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Talk is Cheap. How About a General Strike?


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2013 Sep 13, 2:30am   7,000 views  20 comments

by freak80   ➕follow (1)   💰tip   ignore  

Since our government is owned and controlled by the top 0.1%, how about a general strike? How else will average people be heard?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

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1   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 2:40am  

Call it Crazy says

Good luck with that...


You would have to turn off cable (NFL, Dancing with the Stars, Idol, etc.)
then turn off cell service so people couldn't update the FB page..


Then maybe you might get a response...

Good point.

2   MisdemeanorRebel   2013 Sep 13, 4:00am  

I think periodic general strikes are good just to remind people that without long-criticized and undervalued "Labor", nothing gets done.

Can't think of a scenario that's feasible that would generate one, sad to say.

3   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 4:06am  

thunderlips11 says

Can't think of a scenario that's feasible that would generate one, sad to
say.

If the Arab Spring can happen in brutal, dictatorial regimes; why can't something similar happen here?

I'm fed up with a few ultra-rich sociopaths owning our government.

4   mell   2013 Sep 13, 4:13am  

freak80 says

thunderlips11 says

Can't think of a scenario that's feasible that would generate one, sad to

say.

If the Arab Spring can happen in brutal, dictatorial regimes; why can't something similar happen here?

I'm fed up with a few ultra-rich sociopaths owning our government.

Karl Denninger actually did this and shut his blog down plus any commerce on Wednesday. I forgot to take an unpaid leave day, so I bitched it ;) But people on here don't like him because of (insert_any_irrelevant_reason_here), So it's tough with Americans because they are either too distracted with keeping up with their favorite "reality" show or they cannot join somebody who is arguing against their pre-fabricated "ideology" in some irrelevant point. You have to hand it to the government, Fed and the rest if the elite that this is a brilliantly designed system ;)

5   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 4:24am  

Maybe TV is the Opiate of the Masses.

6   MisdemeanorRebel   2013 Sep 13, 5:03am  

www.iww.org

Direct Action gets the goods ;)

7   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 5:11am  

Wow, the IWW?? I didn't know they were still around.

Hey look, a black Chevy Suburban just pulled up outside my window...

8   Blurtman   2013 Sep 13, 5:26am  

If enough people are made to believe that they might get ahead, then there is no strike. And if enough people do bet pissed, the tried and true "we are under attack by an external threat" false flag can be pulled again. It's easy. Look at how many young people volunteered to fight in Iraq. How were they defending our freedom, exactly?

9   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 5:53am  

Blurtman says

How were they defending our freedom, exactly?

They were defending us from the evil "A-rabs." ;-)

10   dublin hillz   2013 Sep 13, 5:58am  

The problem is that on relative power index vs most of the rest of the world, we are still doing much better which does not lend itself to a strike. For instance, american doctors, lawyers, service reps, etc still make more than their colleagues in other countries and I believe that many people intuitively get this. When you combine this along with tv is the opiate of the masses syndrome, the odds don't look good. And remember, the whole OWS thing was never about the united 99%, for the most part it was the lower 30% that was actively pissed.

11   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 6:14am  

dublin hillz says

When you combine this along with tv is the opiate of the masses syndrome, the odds don't look good.

And we still have a large percentage of the population that believes in a Pie in the Sky When You Die.

12   MisdemeanorRebel   2013 Sep 13, 6:17am  

OWS failed because the schmucks made it all about legalizing marijuana, tibetan liberation, etc.*

Recently there there was some dude in the Guardian who was talking about "Broad Fronts". We don't need a Broad Front, we need a narrow one. There are PLENTY of tea party and libertarian types who would get behind a "No Bank Bailout" scheme, but when they see Hipster RadFem Trust Fund Babies with Blue Hair ranting about Patriarchy, they stay home - as does most of the reasonable Left.

* Mykeru's Law: "As any progressive movement grows and achieves success, the probability of it being co-opted by women who want to make it all about their vagina approaches 1"

Orwell (paraphrased): "The left fails because it attracts too many vegetarian activists and people obsessed with deep breathing".

In fact I hold that Social Justice Warriors are responsible for our current situation. Instead of combating one-way Free Trade and the busting of unions and worker protections, the energy of the Left was spent whinging about how gender is non-binary.

13   MisdemeanorRebel   2013 Sep 13, 6:22am  

TL;DR: We either need a populist party that ignores cultural warrior issues, or purge the left of culture warriors.

14   freak80   2013 Sep 13, 6:38am  

Thunder,

I agree completely. Well said.

15   smaulgld   2013 Sep 13, 7:57am  

Remember a couple of years ago there was a call for people to move all of their money from the too big to fail banks and into smaller institutions -never happened.

People move in mass usually only when forced or threatened

16   CL   2013 Sep 13, 8:48am  

freak80 says

And we still have a large percentage of the population that believes in a Pie in the Sky When You Die.

Amen! Regardless if you believe in religion's emphasis on humility, sacrifice and ego shrinking, you'd have to admit that the most unscrupulous 1%er wouldn't even be able to dream of the subservience that it engenders. If they didn't invent the core of religion, they would have. It works great to weaken the willpower of the enslaved to make things right, here. To get your fair share, now. Turn the other cheek, indeed! It's really hard to hit you as hard or as often as I want to if you fight back.

thunderlips11 says

OWS failed because the schmucks made it all about legalizing marijuana, tibetan liberation, etc.*

It also failed because so many don't understand or believe that income inequality is a problem. If it had been only stripped down to its core, most of the American people are so easily divided and manipulated by the teevee men, they'd attack you as being a "class warrior" or "Karl Marx". CNBC and Cavuto would be "explaining" to you that you don't believe that because you aren't an envious person, and someday you'll be rich too! You won't want these dogs nipping at your heels when THAT day comes, now, will you?

The problem, as always, is the system and its voters.

17   Blurtman   2013 Sep 13, 9:06am  

dublin hillz says

The problem is that on relative power index vs most of the rest of the world, we are still doing much better which does not lend itself to a strike. For instance, american doctors, lawyers, service reps, etc still make more than their colleagues in other countries and I believe that many people intuitively get this. When you combine this along with tv is the opiate of the masses syndrome, the odds don't look good. And remember, the whole OWS thing was never about the united 99%, for the most part it was the lower 30% that was actively pissed.

It's not how Americans are doing compared to the ROW. The average slob doesn't travel outside of the USA and doesn't have a clue. And BTW, other countries are doing better than the USA.

It is really how Americans are doing compared to how they think they should be doing.

18   FortWayne   2013 Sep 13, 9:29am  

Strikes are easy to organize if you can spend money. Events like that are never started by the poor people.

19   smaulgld   2013 Sep 13, 9:53am  

sbh says

I'm fed up with a few ultra-rich sociopaths owning our government.

They exist on both sides of the political spectrum.

20   Heraclitusstudent   2013 Sep 13, 10:32am  

FortWayne says

Strikes are easy to organize if you can spend money. Events like that are never started by the poor people.

Mohamed Bouazizi started one.

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