In The Tradition of Great American UnAmericanisms

Herman Cain is the latest in a long line of political mouths calling a populist movement UnAmerican. He says Occupy Wall Street is an assault on capitalism and that capitalism and the free market system are what have made America what it is. Can’t argue with that, but his intended meaning is other than reality. Setting that aside for a moment, though, it’s his statement that protests in the street are UnAmerican that I take greatest issue with. I’ve been hearing that from more or less conservative people since I was old enough to be aware of political issues. During the Vietnam era, the antiwar movement gained the hatred of Middle America not because they were wrong but because they were unruly, in the street, loud, and confrontational. “You should work within the system,” people said, “that’s not the way to do it.” Except it was clear that working within the system was not achieving results. The system is so constructed that those who understand where the controls are can make it respond regardless of general public sentiment. The system is often The Problem, and today we have another example. But more fundamentally than that, it was a failure to recognize that people in the street is very much a part of the system. What do we think “freedom of assembly” is all about?

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Paul Krugman sums up the epicenter of the Wall Street Protests

Paul Krugman applauds the protesters who, in his words, are "angry at the right people." Here is the short story of the reason for the protests:

In the first act, bankers took advantage of deregulation to run wild (and pay themselves princely sums), inflating huge bubbles through reckless lending. In the second act, the bubbles burst — but bankers were bailed out by taxpayers, with remarkably few strings attached, even as ordinary workers continued to suffer the consequences of the bankers’ sins. And, in the third act, bankers showed their gratitude by turning on the people who had saved them, throwing their support — and the wealth they still possessed thanks to the bailouts — behind politicians who promised to keep their taxes low and dismantle the mild regulations erected in the aftermath of the crisis. Given this history, how can you not applaud the protesters for finally taking a stand?

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I’m feeling bittersweet because people are stealing credit for my work

A couple months ago, I took the time to shoot, edit and publish a Youtube video on a protest of the Bank of America in St. Louis. I was surprised that the traffic was relatively modest (less than 1,000 views). I had designated the video to be Creative Commons - Attribution. Now I find out that my video has gone wild on the Internet--almost 100,000 views, but it's because at least two individuals have taken my video, chopped off the information where I identify it as my work, and failed to give me any credit for my work on their Youtube uploads (I'm not going to share their links because, frankly I'm not happy about this). Instead, here is my post, and here is my upload, the only one out there where you can see the entire video, including the credits. Yes, I'm honored that my video has taken off, and I'm glad that it has become part of the national dialogue. I wasn't trying to make any money off of this video (in fact, there is no advertising at Dangerous Intersection--I decided six month ago to fund all hosting fees--any ad you see on my site will be a donation by me to that cause). Yet I'm sorely disappointed that multiple people are willing to chop my name off of my video and present my work as their own.

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