The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    The Parable of Our Tribes

    By Elusive Trope on Sat, 11/26/2011 - 6:31pm |

    The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors. Let us not speak well of it either. Let us not speak of it at all. It is true the population has increased."
    - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

    There are those who don't agree (to put it lightly) with my take on the Occupy movement, and the response to it by the local authorities.  Let me make it perfectly clear at the onset:  there have been abuses and other unacceptable decisions and behavior by law enforcement personnel in their attempt to deal with the tactics of various Occupy movements. And let me make it perfectly clear at the onset that I agree with the fundamental message of the Occupy movement regarding the influence and power of the 1%.

    The argument as I see it is not about the problem(s), but how go about tackling those problem(s).  As I thought, the Occupy movement has become more about its particular strategy rather than finding realistic solutions to the problems it states it is concerned about.

    The problem(s) we are talking about is not something as simple as removing a dictator.  These problems are embedded in our very textual cultural paradigm.  The reason that folks have an issue with me bringing up thinkers like Foucault is that it makes them realize that something like pitching some tents is not going to fix things.  To the extent it does fix things, it can be compared to a great theatrical play that confronts the chi chi crowd of Manhattan with the "true" nature of their existence.  

    The Occupy movement as a prolonged performance art piece.  And as such it can do grand things on the national media stage.  Unfortunately, there are too many in the movement who don't want to see that they are performers in a theatrical piece.  They think their beliefs put them above the pettiness of political theater.  An Achilles Heel of many protesters in America.

    One question to ask ourselves: how many of the occupy protesters or family members have "disappeared"?  To my understanding, none.  (Again, this does not excuse abuses done by the police.)

    The next question is just what kind of power structure are we dealing with?

    Yes, the 1% (or 10%) control Congress.  The Senators and Representatives need the money to stay in office.  Of course, if we had a highly educated, highly engaged citizenry this money would not be that effective.  But no one is talking about that.  The Occupy performance piece addresses this, but it doesn't take it to the next step. 

    Instead, it falls into the delusions of power.  It thinks the issue isn't about power, but who is in power.  As such, it will only lead us back to where we are now. 

    So we are back to the parable of the tribes.

    “The parable of the tribes” is used to describe schematically how one aggressive tribe among an otherwise peaceful group can force the spread of the “ways of power” throughout the system: power becomes a contaminant that, once introduced, becomes universal abetted and magnified through innovations in organization and technology.

    We are back looking at human nature, whatever that is.  As easily as many Occupy supporters will throw the Anarchists under the bus, there is a fundamental belief underpinning their belief that resonates with many on the Left about how if we could just get rid of the governmental and cultural regiment.  Yet what is to replace it?  There is the rub, as the saying goes.

    Supporters of the Occupy movement will say they aren't for revolution (well, some will say this, but they are supposively the fringe and not to be listened to).  All they want, they say is a return to the days of the post-WWII boom.  They don't want to talk about the winners and losers globally of this time of American prosperity.  Lets not talk the big picture.  But the point is that the prosperity was built on power - economically, politically, culturally- localized and globalized.

    As Andrew Schmookler's take on the parable shows us:

    The evolution of civilization can be seen as a dialectic between the commonsense view of a benign striving for and choice of a humane world and a more problematic systematic selection for power and dominance over others.

    “The parable of the tribes” is used to describe schematically how one aggressive tribe among an otherwise peaceful group can force the spread of the “ways of power” throughout the system: power becomes a contaminant that, one introduced, becomes universal abetted and magnified through innovations in organization and technology.

    The drive for societal survival makes the selection for power among civilized societies inevitable.

    The synthesis of the compulsive spread of power with the benign choice for the diffusion of beneficial inventions through human and humane aspirations is possible. These “different truths” need to be combined in a balanced way.

    Great performance art pieces can show us where we are, and maybe show us the way forward.  Democracy in a Republic of millions is never going to be perfect.  But we can do better.  But we aren't going to make the situation and conditions better if we kid ourselves that there is an easier way, that we aren't human, and the power of power doesn't exist.