The new Time poll that found the public more favorably inclined towards Occupy Wall Street protesters than the Tea Party has been making the rounds. From the magazine’s write-up of the poll:
A new Time/ABT SRBI poll finds 54 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the new protest movement, despite the images of bearded and shirtless youth playing bongo drums, rolling cigarettes and painting their bodies in Zuccotti Park.
Huh. Perhaps when the public looks at a protest movement, it pays more attention to substance than the media, who aremore focused onlocating shirtless bongo players.
Bravo, Peter Hart for nailing it once again. And speaking of shirtless bongo players, the New York Times followed the example set by Time Magazine today (NYT 10/14/11 page A2) with a single photo of yesterday’s demonstration at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. It showed the obligatory young demonstrator with his shirt off plus a couple kissing rather repulsively while a second photographer snapped them. The two photographers could well have been working together along with the couple. In any case, both photographers knew what the NYT considered fit to print.
An obliterated sign in the background seems to say something about “U.S.A.” and “BUST.” Evidently the NYT was not interesting in buying photographs of the event that included signs.
Thus the third-largest circulation daily newspaper in the United States chooses to depict the 20th day of nation-wide demonstrations that the corporate media, including the NYT, continue to insist have no clear purpose. Both Time and the NYT do appear to have a purpose, though: to consciously and deliberately misrepresent the OWS demonstrations.
Barechested bongoing doesn’t repulse me in the least.
Brooks Brothers brigandry, on the other hand …
I’m with Doug Latimer. How could a movement with a unified statement against popular culture and the “convention” of corporatist corruption it has become, look any other way?
When does the dancing start? You know “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having”.
Don’t forget the “bearded” aspect, a sure sign of social deviance if not terrorist potential (given the Arab / Islamic prediliction for beards). “Respectable” people such as Wall Street oligarchs and Congressmen (in the 20th-21st Century) rarely have facial hair – contrast with Che Guevara, Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Stalin…
Tea party….A group that wants smaller government control in our lives as proposed under our constitution.
Wall street protestors….A group that wants……
Can we wait until we have truly filled in what this group wants before we start polling people to compare and contrast the two?Till then it is just spin.The other day there were tons of signs out there like …JEWS RUN WALL STREET with a noose hanging a cartoon figure with a big nose.Are we comparing them to the tea party?Or the guy Fox interviewed who said he just wants those making over 250thou to bay 2% more in taxes?
What picture of the protestors does the media choose. FAIR keep track of mainstream media photos of protestors – if they like them it’s a photo of humble looking soldiers, if they don’t like them it’s painted faces with scowls, dressed in street clothes.
Media won’t cover protests in the US, unless they can find a picture of violent goofy painted face on a protestor. When has any media shown protestors that wear suits. This is cheap journalism where the media searches out the most goofy looking person with the most angry petulant scowl. Mainstream media it won’t work. People can see through this use of photos as propaganda. It’s fake journalism . And we both know it.
Why won’t mainstream media talk about US protests unless they turn violent or can be pictured as goofy and childish?
@michael e: There are blatant racists in the Tea Party. And the Tea Party justifiably points out the the overall membership of the group should not be tainted by the extreme attitudes of some of its members. Do you not see the hypocrisy? You– who constantly rail against the imagined hypocrisy of those who call for higher taxes when they haven’t somehow managed to pay more than what their 1040 says they should– do not see the contradiction? You repeatedly point out this manufactured hypocrisy, arguing that it is proper to be dismissive of them, reagardless of whatever academic pedigree or other credentials they might have. So I ask: is it not fair for the rest of the world to summarily dismiss all your ideas and arguments because you are a demonstrated hypocrite?
And by the way: tons of signs? Tons? Really? I call BS on that. Post a link and prove me wrong.
And just because the media says the goals and wants of the wall street protestors are undefined does not make it so. It has been reported here that the occupy wall street movement has several statements of purpose available for the looking on the internet. The media has generally ignored the protests and the information it puts out. So the meme that the protest has no purpose gains traction.
And by the way, how does having a group with no discernible purpose fit into the other right-wing narrative that this is a sinister scheme bankrolled by George Soros and carried out by communist labor unions? So the big conspiracy was to fund a group of people to stand around, attract attention, and then not use the attention it attracted? Really? That’s the theory? Reality is that neither narrative reflects the truth; however, only an idiot could buy both conflicting narratives.
It all boils down to this:
The rallying cry of “less government” really means “more corporate.”
Today’s battle has become “public versus private.”
Were it but true that there is only a single issue at stake in this country. A single governmental policy to attack. A less daunting task that might be than that which is so obvious to this “occupation”, and most of us who read this blog.
What the mainstream media “pretends” not to see (and maybe they really are that stupid and can’t see it) is that this is a cultural movement calling for change in nearly every aspect of our current form of capitalized democracy. A Democracy 2.0 if you will, is what they are after. As we were in the 60’s. As I still am. Where we at last endeavor to protect all life and liberty as our forefathers envisioned for US. Without the interference of an arcane concept such as “corporate personhood”, which is designed for the sole purpose of shielding the owners from their moral obligations by hiding behind a legal structure that gives it all the rights of the individual without the legal responsibilities that a real person would otherwise have in a civil society. So they can poison our water, our food and destroy our environment, and our very lives, without fear of repercussion or litigation (except through “private” arbitration).
Imagine being protected by the Bill of Rights, while at the same time being immune to the social order that governs and regulates those rights. This is the state of modern corporatism.
Anyone who has found their life unexpectedly made difficult through no fault of their own, but rather through domestic and foreign policies that favor corporations at the expense of the working class and the environment, or anyone who fails to understand the mentality of war, or injustice, or cruelty or oppression. Anyone who recognizes greed and unfettered power in our corporatist leaders and the unfair free-market they invented for their own personal but private “welfare”, they, WE are the 99%.
OCCUPY DEMOCRACY!!!
Thanks, John, for your astute comment to michael e, whose sole aim seems to be to paint the OWS protesters as anti-semetic. I have been watching closely on youtube, facebook and have attended occupation activities in my own city and nowhere have I seen anything that michael e describes. Just poisonous lying, just like the corporate interests who have hijacked our country one step at a time.
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Thanks, John, for the best yet response to the FAIR troll. And thanks, Ann. It is good to know that the voices of sanity are still being heard, and on this site more frequently of late.
michelle goldberg, at the jewish website the tablet writes:
“The charge that Occupy Wall Street is shot through with anti-Semitism is dishonest and deceptive. But it’s built around a kernel of truth. There are a few Jew-baiters at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, though they are marginal, particularly compared to the large numbers of Jewish activists taking part. Yet the leaderless, diffuse nature of the movement, in some ways its greatest strength, also makes it hard to police bigots, bullies, and cranks. ….”
————
ironically enough…the photo accompanying the article shows someone mocking the idiot holding an anti-semitic sign….
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/80922/one-percent/?utm_source=Tablet+Magazine+List&utm_campaign=21b9c3ab99-10_18_2011&utm_medium=email
It was never my aim to paint all the protestors as anti semitic..I counted 16 signs one day.That is 16 too many.Yesterday there were less(good sign).Any number parading in the tea party would be massively reported of course..There is definitely a double standard.New york and phila smell like a urinal.That needs to be fixed.And with xmas coming on there has to be an understanding by the protestors toward commerce.I also wonder about all those people on unemployment.What do they say to the question “did you look for a job today”? And how about all those folks working at McDonalds… paying the inflow into unemployment ,while the collectors parade in the street.Of course the protestors are too good to work there.The hypocrisy is piling up.
@michael e: Never your intention to paint the protesters as anti-semitic? Then why’d ya say “tons of signs”? Why not 16, since you took the time to count? Also, it’s not what you posted in another thread here where you allege that the entire left is consumed with anti-semitism, since it doesn’t care for Israel and it’s policies. Sorry, pal, not buyin’ any of this. More likely: you got caught peddling BS and now you gotta backtrack and try to divert by saying that the tea party woulda been crucified if this happened at one of their events. Yeah, yeah, yeah… and if a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its ass a-hoppin’. Maybe the media coverage of both movements is crappy– doesn’t change the fact that you pur forth allegations here based on stuff you’re pullin’ straight outta yer ass.
And aside from the fact that the alleged hypocrisy of the protesters is another ridiculous distraction, you are the absolute last person who should be complaining about anyone’s hypocrisy at this point.
John first day was a few.Second day much more.Third day i saw was less(i counted 16).After that it has seemed to decrease.It is still there as we speak ,but I get the feeling it is frowned upon as too blatant.This idea of a zionist conspiracy or jewish power in US government as well as wall street is far more acceptable on the left, than the right.Of course you know this.On these blogs you see it represented often.The deeper question is -is it anti semitic?Anti zionist?Anti israeli?Not sure where this dementia springs from.Can you imagine if it happened at a tea party rally?Be honest John think of the outcry.Massive .It would cover the earth.And hear we are discussing if it happened(is happening at all).This is proof positive of the leanings of the press.Case closed.By the way…………Do you feel there is a JEWISH presence on wall street?
Keep shovelling that BS, michael e. If you get near a valid point, i.e., one that’s even remotely related to the several critcisms I put forth, I’ll let ya know. Here’s a tip: to actually respond to an argument usually requires more than just re-typing, with minor clarifications, what you wrote in a prior post.
You be honest michael e, and think of how irrelevant the outcry against the tea party would be in your hypothetical situation. See what I’m getting at? It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t justify you painting the OWS movement as anti-semetic, and it doesn’t effin’ explain how you can ignore the blatant hypocrisy inherent in your position.
And what in God’s holy name are you blathering about re: Jewish presence on wall street? What does that even mean? Are you asking if there are synagouges on wall street? I dunno… go ask fricking google maps. There are certainly Jewish men and women working there. Is that what you mean? If you mean to imply that I think there is some kind of secret powerful Jewish organization that controls it or somehow participates in its operations, I can say I emphatically do not think that– not that it’s of any remote relevance to the point I’m making by the way.
occupy wall street is so anti-semitic that there were kol nidre yom kippur services held in conjunction with the protests…..
http://yourjewishnews.com/11911.aspx
the anti-defamation league defended the occupy wall street protests against allegations of anti-semitism, saying that as the rallies grow, people seeking to blame economic problems on jews can be expected.
“thus far, however, anti-semitism has not gained traction more broadly with the protestors, nor is it representative of the larger movement at this time,” the adl said in a statement monday, october 17th.
in addition josh nathan-kazis writing for the jewish newspaper the forward notes,”occupy wall street’s most visible anti-semite was picketing the financial district long before zuccotti park was occupied. ….
carrying a variety of hand-lettered signs with anti-semitic messages, images of the man â┚¬” who has been vehemently disowned by the mainstream of the protest movement â┚¬” have been instrumental to the case that the protest movement is tainted by animus towards jews.
but though he’s been a presence at zuccotti park almost since the protest began, the man who identified himself to salon as david smith was in the financial district earlier this summer, on his own, carrying similar placards.
ows protesters have taken to standing next to smith with signs ridiculing or opposing his message.”
http://forward.com/blogs/forward-thinking/144650/
This is a great site.I think they need to simply add more bongo drums. Look forward to future post.