Three years ago today, a group of New Yorkers descended on Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park to protest the problems caused by and lack of any consequences for those responsible for the financial meltdown of 2008. Obviously, there was much more that the original Occupiers of Wall Street were protesting, but the wealth and justice inequality that is synonymous with Wall Street was the unifying evil that was being fought.
Today, though, I was hard pressed to find any remnants of the once-promising protest movement. Even the official Occupy Wall Street website had no new front-page article to commemorate the day.
Ironically, I attempted to read from the one essay I did find posted at Huffington Post, but was unable to because a pop-up ad kept covering the article and the video on that pop-up ad kept playing, unwanted, over my stream. (I say ironically because the original idea to occupy that park in the Wall Street area came from the website Adbusters. And yes, they do commemorate the anniversary there.)
Although the author of the HuffPost piece linked above points to some of the lasting effects of the OWS protests, I think the one lasting message is that of the 99% vs the 1%.
It’s the nice, succinct bumper-sticker type of message that the GOP is usually so good at, but the circumstances that inspired it have been reality for generations.
I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ latest masterpiece, The Roosevelts, on PBS. Although Teddy, Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were all born with the proverbial silver spoons in their mouths, they knew that, in TR’s words,
“The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.”
I’d like to hear any of today’s Republicans verbalize something as progressive as that. It won’t happen because, in today’s world, progressive and Republican are polar opposites.
I spoke about The Roosevelts with our old friend John Fugelsang today. It’s been a while since John has been on the show, but he’s excused as he’s been very busy. The PBS special he’s been filming is now slated to open in theaters next year before running on PBS as a miniseries. And he says he’ll have a big announcement about a new TV and radio project sometime in the next few weeks!
I hope the radio job isn’t with Clear Channel. They just changed the name of their radio division to I Heart Media, complete with a new corporate logo:
If you thought that logo looks a bit phallic, you’re not alone!
Once you see former Clear channel rebrand @iHeart_Media‘s new logo as a graphic sex act you can’t see it any other way pic.twitter.com/qzN7uD15n0
— Dante Apollo Atkins (@DanteAtkins) September 16, 2014
I especially love the comments posted with the story on the industry website All Access. Here are a few of them:
- Strange name for the company WITHOUT a heart. They have ruined the music at many a radio station, too.
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In related news, melanoma has officially changed its name to iHeartSunbeams.
- “I Hurt Media?” A perfect name.
- Ultimate definition of “putting lipstick on a pig.”. Same lousy company, same lousy leadership, same hemorrhaging under $20 billion of debt. Nothing at all has changed. The company still has massive problems with a corrupt, inept charlatan leader. Pittman again attempts to grab headlines with a superficial ploy, while.the real problems with the company fester. Call it whatever you want, but it is still a turd. Pittman must have dreamed up this idea while.high in his luxury tent at Burning Man.
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Hi! My name is Scott! No one likes me and I have no friends. But tomorrow, I will be the NEW Scott; completely different person than the OLD Scott. So tomorrow, will you all like me and want to be my friend? I can understand why you wouldn’t like the OLD Scott, but tomorrow, everything will change…because then I’ll be the NEW Scott! How ’bout it?
And there are many, many more like those…. Keep ’em coming.
And finally, the Minnesota Vikings did another about-face yesterday, deciding that Adrian Peterson will not be playing for them for the foreseeable future in the wake of revelations about a second 4-year old son that he “disciplined.”
Susie Madrak wrote about it for Crooks & Liars, and joined me on the show this morning to discuss the difference between discipline and child abuse.
I’ll be back tomorrow with Amy Simon of She’s History, RL Miller of Climate Hawks Vote, Ellen Snortland of The Safety Godmothers and whatever else the day brings us.. radio or not!
