October 22, 2011

"Occupy Wall Street, Occupy State Street, Occupy Everything and Never Give It Back!"

That's the chant at one point in this video — shot by Meade and me, edited by me — of the Occupy Madison protest at the Capitol Square today here in Madison, Wisconsin. The Dane County Farmers' Market was going on at the same time and, as you'll see, one farmer-vendor takes action.



ADDED: These protesters have a variety of topics, but they keep coming back to Monsanto and GMO. At 1:50, when the chant is "Organic feed/Is what we need," a Farmers' Market vendor — who has walked right up to them — retorts "What we need is for you to get out of here!" She continues: "We can't make any money with you guys yelling around here and scaring the customers! Get out of here!"



We can hear a protester respond: "Aw, the customers. Yeah, baby." There are a few other negative-sounding words from the protesters, which I can't make out, other than the one who taunts her for wearing a Bucks jacket. (What's wrong with liking the Milwaukee Bucks in Madison? Did he confuse the Bucks with the Bulls?)

But within 5 seconds, the protesters begin walking off, with a few (female) cries of "We're sorry" and "I apologize." I'm not sure how sincere they were. It felt kind of like George Harrison saying "Sorry we hurt your field, mister" in "Hard Day's Night."

Anyway, it was good of them to stop damaging the farmers' business and amusingly out of line with "Occupy Everything and Never Give It Back!" They gave it back. Thanks. You know, there's a real problem with this Occupy [Your City] protest format: It doesn't have an exit strategy. You come, you conquer, and then time passes, protesters get dirty and ugly, internal divisions crack them up, the nearby residents get disgusted, the local businesses get mad, and then what? There's isn't going to be a revolution. It's not Egypt. In the end, they'll have to break up and go home. Or hope the cops come in and bust them up so they can end with a bang.

94 comments:

MnMark said...

I dunno, haven't we seen about enough of this video of these lame protests? They're all the same.

ndspinelli said...

Did you see any Republicans @ the Farmer's Market today?

laddy said...

What a bunch of losers. They have time to parade around and chant, but no time to get a job and accumulate some wealth. I'm surprised they left after that farmer/vender gal gave them the whatfor.

SGT Ted said...

And what is their answer to someone bigger than they are coming to take their stuff and not give it back?

If they aren't cool with that, what can possibly justify their advocacy of theft and brute force to achieve their own ends?

Moose said...

Always the guys with the leather vests. What's up with that?

ricpic said...

Translation: Others make, we take.

coketown said...

Was the heavy emphasis on organic food and farms because of the farmers' market? Or is that just a favorite issue of the guy running the people's mic? None of the other signs seemed concerned with healthy produce.

yoobee said...

From the video, it looks like the crowd finally leaves after the comment from about the Bucks' jacket. I guess they realized they had no counter-argument for that.

Anonymous said...

Ridiculous, scaring away her customers? More like bringing her customers. Maybe her produce had worms or was overpriced, which is not uncommon at the Madison farmers market. Amish farmers markets have great produce, truly organic and cheap.

John said...

I don't often watch these videos and this is why. What a pathetic group of losers with no message. Against GMO crops, gee that's a tough call for a leftist. Advocating for more expensive organic food that has no known advantages, yeah that will help the poor. Morons.

m stone said...

The anti-capitalists are routed by the single capitalist operating in the system.

I'd call that a small victory.

Anonymous said...

No2War but yes to pants that make your ass look like it's the size of Texas.

cassandra lite said...

Yes, as Theodore Sturgeon would agree, they are indeed the 99 percent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_Law

John said...

What were there, about 17 people in that march?

Bob Ellison said...

Chanting always scares me. Whether led by protesters, political operatives, religious leaders, or exercise instructors, the idea of chanting slogans is to goad people into shouting ideas, and thus to embed those ideas into their minds.

When I was in college, I attended a lecture by the amazing Roderick MacFarquhar, who demonstrated the power of chanting slogans. He was lecturing hundreds of students on the Chinese Cultural Revolution in Sanders Theatre at Harvard, a beautiful, dark, wooden hall. He commented on the use of slogans and suddenly shouted one (I've forgotten which) in Chinese. Suddenly a group of perhaps half a dozen teaching fellows stood up and repeated his slogan. He shouted it again; another fifteen or so TFs rose up, fists in the air, and shouted it back. In thirty seconds, it appeared to me that the entire audience was on its feet, shouting a slogan it didn't even understand. (I was still sitting, with rising fear.) When MacFarquhar suddenly stopped, the theatre erupted in applause and whoops.

Shout something! Believe in it because other people are shouting it too! It rhymes! Cast aside your skepticism and become part of this mob!

Headless Blogger said...

First the teachers and now these leeches, this was the first year in my adult life that I did not attend the Madison Farmers' Market. Sendik's and Woodman's send their thanks.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

What? No,"Hey,Hey, Ho, Ho GMO has got to go!" WTF. I thought the Hey-hey" part was required.

Michael said...

This mic check deal, this moonie-like (are there still moonies?)behavior really creeps me out.

Toshstu said...

The way these people chant, I half expect a soccer game to break out.

edutcher said...

If they occupy everything and never give it back, who will the blame when things go wrong?

And they will, this is the same crowd we've got in DC.

BTW that's the saddest round of cadence calls I ever heard.

Mitochondri-Allie said...

Ridiculous, scaring away her customers? More like bringing her customers.

Sure, those slobs are just flush with cash they're going to spend on local produce.

The woman was dead on and the Occupation is getting the same pushback in Gotham. People will remember next November what a mess this was and that the Demos endorsed it.

PS OT, but I love it. Even the Gray Lady says the "withdrawl" from Iraq is mostly the result of GodZero's incompetence. If I'd seen this earlier, I'd have put it in the other thread.

If even the Sulzberger's are getting sick of Zero's incompetence, who breaks the bad news to AP?

Sal said...

That's funny. One lady comes up to give them the what-for, and the 99% shuffles away. What pushovers.

Anonymous said...

"You're wearing a Bucks jacket! How can we take you seriously??"

Have to admit that was pretty funny.

Richard Dolan said...

Quite a contrast with the tea party rallies, as well as a big come-down from the Madison crowds six months ago at the height of the Walker Wars. It would be hard to occupy a phone booth, if you could still find one, with that rag-tag band. Utterly insane for the Dems to want to be associated with Occupy Everything.

Michael said...

M-A: Organic my ass. How many people died in Europe this summer from organic sprouts? Just a few hundred.

Toshstu said...

"I'm surprised they left after that farmer/vender gal gave them the whatfor."

They left because no-one gave them the organic feed they needed.

If you feed 'em, they'll never leave.

Sal said...

Mike check.
Mike check

Is this thing on?
Is this thing on?

There's an echo.
There's an echo

Michael Haz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael Haz said...

I had lunch today with my darling 34 year old daughter to celebrate her birthday and the seventh month of her first pregnancy. My first grandchild will be born Christmas Day if things keep to the projected schedule.

I stopped in Milwaukee's RiverWest neighborhood to buy coffee beans and saw the Occupy Milwaukee protestors. There were maybe twelve of them with tents and lawn chairs and encamped on a weedy vacant lot.

They had a black sign with white lettering telling us that they represented the "99%". They must not be good at math.

It looked like a small group of local kids enjoying frisbee and beer and maybe a camp-out on a pleasant Fall weekend. Nothing more than that.

Kirby Olson said...

There's a hilarious video of this sort of thing happening at Psychotti Square with Slavoj Zizek saying "You can have sex with animals or whatever," and thousands of people repeating it. I wonder if this is what it was like at Jonestown?

At any rate, I don't think their math adds up.

If the Tea Party was 35% of the Republican party and the Republican party generally gets 50% of the vote, how can this group represent 99% of the American population? It's more likely that THEY are the 1%.

mishu said...

Greedy bastards

Dad29 said...

"We're sorry".

Indeed. What, 20 of them?

No Russ Feingold?

Paco Wové said...

"Chanting always scares me."

Chanting drives out thinking.

garage mahal said...

This is either a highly dangerous organized mob trying to infiltrate government, or, just a tiny rag tag bunch! It just depends.

Michael Haz said...

Wow. Try occupying a treadmill.

Joe said...

(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)


They're a rag-tag that are loud and stupid Garage...”Occupy EVERYWHERE, and never give it back”, REALLY I'd call that an “Occupation” all right...funny how the Palestinians, object to an occupation but you seem to think taking “everything” and “never giving it back” is just ducky...as long as they are talking from..white, bourgeoisie Mid-Westerners?

And those chants, you're down with folks blindly chanting...especially stupid things...”We need organic feed?” Again really, you know it cost more, isn't any tastier, more nutritious, or safe...but hey that's OK, right? THESE are the folks you're hitching your wagon to? I pity you.

Dr Weevil said...

"We need organic feed"? Perhaps some kind person should bring them a couple of big bags of Purina Monkey Chow.

Michael said...

I don't believe I have read anywhere that the OWS crowd or this group in Madison poses a danger to anyone. I believe it would be extreme delusion to believe that this movement is viewed as gaining in stature and acceptance when it appears to be grating on those who have to live near them. The people trying to make a living around these Occupiers are having a hard time. The cart vendors in NY are losing business and have no options to move elsewhere since their permits are not transferable to any old spot on the city streets. Unlike the Occupiers the cart vendors have to make a living. I suppose the woman in this video is equally miffed that she is trying to unload what she has worked to grow while the Occupiers cavort with silly slogans unrelated to Wall Street.

So whether in Madison or NY or Atlanta or Charlotte the "movement" is more a nuisance than a threat, more a disappointment than a rumble of change. The slogans are so outdated, the targets so stereotyped, the crowd so uninformed and dirty they aren't going to "infiltrate" anything. Their size has shrunk in Atlanta, they couldn't find their way to the local mall to protest something to do with retailing and seemed confused when told that the mall was private property. The Atlanta Constitution and Journal said the Occupy group was fighting to appear less white than it was. And here we thought they were fighting for economic justice, the decapitation of bankers and fairness for all.

Petunia said...

That is absolutely hilarious. Fewer than 20 people, at least two of whom are small children who weren't there of their own free will, and a bunch of lame chants?

Madison protests have truly jumped the shark.

I love the vendor who yells at them. Go vendor go!

Elliott A said...

The people loved Lenin's movement also. They never learn

Curious George said...

"Occupy Everything, and never give it back”

They're gonna be spread kinda thin. At least it will cut down on the smell.

Cornroaster said...

"You're wearing a Bucks jacket! How can we take you seriously??"

That sounds to me like a racist comment. Doesn't the person saying that know that the majority of the Bucks are black? Maybe it has more to do with the fact that the majority of the Bucks make more in one year than that loser will probably make in his lifetime. I think he is the one we can't take seriously.

garage mahal said...

They're a rag-tag that are loud and stupid Garage...

Yea and a lot of people said the same thing about the Tea Party, with signs like "Keep your government hands of my Medicare!" I would say compare the crowds of OWS to the Tea Party now, but the Tea Party has pretty much vaporized.

Also these same farmers that drove their tractors from all around southern Wisc to Madison at the Tractorcade were called thugs, leeches, brats, yada yada yada.

Different now.

Joe said...

(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)



Yeah the TEA Party has “evaporated” except for the the 63 members of the US House elected in 2010....

Anonymous said...

Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Madison Farmers Market today.

caplight said...

Joe:
"Yeah the TEA Party has “evaporated” except for the the 63 members of the US House elected in 2010...."

Ouch, Garage. I felt that one land on you.

I went to Madison the other day to see the Occupiers. Thought I would take some pictures and talk to them about what they are trying to accomplish. It was such a small pitiful group that I only watched from a distance, then just walked on without engaging them.

Sad.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Let's compile a list of adjectives that apply to this latest demonstration and most of the occupy [where ever] groups

Note: often a word can be both an adjective or a verb. For example whining. He is whining. Or He is a whining loser.

So far:

lame
stupid
foolish
uneducated
uninformed
ridiculous
unemployed
loser (as in loser goobers where goober is the noun)
smelly
confused
hypocritical

It would be interesting to diagram or flow chart the dynamics of one of these groups.

For instance the latest dust up between the 'drumming' faction and the controlling faction.

Sort of like the Judean Peoples Front and the People's Front of Judea

Karl said...

That's it?
Looks like the Madison protest folk don't have much game without the box lunch assholes bused in from Chicago.

Mike check my dick.

Chef Mojo said...

@ Garage:

I'm curious. Where are you getting this "Tea Party has evaporated" schtick.

Because around here, we're still going strong. Holding meetings and planning GOTV for '12. Way ahead of the curve. We're quite content to let the OWS morons thrash themselves into oblivion in the meantime, while we organize.

But, please, Garage. Just keep telling everyone we've "evaporated."

Chef Mojo said...

Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Madison Farmers Market today.

So?

Those guys hit all the farmers markets, wherever they are. I've even cooked for them on occasion. What the hell does that have to do with anything.

Really, they're nice folks. Love their music. But what about them gives them stature and moral superiority other than being celebrities? Theyr'e just a talented bunch of musicians. What the hell does that have to do with knowing how to run this country.

Not a goddamn thing.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dust Bunny Queen said...

I'm beginning to think that are very few things that Monty Python, Life of Brian, Search for the Holy Grail, Princess Bride, Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles, History of the World Part I and so on....haven't already covered and have exposed the ludicrousness of this whole episode.

The OWS (and everywhere else and never give it back) groups are just a parody of the above, knockoffs and not nearly as funny.

like

and

OR

and

The problem with the OWS dopes is that they are completely self unaware and need to watch some good politically incorrect movies. Soon.

Wince said...

To the woman with the "No 2 War" sign...


Try a little more fibre in your diet -- that should bring peace with No 2.

Sydney said...

If they hate Monsanto, why not picket Monsanto headquarters? Are they at the farmer's market because the farmers use Roundup and genetically modified seed?

Phil 314 said...

Monsanto?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Gimme gimme gimme... mine mine mine.

Anonymous said...

Sixty Grit, crabby ? The Carolina Chocolate drops won an Grammy for their Traditional Folk Album, Genuine Negro Jig. I guess you don't get out much.

Carol_Herman said...

I think I get the gimmick.

First off, the "organizers" (who shout), are earning about $22 per hour. And, they really are getting PAID!

They also follow where crowds collect. So, they knew that there was a Farmer's Market. And, the folks who want to sell produce, need a permit. (True. You don't see the cops.) But permits are generally necessary to buy space. And/or "reserve this space."

Interesting that Tubb's cops were nowhere to be seen? They don't work Saturdays? Or they only want to "work" inside donut shops?

Do the Farmers Markets tend to cut into the businesses of grocery chains?

Maybe, then, the grocery chains are paying the organizers?

Everybody comes out to make a buck.

No one would sell anything if there wasn't profit.

As to cameras, what if the only coverage came from Meade?

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

The tactics of the Occupy Army are familiar to California residents from the early days of the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club.

When a motorcycle roars from hundreds of engines, the locals being invaded go indoors and wait for them to leave.And the local 10 man Police Force politely asks them when they plan to leave.

One new tactic of today's drum beating and chanting Army of occupation is their announcement that they will never leave.

The Police must finally act, or the Occupying Army becomes Vikings looting and demanding Danegelt.

And the second new development is the Chief Executive sworn to enforce the laws announces that he and his party are "with the occupying Army."

That is Treason.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
joethefatman said...

kind of reminds me of the finding nemo seagull scene. mine mine mine mineminemineminemine

Anonymous said...

Sixty Grit, oh I suppose that Hank Williams Jr. Is more your speed.

Chuck66 said...

Actually Madison based Oscar Mayer does more harm by causing heart attacks then Monseto does throw its seeds.

Death to Oscar Mayer!!!!!

Jason (the commenter) said...

In my area, they've spread into Saint Petersburg. I've noticed that our protesters and the ones in nearby Tampa seem rather different. I have friends in Melbourne, Australia who tell me their Occupy protesters chant "this is stolen land". So, to hear that the protesters in Madison are mainly concerned with organic food does not shock me at all.

Every single protester thinks they know exactly what the movement is about (their personally favorite issue), which is why the movement will fall apart the moment they come up with a defined list of grievances.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

I think they are accomplishing exactly what they come for: a different experience than what they had last week. Party some, meet some people and have a memory to talk about and claim as some trophy to their deep thinking social consciousness. After that, just going home is exactly right. Who the hell wants to do all that revolution stuff when they already got what they came for.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
iftheshoefits said...

A small rag tag bunch can still do a lot of damage. That's about all this bunch can do, but just the same, it's not nothing...

Doesn't take much to deface or destroy property, disrupt normal activities, or physically intimidate people.

And whenever a group displaying the above characteristics shows up on the scene, the usual progressive stooges (and their cohorts in media and government) always rush to their defense. Anything from a bunch of stoners to murderous jihadists with global ambitions, it's all good to these folks. Why is that?

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)



Mito that was a most incoherent screed..we are going cut spending, whilst increasing it vastly…reduce debt, in crease it…and you and yours realize that the income tax proposal is predicated on ENDING not INCREASING the “progressivity” of the tax code, after all 47 % pay NO Income Tax, at all.

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)



Say Mito what if MORE THAN 870 delegates turn up? How do we determine who are the REAL delegates?

bagoh20 said...

The word that fits all these demonstrators best is "greedy". Ironically, the very word they use most against their targets. They want money, and stuff for free. They hate people who have money and stuff. That's some deep and novel thinking. If I was a teacher or parent of any of these luminaries, I'd be ashamed.

Steven said...

Occupy the Morons with Pointless Chanting . . . while the rest of the world goes and actually accomplishes something.

JAL said...

@GM but the Tea Party has pretty much vaporized.

hahahahaha

We don't waste our energy on dumb sh*t.

We are planning and prioritizing.

Adn going to work so we can pay taxes. And volunteering. That's what the 99% are doing.

These people in the video are NOT 99% of America. Even GM should be able to see that.

I guarantee the tea party will be visible next year.

Bob Ellison said...

DBQ, "smelly" covers it.

Quaestor said...

Ann,

I'm having trouble with the "George Hamilton" tag.

This is the only way I could connect George Hamilton with a farmer's market

William said...

I think that it's fair to say that they represent 99% of the 0.0000000000000000000001% of the people who care about Monsanto seeds. I had no idea there were that many.

Lava said...

Glad I've left MSN

Ann Althouse said...

Ha George Harrison, it was supposed to be.

glenn said...

Weeeel, maybe all this Occupy Whatever stool will convince more of the businesses concentrated in city centers to move out to the burbs. And pay their taxes and spend their lunch money there. In the internet age concentrating all your stuff in one place is kinda dumb anyhow.

jeff said...

"Organic feed/Is what we need," Sure, thats all THEY might need. Poor people on the other side of the planet who die off at 30 might not mind a hearty, disease resistant seed that could feed them and their family, rather than have them starve to death to keep the rich westerners pure. They can be selfish that way.

frank said...

No wonder isconsin lost today...

Alex said...

Herman Cain is proof enough the Tea Party is very alive and well. Garage is fantasizing as usual. Reality bites hard and I can't blame him for that.

Dan from Madison said...

I would be interested to see them try this at the next Wisconsin home football game, while everyone is trying to have a good time and drink as much beer as fast as they can. I don't think they would occupy Regent Street for long. Oh they want to protest in front of a crowd, but not that crowd.

Dan from Madison said...

And the comments by certain leftists in this thread about the demise of the Tea Party are exactly what members and organizers of the Tea Party are hoping for, including me. If you don't know or want to acknowledge what is coming you will never know when it hits you.

Jenny Marie Hatch said...

Grasshoppers and Ants...

http://jennyhatch.com/2011/10/20/occupy-wall-street-as-compared-to-the-tea-party-written-by-a-tea-party-organizer/

Jenny Hatch

Anonymous said...

If the problem is no exit strategy, at least we know that OWS was not planned by Colin Powell.

Anonymous said...

IMO the Tea Party is waiting to see how the GOP acts and reacts. To see if it is worthwhile to continue supporting the GOP or perhaps it would be more productive to burying the GOP in a hole and start over with a new party.

That's why you're not seeing the Tea Party being aggressive right now.

JorgXMcKie said...

Listen carefully so you can really hear their chants: "Screw you, what about me?!?"

Eric Jablow said...

If GMO crops are evil, they should take back Norman Borlaug's Nobel Peace Prize. After all, saving hundreds of millions of people from starvation is a bad thing, right?

(From Wikipedia)

Of environmental lobbyists he stated, "some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things".[

and

GMOs were not inherently dangerous "because we've been genetically modifying plants and animals for a long time. Long before we called it science, people were selecting the best breeds."

Joe Schmoe said...

I've been thinking off and on for awhile now that "minority" power movements are more about inversion of the perceived current heirarchy rather than the usual stated goals of "equality" and "level playing field".

I appreciate the OWS' honesty. They just wanna invert the power structure. Their problem is they have no idea how to get anything done.

Thucydides said...

The real name of the game seems to be to keep them bottled up in an ever increasing spiral of frustration; then look out for a replay of Chicago 1968, or Greece 2011.

Violence in the streets is always a good excuse to declare emergencies and gather up emergency powers, and the plausible end goal is to instill so much chaos that the civil population will call for the "man on the white horse" to take over and impose order and security.

vmd1984 said...

Isn't it interesting that all these so called "protesters" who can't find a job, which is somehow our fault, have iphones, itouches, and all sorts of electronic communication devices? Yet, they want the taxpayers to pay for their education!!!! If they were all that "poor" they wouldn't be able to afford these luxuries. When they no longer have these luxuries, I might be interested in what they have to say.

J Jones said...

Two weeks ago Harvard occupied Boston:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E-EYEpCZ6c

"Occupy Boston" has now occupied Harvard:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sect5HLS#p/u/0/NUVOPvF2dwc

Akai_Tsuki said...

Ridiculous, scaring away her customers? More like bringing her customers. Maybe her produce had worms or was overpriced, which is not uncommon at the Madison farmers market. Amish farmers markets have great produce, truly organic and cheap.
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