pie card back stage manipulators ..
is seriously shoddy thinking

in this instance
its flugnutz himself
that's the lemming
a sour feather bed anarcho-lemming
in my estimation

"I despise Cockburn for this wanton cudgeling."

I know genuine left people who went to this. They had a strange attitude toward it, not unlike OP's. They recognized that it was a DP front operation and despised that, of course, and yet, they thought it was an opportunity to do some agitation among other like-minded people

Personally I'm skeptical -- I tend to think that the institution-reinforcing element does more harm than the agitation does good.

But who knows? One could be mistaken.

OP, you're being a bit hard on Mike don't ya think? I mean I see your point, but I see Mike's too.

But hey, what do I know? Not much.

dp:
i submit
lots of folks have mike's view
and make mike's point --if not so colorfully --
and
they make it frequently these days
and
not just about
the nation's string
of sterile cuckoo demos
but about the entire raft
of legit pwogie "leadership "organized
mass mobilizations
to register the truth
"this shit ain't gettin it done "
is surely necessary
but to hypno eye and goon smile
the pwogie base foot soldiers
is to pin the rap on the victims
of a social construction
that has so limited their course of action

MF is just burned out, methinks. See his recent work and the comment about retiring to Mexico. As op-san says, people aren't dancing and smiling as they squander their efforts on "One Nation" rip-offs. There's lietrally no other game in town. The anti-war movement flung itself on the Obama sword, and us lefties haven't done squat about that. The labor "movement" is as subordinate as ever to the Dimbo sales campaign. Corporate media is more firmly in control of the cogito-sphere than ever, as "screen time" continues to expand.

This from the mission statement:

"And on 11-2-10, we will march again – into the voting booths. We will bring our families, our friends, and our neighbors. And once the ballots are counted, we will keep organizing, we will hold our leaders accountable, and we will keep making our dream real."

Sorry, if the participants are signing on to this part, Mike seems to have it right. At the same time, isn't this way it has always worked? Power appropriates discontent? They just work a lot faster than they used to. The appropriate before any movement coalesces. Will less change come from this than a march and movement of non-partisan, genuine lefts?

So, you hold people who vote to be one and the same as the people who wrote the mission statement?

Nobody denies that responsibility is divided, and that some of the blame lies with the commoners.

But, until most or all of it does, I'm sticking to trying to spread the word about power. That's my understanding of being a leftist.

The day I conclude the people are more to blame than the masters is the day I stop paying attention, to say nothing of writing or drawing cartoons.

I sense op is sitting in a wooden skiff atop a big, wide, muddy river, loading a hook with cheese balls, and hoping to catch a few channel cats or suckers.

Maybe what people really need to do is debate details of micro-economics, engage in a Super Bowl of Econometrics. That sounds super-productive to me. Surely it earns avoidance of the taint of cynicism.

The day I conclude the people are more to blame than the masters is the day I stop paying attention, to say nothing of writing or drawing cartoons.

You're arguing with a straw man here. That is not what the cartoon is saying and that's not what I am saying. The cartoon is clearly saying that solidarizing oneself with the Democratic Party is self-destructive. What's up for debate is the extent to which the participants are knowingly doing that.

oxy
the muddy waters toxic cat fishing tableau sounds like paradise to me
just the right blend
of basic human condition
and absurdest conditioning

as to this:

" debate details of micro-economics, engage in a Super Bowl of Econometrics."

seems
--no matter how understandably--
the product of scholastical jesuit reaction
to modern conditions
not the transcendent leap toward liberation
it attempts to co opt

"What's up for debate is the extent to which the participants are knowingly doing that"
no debate there at all
and precisely to the point

many there were knowingly...NOT doing that
NOT there to rally
hearts for the ballot box rubber stampede
ahead

okay so no one trashed the demo black block style
no one seattle ized it either
much to our jaded blade
flug nutz
disappointment it seems

So, you hold people who vote to be one and the same as the people who wrote the mission statement?

No. I am criticizing people who vote in the spirit of the quoted passage, which is basically a call to vote for Democrats. People who vote with both eyes open, I got no problem with.

The argument here, again, isn't about the merits of the rank and file signing up for this. It is the extent to which they are fortifying power against their own interests by participating. If you look at the website, getting out the vote is very much what they are about.

It's really hard to find a way to get through another silly day, without thinking about...

getting out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD42yG5Hc8c

I understand op's point, I feel Mikes point.

MF is just burned out, methinks. See his recent work and the comment about retiring to Mexico.

If you can't argue merits, you can always pathologize.

Okay, crispy, you caught me. I'm just making stuff up when I suggest the author of this is burnt out:

"It's the kind of hopeless dysfunctionality that makes me really impatient to reach my 60th birthday, so the DW and I can retire to Mexico, kick back with a fattie and a couple of margaritas, and watch this whole goddamn' shithouse collapse on TV."

Yep, I'm just pathologizing so I can avoid thinking about what hopeless pack of self-deluded idiots everybody is.

Yep, I'm just pathologizing so I can avoid thinking about what hopeless pack of self-deluded idiots everybody is.

No you're pathologizing so you can join op on that soapbox that lefty intellectual types occasionally climb on to align themselves with the working people in the abstract. It's religion, not politics and way out of proportion to the substance of Mike's cartoon.

Seems a lot of folks who, by all appearances are not burnt out, went to this pseudo-event and were left with the same impression as Mike. See the Black Agenda Report for instance.

This 'movement' like the Obama 'movement' is about funneling votes to the Democratic Party and anyone who aligns with it is acting against their interests. That's all the cartoon says. Get off your fucking high horse.

And by the way, pathologizing is always dirty pool. It doesn't matter if Mike is burnt out. The POV of his satire makes valid or invalid claims.

If the point of view in this case is so indefensible, it's a wonder why you and op have resorted entirely to ad hominems.

bold anon :

" to align themselves with the working people in the abstract.... Get off your fucking high horse"

-------------
among the many ascripted tasks
self appropriated by us
of the invisible
unreconstituded
general staff
of the international working class

i prefer the fantasy role
of double talking
hermit kampf-wizard

a kinda burgerlicked
yoda
to the raw en soi ranks
of the yahoo gringo prole klass

http://www.guidedbyyoda.com/images/yoda_in_swamp.jpg

only when i try this gig on
those tehwwwible palefaced wage smurfs
just giggle and snort at me

some day they'll listen
and i'll make my pinko chops

"resorted entirely to ad hominems. "

crispy dear heart...have we now ???

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/one-nation-under-grip-not-groove

"A rally for jobs, justice and education that occurs only two years after the election of a president and party who apparently cannot deliver either and which blames not the party in power for those two years but only the fringe elements of the out-of-power right wing, is a rally that ... is One Nation under no groove only a grip. And this grip of the Democrats is no soft hold. It is a death grip."

and one is to assume md and me don't agree

" It is a strangle hold designed to squeeze the life out of progressive elements within their own party and throughout the rest of the country ..."

toon that

show some zillion armed party hack monster strangling a rainbow of pwog folks
while babbling one nation happy talk
at em out of dozens of heads

"one party strangling us togather"

one nation one progress one party ... 10 million stragulations !!!

---------------

sunm up:

"... In what is being heralded as a largely successful mobilization of a young, energetic, diverse movement led by unionized labor and civil rights organizations was really a carefully manicured slap in the face of those traditions of struggle."
heralded as such
by who azzzactly....rachel minddough

follows this critique:

" Rather than the traditions of each, which include bold, strong irreverent organized acts of disobedience today’s versions are safely cajoled spokespersons of the liberal element of the ruling elite."

acts of disobedience ??

a march on the reflecting pool
taking a collective piss in
the nations holy font ???

what ?? take a crap in links lap ???

ala father s stop belt way traffic ???

no it seems here the bold critters and black agenda
mean denounce ohbummer in speech after speech sign after sign

obviously no one hip was fool enough
to try showing up at this pwog/labor establishment gig
with such in mind
none got to "speak "

i have to agree the popular front mobilization
line of the nerf stalinists
runs along these grooves

attack the far right and keep attacking it

without suggesting any betrayals in the past
urge on the WH holding O 'bummer faction
"to move left now "

pure lesser evilism dressed up as
a cop that allows the left to operate out
in the open..speak out and well even maybe act out
.....so long as this prudent left doesn't attack
his majesty the unitary prez

should such a left lend its resources
to these pro jackass rally events ???

--ad hom warning --

a question not answered effectively here
by blunt hammered
soft landing type
anarcho magic dragons
that find their best punch
is to ridicule the foot soldiers
at this demo

as a bunch of multi colored
hypnotized
college joes and sallys

"scant reference of King’s own disillusion with his dream "

blaming oxen for not being lions

".. the Dixiecrats of old are the Democrats of today"
useless rhetorical turn

"( the Democrats of today )..are still the “enemies of the Negro.”
now that line
properly fleshed out
is as true as can be
but to conflate harry truman and strom thurmond
is not to show the specific role of harry truman...and o'bummer

”A banker’s party is a banker’s party no matter the color or gender of the candidate.”

exactly

----------

insight that should have lead off the piece :

"There was one white man I heard this weekend who seems to have not completely lost his mind....actually called for us to devalue the role of elections and the presidency itself by massive, even disruptive civil disobedience and grassroots organization. He is absolutely correct. "

"Calls that we vote specifically because of the lives given toward achieving that right usually miss the point of what those fighting for the vote actually wanted that exercise to deliver."

" Marches that only belatedly call for the elected to deliver that which their benefactors have assured they cannot are simply foolishness."
this perhaps suggests more then it can prove

after all
we have bryanism and the new deal

perhaps its not so easy
to write off
the whole jackass complex as corporate ....eh ??

" New directions with newly-developed methods of popular and public challenges are needed"

exactly

Crispy, would I be pathologizing if I suggested you were perhaps projecting your own pathologizing?

You say I say what I say "so you can join op on that soapbox that lefty intellectual types occasionally climb on to align themselves with the working people in the abstract. It's religion, not politics."

Hmmm....

Meanwhile, your advocacy of evaluating works of art in isolation from the motives and state-of-mind of their creators is [something]. I don't quite have that one diagnosed, but it's [something].

P.S. Next time I go to the M.D., I'm sure hoping to get myself pathologized.

Hey op, here's some ad homs for you: I have never in my life seen an effete, over-educated upper class pussy work so hard at being dull. At least quit with the graphing affectation. I can't imagine there is a single person who reads this blog who isn't relieved on the rare occasions when you dispense with it. That is, if they even bother to read you. Me, I look at the by line and skip you usually.

That you now put your nonsense to solidarizing yourself with the workin' man is particularly surreal, since the underlying contempt for actual people -- particularly working people -- is what makes this site so cringe-makingly disgusting much of the time, despite how witty, smart and eloquent the host is -- the pinko with the boat who likes to beat up on fat black women who write for the Nation.

You too, Dawson. Maybe you should ask that MD to change your meds. I've seen you very smart and eloquent elsewhere, but you're shooting blanks right now. We're not talking about art. We're talking about political discourse and, as ever, Mike's mental state is irrelevant. You were in a creepy way attempting to marginalize his point of view by crediting it to burn out. Mike's cartoon makes the very self-evident claim that the One Nation charade is the equal of the Obama charade: a cliff off of which folks who should know better can jump.

You're right. I shouldn't speculate about your motives. I'll simply observe that you and op have proven nothing really other than that you're a coupla creeps.

Crispy, would I be pathologizing if I suggested you were perhaps projecting your own pathologizing?

You say I say what I say "so you can join op on that soapbox that lefty intellectual types occasionally climb on to align themselves with the working people in the abstract. It's religion, not politics."

You're right. I shouldn't speculate on your motives. I should simply observe that you have said nothing substantive in relation to Mike's comic and have instead erected a fire hydrant peeed on it and left a smelly stain on Mike F., standing nearby. Impressive. You're a serous leftist and an erstwhile defender of the common people. We believe you.

OP, I really can't be bothered with the cutting and the pasting and the cryptic graphing. Really, yawn. I don't find anything you're doing in this discussion credible or interesting enough to bother with. Please, get back to making fun of fat black women who write badly for the Nation.

I can't believe Mike's cartoon, which simply exhorts people to not get snookered again, has actually provoked controversy here.

Sorry for the kind of double posts. I wrote the second one when the first one didn't go through. Attempted to put a lid on my irritation in the second one. Not too concerned but would prefer that the moderator delete the first one along with this.

I suspect most the attendees had a different understanding of the event and the symbolism than the organizers and political leaders. That's usually the case. The organizers, demagogues, opportunists, etc. tap into the distress of people who feel, legitimately, that they've been ignored and misused by their government. The attendees hope that sheer numbers will have an impact. It's understandable that they'd want to give it a try. Nothing else has worked. Perhaps a big display of coaxing, and offering good faith support will do the trick.

The organizers preen over the turnout. The publicity-hungry types try to hijack the event to elevate their personal brands. The Democratic officials who believe they're going to benefit twitch and spasm with loathing for the importunate public, and greed for what can be stolen from it. The attendees who cotton on to what's happened will be resentful, and rightly so. There won't be many. Propaganda is insidious and the feeling of fellowship is powerful. But there'll be a few.

bares a repeat if it gets a perry delete
above --which i presume it won't but for the sauthors request --

i like the stolid stride of it :

"I have never in my life seen an effete, over-educated upper class pussy work so hard at being dull. "

"At least quit with the graphing affectation. "

"I can't imagine there is a single person who reads this blog who isn't relieved on the rare occasions when you dispense with it. "

"That is, if they even bother to read you."

" Me, I look at the by line and skip you usually"

Crispy, you are on the mark buddy! That's all I have.

the product of scholastical jesuit reaction
to modern conditions
not the transcendent leap toward liberation
it attempts to co opt

That's true.

I'm not a sage, I'm just a critic. Maybe sometimes I'll make someone chuckle lightly, hours after they read or hear the joke, in some phantom sense of bemusement at the idea missed.

Besides, what's wrong with finding it boring to watch people counting angels on pinheads?

crispy, that's some righteous scathe.

Thank FSM it's 2010, era of Uncomfortable Humor. 'Cause it reminds me of some stuff I've posted toward op and MD, and... well... I'm feeling like Steve Carell's character on The Office right now.

*******

I agree with Al's post @ 4:40 AM.

oxy
not sure "scathe " is the word
for ultra crispy's
ad hom squib
i'd choose
maybe ...scumble

righteous scumble

op, your remark reminds me of what my grandfather used to say while making breakfast... when he'd forget about the toast and it would be a bit burned, he'd say "looks like it got a little EXTRA-toasty". Sometimes the bacon would get EXTRA-toasty, it would have areas of pure burned carbon. Super-crispy, but the taste was no longer bacon and instead just reformed tertiary protein structures that remind one of eating charcoal.