America: Pussies No More, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #244
October 10, 2011 Mike Gold 20 Comments
As you may know, the term “nostalgia” originally referred to a disease, one similar to melancholia where the patient prefers to live in a past time. This was long before the word became synonymous with how I earn my living.
Today the line between those two applications is blurred. A lot of people are nostalgic for the time when they actually earned a living, particularly one that meets their most basic needs: housing, food, transportation, health. These days, if you’ve got a job that covers those bases, you’ve hit a home run.
People all across the board are properly pissed. Those on the hard Right refer to themselves as “Tea Partiers,” betraying a misunderstanding of the Boston Tea Party. Those on the hard Left refer to themselves today as Occupiers, which is equally untrue. Our language drifts towards the poetic. Both groups have a long agenda, and few in either group support all the items. I relish the fact that many agenda items on the right and the agenda items on the left are the same. Both have taken to public demonstrations to get their anti-establishment concerns publicized. Unfortunately, that’s where the comparison ends.
I was in Sweet Home Chicago last week and I spent some time with the local Occupiers movement. Doing so was an act of nostalgia to be sure, a nod to the glory days of my youth. I started a “Pussies No More!” chant and a hell of a lot of people joined in. Being part of this is quite a rush.
The Occupiers have been getting a lot of heat from the TeaPubs for their efforts. Republican hypocrite Eric Cantor said “Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans. But you sent us here to fight for you and all Americans.” Except for those who disagree with him, of course.
The Right has forgotten Richard J. Daley’s biggest mistake back during the 1968 Democratic Convention police riot in Chicago. Daley’s police force knowingly gassed reporters. Shortly after New York Mayor Bloomberg came out against the lawful demonstrations, his police started gassing reporters. WNET’s John Farley, the New York Times’ Natasha Lennard, Alternet’s Kristen Gwynne were all gassed and arrested. Many others were simply gassed.
I’m not talking about tear gas that permeates large areas indiscriminately; indeed, on many occasions I have seen various police departments tear gas themselves. I’m talking about close-in Mace-style gassing done purposely to those wearing press credentials.
Big mistake. Even Al Capone knew better than to molest the press. The media that cover both the TeaPubs and the Occupiers know that free speech and freedom of assembly is not the exclusive province of the Right, and the same rights that protect demonstrators on both sides also protects the press.
As for the protestors on the Left: it is damn well about time they stood up for their beliefs. The Left had shown its spinelessness for decades, and I think it is no coincidence that they started taking action right after Barack Obama started standing up for his beliefs. Of all people, David Letterman stated on the air that changes do not get made without demonstrations. He gets paid to talk to 3.3 million people every night. I, for one, am impressed.
Pussies No More.
—-
Mike Gold also kicks rock’n’blues ass each week on Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind streaming four times a week at www.getthepointradio.com and available at that same venue on demand. He also joins MDWers Martha Thomases and Michael Davis as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com.
Martha Thomases
October 10, 2011 - 8:51 am
I’m with you, but the hair-splitter in me objects to the term “pussies.” As Dan Savage points out, a pussy can take a beating and spit out a human being. Balls, on the other hand, are soft and vulnerable.
nd if you mean cats, it’s cruel, and also suggests you don’t own one..
mike weber
October 10, 2011 - 9:13 am
Have you seen any of the pictures of a Greek cop punching a photojournalist?
And, of course, last i heard, they were waiting to see if she were really punched and lost a tooth, and whether she assaulted the cop first, before they decide whether or not to discipline the cop.
Capone may have known better than to molest the cops, but Daley the First’s cops apparently didn’t; i didn’t see it, but one of my buddies in the barracks at Great Lakes (yes – i was at Great lakes during the Democratic Convention – Chicago had been declared Off Limits for the week) reported watching a clip on one of the national networks in which a cop maced a local newsguy and (as i recall it) smashed his camera … while being filmed by an NBC cameraman.
My Dad, who grew up in Berwyn and whose grandfather owned a saloon in Cicero, heard reports that Chicago cops were observed taking off or covering their badges before the trouble started, and said that he knew right then that there was going to be trouble and that the press was not going to get a pass.
Rick Oliver
October 10, 2011 - 2:22 pm
The great protests of the late 60s led to…Richard Nixon being elected…twice. And the media will mostly focus on the fringe elements. That may or may not have been what happened with the Tea Party, but I judge the Tea Party by the candidates it has spawned, not its misspelled signs.
Mike Gold
October 10, 2011 - 3:14 pm
Martha, you know better. We’ve got two cats, one turns 10 weeks tomorrow. The word “pussy” has several meanings, like a great many words in the English language. It is not always a synonym for vagina or for kitty-kats, and bot have been represented by an antonym of THIS use of pussy: violence.
However, a synonym of “politically correct language” is “censorship by those who needlessly feel the need to take offense at something.”
Mike Gold
October 10, 2011 - 3:27 pm
Rick: oh, sure, you bet. It was the protestors who got Nixon elected and not the astonishing violence committed live on teevee by the Chicago Police Department under the orders of Democrat-In-Chief Richard J. Daley. His police created a free week-long commercial broadcast on all three networks for the Republican party.
I know. I was there. You know. The whole world was watching. It wasn’t the last time police beat the shit out of me, but it certainly was the first. Hasn’t happened lately, for some reason.
Perhaps you’re misremembering. Perhaps it was really Dan Rather’s on-the-air arrest during the Democratic National Convention and Walter “Most Trusted Man in America” Cronkite who commented on his floor reporter’s ugly arrest that actually got Nixon elected. That makes just as much sense. In the United States of America in 1968, you didn’t fuck with Uncle Walter. Just ask LBJ.
And by constantly betraying his much-lauded “ideals” after years of kissing LBJ’s ass, Hubert Humphrey gave away the moral high ground. At least Nixon was honest to his beliefs. Humphrey did what was politically expedient, and I am glad the goddamn hypocrite lost.
You know, it’s been 32 years since I was accused of getting Nixon elected in 1968. And that way by Gary Berman of the Creation Conventions, and that happened at the old Cindy Sue’s Restaurant across from Loyola University in Chicago.
Martha Thomses
October 10, 2011 - 3:35 pm
I don’t see how discouraging conversation by hollering “censorship” helps free speech. I question your use of the word (and acknowledge I’m splitting hairs). I suggest it doesn’t mean what you think it means. Who is censoring whom?
Mike Gold
October 10, 2011 - 3:35 pm
Mike, being on the Conspiracy Trial (Chicago 7) staff I had the privilege of watching damn near every foot of film shot by the networks; it was part of the defense’s successful response to the conspiracy charge. As I told Rick above (well, Rick knew this but hell I was being pissy to my old friend) I can testify first-hand to your father’s report.
I’d love to hear more about your grandfather’s saloon. Cicero was — and to a considerable extent remains — the wild, wild west of urban politics. It’s where Al Capone’s boys actually beat the poo out of the editor of Cicero’s daily paper. While the guy was in the hospital, Al bought his newspaper out from under him. But at least Al apologized and covered the guy’s hospital bills.
The editor’s brother had the same job at the Berwyn paper. For those not in the know, Berwyn is immediately west of Cicero and Cicero is immediately west of Chicago. The brother got the message and sold his newspaper. Eventually he started up St. John Comics and hired Joe Kubert.
Small world.
Mike Gold
October 10, 2011 - 3:41 pm
I’m not censoring you, Martha. I’m criticizing you. Your response got out completely unmolested. I remain solidly behind my comment that the cry of politically incorrect language is censorship by those who need to take offense at something. These people want to ban words BUT NOT THEIR MEANING and they do so in the name of change. Like we can say “F-word” and we can say “N-word” and we can say “R-word” and be politically correct and inoffensive but, of course, everybody knows the real word you’re NOT saying so using the spineless euphemism accomplishes nothing whatsoever.
O.K. Stop fussing with your brain. I was kidding about “R-word.”
At least >I< was.
Martha Thomses
October 10, 2011 - 3:50 pm
And I say that a pussy is a great thing to have, not an insult. Whichnis not the same as taking offense.
Mike Gold
October 10, 2011 - 3:58 pm
If one is referring to the pussy that is between women’s legs, I quite agree. If one is referring to Felix and his ilk, I also agree. If one is referring to spineless humans, I disagree.
And I wasn’t referring to spina bifida. Ya gotta be SO careful these days!
Rick Oliver
October 10, 2011 - 8:48 pm
Mike:
It sounds like you’re almost making the argument yourself for the interpretation of events you seem to object to. It also sounds like a classic example of the law of unintended consequences. Peaceful protest leads to police violence leads to prominent journalists getting attacked leads to really bad press for Democrats leads to Nixon getting elected.
Under that interpretation, it doesn’t really matter if the protesters deliberately intended to undermine the Democratic Party or not.
But that wasn’t really my point anyway. My point is that I’m afraid the current Wall Street protests will not have the desired effect the protesters are looking for. To the extent that the event is covered at all, I think the media will concentrate on the fringe elements, because that’s what they thing will make interesting 30 second news bites. And the rantings of the fringe will not play well with the swing voters.
As for Walter Cronkite, I’m afraid these days you’ll have to settle for Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh.
Mike Gold
October 11, 2011 - 12:37 pm
I don’t think either Bill or Rush could get the “most trusted man in America” award. I don’t know if anybody could. Well, maybe Steve Jobs… but only now.
I think the Occupiers are doing a swell job. Their ranks keep on growing all over America, and now we’re starting to see it overseas. It’s been one hell of a groundswell for a mere four weeks. Of course the media will focus on the fringe; they think “Dancing With The Stars” is newsworthy. But the objective right now is to organize and not (yet) to get people elected. Perhaps this energy will evolve into a political support process as it did with the Tea Baggers; it probably will since that’s sort of like gravity.
But all politics is indeed local, and these Occupy Whatever groups are all extremely local. And their numbers grow. And their numbers divide on a sub-local basis: now we’ve got Occupy Jersey City, just short distance (if you’re not swimming the Hudson) across from lower Manhattan. It’s unfolding quite nicely and I like, appreciate and envy the local tactic.
Of course, if history repeats itself all these local demonstrations might combine into a big national demonstration — but this time, maybe not. At least, maybe not until they have attracted enough people to define a common agenda. Again, like the Tea Baggers who also started out with individual shopping lists, you get like-minded people together and see what issues you-all have in common. That has to be done here just like it was with the Tea people, and I suspect that will happen organically.
That’s why I see the Tea Party and the Occupiers as cut from different ends of the exact same cloth. It’s fun to watch.
When it stops being fun, there’s always Canada or Australia.
Whitney
October 11, 2011 - 9:03 pm
I wonder what street life felt like in Paris immediately before the Revolution…
I doubt that the initial revolts were coordinated. To say that the current protestors aren’t organized enough to have gravitas is to ignore the history of every revolt that was upset a social order prior to the advent of Twitter.
Rick Oliver
October 11, 2011 - 9:15 pm
Comparing this to the French Revolution is exactly what the opposition is already doing. Let’s hope this doesn’t end up anything like the French Revolution.
And Mike, it’s my understanding that Australia isn’t an option if you’re over 45.
Rene
October 11, 2011 - 11:28 pm
The big and obvious difference between this and the 1960s is that in the 1960s only the Left was protesting and raising hell, while the Right was the “silent majority” Nixon talked about.
Nowadays we can point to the Right, to the Tea Party, to Fox News, to Evangelical Christians, to the Rapture Crazies, and say THEY STARTED!!!
The Left won’t be the only one to appear crazy and violent and radical. The Right has been doing it for years, and apparently it has been working for them, since the Tea Party seems to have inordinate power and influence.
Maybe it’s past time the Left went a little crazy too. Playing Mr. Nice Guy doesn’t seem to have worked, as the last two decades have seen the Right conquering America bit by bit.
Mike Gold
October 12, 2011 - 6:41 am
Rick — That’s okay. Shrimp is traif.
Mike Gold
October 12, 2011 - 7:48 am
Rene, I’m a deep believer in the politics of joy. Sort of the “why so serious” school of conflict. There’s nothing wrong with going a little crazy, with the usual caveats of safety to all. Outrage often requires outrageous response.
There’s another difference between the 60s (which were mostly in the 70s) and today. Back then, the shout was specific: end the war. Today, the issue of economy/jobs/fair taxation/freedom from demagogy is harder to articulate and almost impossible to specify. And that’s true on the right and on the left.
Rick Oliver
October 13, 2011 - 8:32 pm
Meanwhile, the Obama administration pushes more free trade agreements through Congress.
Mike Gold
October 14, 2011 - 5:46 am
Yes. And only with Free Trade can we finally get a perpetual motion machine.
Reg
October 16, 2011 - 3:51 pm
Coming late to the party, but I’ve gotta say…I luv this place!! Where else can one find a vigorous discourse regarding that most elegant and beautiful components of the human construct?
I repeat, I luv it! And by it, I mean the euphemism. 😀
@ Mike. Things are indeed getting interesting. We’ll see how long TPTB restrain themselves this time. And whether the people really do still have the power to change things.