As I'm viewing the details of the Big Shitpile unfold (here, here, here, and here, just on the front page of Corrente; make sure to follow some of the comment's links) I see the makings of heroic tale of strength, courage and hopeychanginess developing
If you've read the links above you'll know that the bonus dollars going to AIG are a pittance compared to the real problem. Just look at the scale of the numbers: $200 million for the bonuses (it's lower than that or higher than that depending on your source, but it's on that order of magnitude); approaching $2 trillion for the government assistance (not all of it to banksters, luckily for us). Let's put those numbers on top of each other just for effect:
$ 200,000,000
$2,000,000,000,000
That's a lot more zeros to me. While $200 mil is nothing to ignore, it pales in comparison to everything else out there.
Now if you wanted to look good and cared about the sanctity of the system, you'd definitely want to go after corruption on a scale higher than $200 million, say the $200 billion scale. I like to think of it this way: if you wanted to go after pot dealers (ignoring whether or not that is worthwhile) would you rather put all your resources in going after the dude who has a single plant in his closet or the folks growing it by the acre?
OK, OK, we've all read the links above so understand that basic point. Here's where a true cynic can make a killing, using the same pot seller analogy. If you wanted to look tough on pot sellers, but wanted to help the acre growers get uber wealthy, you could, say, make it easy for dudes to collect individual pot plants to grow in their closets. Then, you can go "all out" against the dudes with the single plants. If you were a law enforcement person, you could make a big deal about all the dudes you captured and play on that to make yourself a big hero, all the while the big villains are still out there making their money.
I realize now that I can be charged with racism for this analogy, but I'm too lazy to change it. The point is, now that it seems like Obama is going to "get tough" on the bonuses, I'm left wondering if he plans to use the "take down" of the bonuses--which requires no political capital at all anymore--to ignore the real theft going on. There is, rightly, much public anger over the bonuses but we need to keep the target on the big-time theft going on.
I fear that a manufactured "heroic" tale of Obama going after the paltry bonuses (relatively speaking of course) will be used to forget about the most appalling aspects of the Big Shitpile. I hope we don't let Obama let that happen.
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Kabuki 101
GQ writes:
Bien sur!
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Anger
The big-time theft has all kinds of "excuses" prepared for it which all fit within a soundbite, but the counters often do not. The bonuses, however, give some amount of leverage over public anger---it is very easy to make people angry about them, and difficult to defend them. So I would suggest that a focus on the bonuses is the right investment, so to speak.
You're from Canada, yes?
So do you want to be where the puck is, or where it's going to be?
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Not a sports fan, really
But I can tell you, if the puck was going to "be" at "massive theft", it would have been there a long time ago. It's usually heads towards "envy" and "freeloaders". Seriously, the Bankster Welfare Queen meme is going to be way more effective, assuming anything can be effective. People still get angry at the words "Let Them Eat Cake", or get the echo of that ancient anger.
Speaking of our northern neighbors
Our tastes have shown to be somewhat similar, so have you ever watched the Trailer Park Boys?
My family are the only people I know who watch it, so I'm just curious how big it is in its home country.
Please forgive me in advance for any unintentional stereotyping :D
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond
Don't watch much TV
At least, not as TV. I watch a few shows I like online. So no, I haven't seen Trailer Park Boys. It is reasonably well-known, I think, but not like Corner Gas, which was a national favorite in anglophone media.
It's a pity that some of the Québec francophone media never makes it in anglo environments. They had a very popular and literate satiricial deconstruction of society in Les Bougons, a sitcom about a family of working-class petty crooks.
I'll answer that
I want the puck.
A lot of things can change while you're skating in circles trying to anticipate where it will go next. You may find your self out of position or slammed up against the boards; the person with the puck may lose it, make a bad pass, hand it off to someone else or shoot and score themselves. If I have the puck, I know where it is and what I can do with it.
But this isn't hockey or, as some would remind us, any sort of a game. No reason why the bonuses can't be used for flogging the banksters and their enablers, as a means to bolster calls for regulatory reform and criminal investigations and greater oversight on the bailout specifics and shifting more investment towards job creation. There is no need to choose, just as there is no need to speculate on Obama's inner feelings. Especially, there is no need to let those speculations drive decision-making about Progressive strategy.
Searching for a metaphor, class warfare is more of a battle and so perhaps a bit like the Hanson Brothers' style of play rather than old-time hockey; use every weapon at hand, and fire at will.
[Oh and; nice stereotyping of the Canadian, eh?]
Oh for pity's sake
Stereotyping the Canadian. Pull the hair out of your ass, wouldja? Thanks.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
No better way to "win" an argument...
then to change the topic.
that was an aside, not a change of topic
but I understand the ease with which you were confused.
The Somerby explanation
The right and left treat us as if we are stupid. That is a good starting point for a statement like this:
Those are my points of emphasis. We can't talk about the big stuff because people are too stupid. Of course it was the stupid uneducated hicks who were concerned about this sort of shit during the primary that saw beyond the MSM fog, but *I'm* supposed to get over that.
Mandos misses my point entirely, perhaps deliberately. The point of this post was that the small stuff is easy to correct and that it is easy to use the correction of the small stuff to ignore the really big stuff. Its also easy to manufacture heroism for someone who lets the bad guys get away. On that angle, going after the relatively trivial stuff is good marketing and whom do we know that tries to argue supremacy of tactics over fundamental principles?
If you want your revolution...
...you'd better start paying attention to tactics. Do you actively want to be pwned? It is from the small stuff that you get access to the big stuff. What you're saying is that the small stuff is a distraction away from the big stuff. I'm saying that the small stuff is part of the leverage you need to have any effect on the big stuff, which you need to build into the consciousness over time.
Otherwise, you will get nothing but you will have ample opportunity to act scandalized and superior.
And this is just ridiculous
It wasn't "stupid uneducated hicks." The "stupid uneducated hicks" actually got it, for the most part, by the time Nov 4 came around. No, it was a relatively tiny group of nitpickers and "scandalized virgins" who took this concern well beyond its political utility and effectiveness, and continue to try to beat an uncaring world over the head with it so that...they might feel better? It's hard to say, but it's kind of funny, in a rubbernecky sort of way.
Once again
The tough and steely-eyed, manning the parapets, doing the hard work, the grunt work. It's a dirty job yes, no 'Marquis of Queensberry' rules here, and the delicate and dainty need not apply. They just need to sleep safely and soundly under the sheets, enjoying the freedoms protected for them by those with more back-bone, those you are able to clearly see what's important and know how the world really works.
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
Thank you Mandos and Bringiton, thank you both for manning that wall.
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I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.