In the beginning, I was willing to accept that a group of unhappy citizens utilized their First Amendment rights to protest what they believe to be an injustice (as I have written here and here): the picking of winners and losers by government with a weak coverup attempt via cronyism. I accepted, at first, their claims of being a “non-violent” group wanting to have their grievances heard.
Yet, as the “movement” began to grow, it became obvious that being “non-violent” is “non-correct.” Quickly, the OWS protesters were co-opted by those who believe in violence as a legitimate means of achieving their objectives: Van Jones, who wants to see an “American Autumn” emulating the Arab Spring (which was, and still is, very violent), Michael Moore — who has stated publicly that the “rich” can give up their money now, peacefully, or later (though he doesn’t elaborate on what happens to get the money later, one can imagine), and even Roseanne Barr got into the mix. Barr actually said she longed for the return of the guillotine and re-education camps for those who don’t give up their wealth willingly.
In my appearance on CrossTalk, I was joined by Jason Del Gandio – assistant professor of rhetoric at Temple University and author of “Rhetoric for Radicals,” (a handbook for 21st century activists) and Kevin Zeese, organizer of October 2011.org and activist. In that program a few things came to the surface:
Both Del Gandio and Zeese pushed the meme that the organizations across the nation were non-violent. Zeese made it clear that they were not allowing themselves to be co-opted by Jones, Moore, the Democrat party or anyone else, claiming:
Van Jones is not part of the Occupy movement…he’s a Democrat…if Obama and the Democrats embrace us, they gonna be very sad to see that we will be protesting them as well…we see them as part of the crony capitalist corrupt economy that has resulted in 400 people having as much wealth as 154 million, not because they are smarter or work harder, but because they are politically connected and essentially bribing through campaign donations…
I pointed out that Democrats have both embraced and have co-opted the movement. How else could you explain the petition on the DCCC website asking people to support the OWS crowd? I then pointed out that the issue is not “crony capitalism.” Who wouldn’t be opposed to people who break the law to get ahead? Rather, the issue is that OWS is opposed to Capitalism and people being able to keep what they earn. The conversation went south from there:
Me : “You’re opposed to Capitalism. That’s the problem. You’re opposed to the idea of people working for what they earn…you think it should just be given to them. This is what you believe.”
Zeese: “That is not true. That’s not true. You’re absolutely wrong about that. You’re absolutely wrong about that, Tony.”
Me: “I’m not wrong about that. Take a look at your own words and your own actions. Take a look at the video by Andrew Breitbart where people are booing Capitalism.”
Zeese: “Tony is a loudmouth who makes up stuff. Tony is a loudmouth who makes up stuff….puts out false information.”
Let’s take a look at the video tape – courtesy of Mr. Breitbart:
People. Booing. Capitalism. It’s not made up. It’s not false information.
While there is much more in the video, the most frightening moment appears towards the end, when Del Gandio pushed the idea of “direct democracy” (emphasis mine):
Lavalle (Host): “Is this really a test of democracy in the United States? Because we talked about Capitalism but its about participation, isn’t it?”
Del Gandio: “…it’s about direct democracy. about reclaiming our democracy, redefining our democracy, repracticing our democracy in a way that is responsive to each of our wants, needs and desires.”
Me: “….we are not a direct democracy, and the Founding Fathers knew better. We’re a Constitutional Republic, that way we don’t have mob rule.”
Del Gandio: “Well, we can change it. Let’s change it.”
Me: “And from the outside looking in, that’s exactly what you have in Occupy Wall Street. You guys gotta figure that one out.”
Del Gandio: “Let’s change the system. Change the system.”
There can be no more doubt that Occupy Wall Street is NOT in favor of reforming the system but rather dismantling the system. The brazen desire of “change the system,” if uttered by a member of the Tea Party, would be front page news for weeks in the mainstream press. It would be followed up by the usual suspects claiming that the Tea Party is in favor of violent overthrow of the government.
The Tea Party believes in government, just less of it. Occupy Wall Street has shown that it does not favor free markets, nor our Constitutional foundation. They wish to change both.
When the clip of my appearance was posted to the RT YouTube channel, the commenters went on a violent, homophobic, anti-Semitic rant about my appearance. While not every comment is crude, below is a sampling of those who favor the OWS movement:
Yeah, bring back the guillotine and start with the tea party bastards! – theHoundsofDoom
Tony makes me with I could punch people over TCP/IP.- HWGuyEG
tony katz is a fat pussy – cornsnakedk
HAs tony ever been punched? Id like to be the first. – MrMrEvin
The only acts of violence are by the police! don’t listen to that Jew! – murmur6666
lol, just what i expected from a tea party douche. Pull the string, get the pre-programmed ideas. Sheesh. – ForestSongUnLTD
The guillotine needs to make a comeback. – bamboo4tameshigiri
T. Katz needs a bitch slappin’. Pick me! Pick me! – phillisthebarbarian
Teabaggers need to be put in re-education camps! Roseanne Barr was right! – petersz98
Tony’s face would look good arguing from the bottom of a basket. – Will224000
What a fat fuck – arturro666
tony should be wearing a white hood… – SHACKTRESS
What a dumb Zionist tool in the bottom right corner – megamogx
will someone please violently obliterate the man on the bottom right – humanboy1221
Who is this stupid Tea Party guy. Make me want to stand up and punch his face. What a dick head!!! – nhu111
Tony do the world a favour and choke yourself, you ignorant pawn/pig of the establishment!!!! – karveljay
OHHHHH I get it, tony must affiliate with the 1% – What a fag – RoyalW1979
FUCK TONY KATZ I WORK MY FUCKING ASS OFF AND GET PAID DIRT W NO BENEFITS FUCK YOU! YOU STUPID FAGGOT COME TO WALL STREET AND COME SEE ME YOU FUCKING HOMO – fucuts
With similar anti-Semitic statements and calls for violence amongst the rank and file of the OWS crowd, this kind of vitriol is completely unsurprising. Occupy Wall Street has begun to clearly reveal exactly what it stands for–envy, hatred, and destruction.