As anyone who has witnessed these ongoing “anti-greed” demonstrations firsthand probably already realizes, the underlying question preoccupying the minds of the Occupy Wall Street protestors for the last however many weeks has been largely theological: is the social production of wealth compatible with good divinity?
A False Idol, no doubt, but how false? Protesters parade a golden calf modeled on the famous Wall Street Bull. (October 9, 2011)
After many, many hours of superficial meditation on this decidedly irrelevant concern, the faddish and therefore “unprecedented” Occupy Wall Street caricature of a liberation movement has finally come out of the closet in order to announce to the rest of the ninety-nine percent that its metaphorical occupation of a relatively insignificant square of privately owned public space in the middle of the New York City financial district has officially become “the most important thing in the world”, and presumably it will remain so, weather permitting.
It is likely the case that the urgent necessity of a total revolution in the handling of world affairs has prompted many seemingly sympathetic observers to severely downplay the characteristic infantilism of these political demonstrations against “consumerism” and corporate greed, which have effectively granted free reign to mental confusion and emotional chaos at a time when the threats facing the working class and indeed humanity as a whole demand more ideological demystification and greater social accountability than ever before.
This charade-like quality of the Occupy Wall Street movement was on full display last weekend when one of the demonstrators stepped outside of the drum circle for a few moments in order to explain to some curious onlookers that it would be both radical and wise for the growing protest movement to identify a prophet, who would rally the troops for the looming battle against oppressive “collectivities” of every kind, which in general he took as the real root causes of inequality and discontent, instead of more concrete explanations, such as production based on capital or commodity fetishism.
October 26th, 2011 → 7:19 pm
[...] Confusion, Chaos, and the Theology of Occupy Wall Street [...]
October 26th, 2011 → 7:34 pm
[...] Confusion, Chaos, and the Theology of Occupy Wall Street [...]
October 26th, 2011 → 7:35 pm
[...] Confusion, Chaos, and the Theology of Occupy Wall Street [...]
October 26th, 2011 → 7:38 pm
[...] Confusion, Chaos, and the Theology of Occupy Wall Street [...]
October 30th, 2011 → 9:36 pm
[...] Confusion, Chaos, and the Theology of Occupy Wall Street [...]
November 16th, 2011 → 1:27 am
[...] Confusion, Chaos, and the Theology of Occupy Wall Street [...]
September 26th, 2012 → 2:37 pm
[...] as damaging to human life, culture, and achievement as religion? This is why we struggle against liberals every bit as much as conservatives, and sometimes even [...]
September 28th, 2012 → 1:07 pm
[...] for any definitive break or serious conflict with the bourgeoisie. It achieved everything in a mythicizing form through mere observations, descriptions and expressions of the symptoms of the superstructure, as [...]
March 29th, 2013 → 3:25 pm
[...] when in fact they’ve actually been profoundly steeped all along in various forms of idealism (even the investment bankers are idealists!), as if a white person’s uncontrollable fetishism for Louis Vuitton purses and flashy cars and [...]