No doubt you have seen the video. Scary, isn’t it. Raises goose bumps. The weirdness of it raises many questions as well. Who are these people? What’s their agenda? Are they connected with Occupy Wall St? If so, then how? Who was the man at the microphone? Who was his sidekick in the crowd? Where are they from? Are they or are they not a typical Occupy group? If they are part of the liberal left, why did they deny John Lewis a chance to speak? Could they be a conservative group? Why was there a paucity of blacks in the crowd? Is this or is it not the face of Marxism?
We will try to answer some of these questions. It is too soon to come to any firm conclusions but it is not too early to examine the evidence. Let’s ‘go to the tape’
The first thing that we notice is the use of the cultish technique of speak and chant. The technique accomplishes several things. It slows down the presentation and allows the speaker to stay in control. It allows the speaker to lead the crowd in the desired direction and fool the crowd into thinking that the decisions were theirs, and not those of the facilitator. Chanting mesmerizes the mind, blocking out independent thinking. Chanting together in a crowd unifies the members creating the impression of universal agreement.
Next we notice the raising of hands in the air. This gesture is reminiscent of religious practice more common among the more fundamental denominations. The reason given here for the raising of hands at the demonstration is because clapping prevents people from being heard. That reason is absurd. The people were clapping to hear someone speak, not to shut them up. Nevertheless, the programmed crowd chants the reason back. With that, they have verbalized agreement with the leader, bypassing individual thought. And so it goes with decisions on other matters as well. If someone in the crowd speaks up with an opinion that is contrary to the leader’s position but popular with the crowd, there will be no clapping.
Watching the video, it is abundantly clear from the start that many in the crowd wanted to hear John Lewis. In fact it certainly appeared like the majority wanted to hear him. Majority or not, just “many” should be enough unless the minority is to be denied a voice. There was very positive finger waving in the beginning when the facilitator asked the crowd how they felt about John Lewis. There was also a lot of clapping which prompted the facilitator to restrict any more of that. Nevertheless, the leader and his sidekick in the crowd were successful in maneuvering the people to get behind them and deny John Lewis the opportunity to speak.
Exactly why the organizers didn’t want Lewis to speak remains a puzzle.
In case you are wondering, the facilitator was asking what the block or blocks have said, not what the blogs have said. He used the term block to mean the Occupy group. At the end the repeated chant was “mic is dead”, meaning Lewis will not be given a live microphone to speak.
Now play the video again to see how much you agree with the assessment given here.
TO BE CONTINUED
RANDOM THOTS 
Good comment, Nick. The Occupiers have turned out to be inept at best and criminal at worst.
this is not the face of marxish; it’s the face of stupidity, of a facilitator both incompetent in the ways of facilitation and puffed up with his own power; its the face of youth feeling its power and momentary advantage over age. I sense a subtle racism here as well, though I could be wrong; it’s just a feeling, hard to know for certain. “Democracy won?” Embarrassing. I feel for Mr. Lewis, and respect the wisdom I see on his face, encountering this stupidity.
Pingback: OCCUPY – NOW THE UGLY SIDE | RANDOM THOTS