Sunday, January 02, 2011

The Underpants Gnomes theory of social change.

Ron Radosh dissects Frances Fox Pivens' call for social change through social unrest:
  1. Rioting in the streets.
  2. ????????
  3. Socialist utopia!
The plan seems to have a weakness somewhere...

What I find most amusing about these kind of scenarios is that apparently, at the height of disturbances, tweedy intellectuals will step out of their ivory towers and take control of the rowdy mobs, leading them to the promised land. Because mobs of unemployed populist thugs and revolutionaries are always just waiting for eyeglasses-wearing intellectuals to come show them the way. You know, like they were in Cambodia.

Cinch the saddle tight on that tiger, granny.


(H/T to Western Rifle Shooters Association.)

21 comments:

Rev. Paul said...

Step 2 needs a bit more specificity, there. Perhaps there's a flaw in her theory?

This is my "wide-eyed wonder" face.

Kristophr said...

If this country does go to violence, it ain't the hippies that will be bringing their guns to the party.

Another ivory tower leftist dumbass ... the rule of law is the only thing between her and a lamp post party.

She might want to re-think getting rid of it.

drjim said...

Time to stock up on beans and bullets!

Drang said...

Ah, yes, the "The a miracle occurs" school of social evolution...

Drang said...

"TheN", dammnit!

DanH said...

But it worked when they tried it in the Soviet Union!

Oh, wait...never mind.

Darrell said...

The part they don't ever get is that once the revolution happens, those same "intellectuals" will be the first to get it in the back of the skull.

Joseph said...

It amazes me how these people actually believe forcing society to collapse will benefit anyone but the Stalins and Pol Pots. This despite the lessons of history.
The masses will wind up with less than they started out with and the intellectuals will wind up in a ditch with a bullet in the head.

Ritchie said...

Step two is the part where the teeming masses, yearning to be supervised, implore government to make it stop, and put the ball game back on. Never Ones to let a crisis go to waste (see what I did there?), all levels of government will leap to serve. Interagency rivalry could even break out in actual calibers. It's worth noting that during the Katrina situation, police did not entirely refrain from illegal and unconstitutional acts, and neither did the National Guard units backing them up.

Spell check does not know "interagency". WV "brochbod". Well it doesn't much better from here on out.

NotClauswitz said...

There was a vanguard of destruction-bent Nihilists among the Marxists-Leninist who helped pave the way for the Reds of the Soviet Union to succeed, and ensured their pogroms went forward.
They spurred-on the cadres
to higher and higher levels of outrage and civil disobedience, and threw fear and confusion into the lawful citizens who couldn't see a way out.
Germany had similar groups rampaging through the streets and one was Ludendorff was the proxy-boy who lent a veneer of respectability to the gang that attempted the Beer Hall Putsch.
Proxies are the Left's vanguard of FUD: eco-terrorists, animal-rights terrorists, "social justice" militants, Global Warming enthusiasts, and even Islamists - those who are eager for simple destruction as such today we generally call Anarchists - but "Real Anarchists" they are not, they are signal-men of the Left, marking and indicating the progress of the street-crew. They were there at the Oscar Grant riots in Oakland and they practiced their craft at the G20 riots in Toronto.

Anonymous said...

I Always thought it went:

1. We have a revolution/coup/ etc...
2. Many people disagree, we tell them to shut up and they don't.
3. Those people, and everyone else who objects are slaughtered for the greater good.
4. Paradise is achieved.

Josh Kruschke said...

You might like this.

http://bcast.eamped.com/2010/01/07/thomas-sowell-takes-on-frances-fox-piven-of-the-cl/#post1

Thomas Sowell Takes on Piven and others.
:-)

Anonymous said...

"It amazes me how these people actually believe forcing society to collapse will benefit anyone but the Stalins and Pol Pots. This despite the lessons of history.
The masses will wind up with less than they started out with and the intellectuals will wind up in a ditch with a bullet in the head."

No, no, no, you see, these leftist intelligentsia know full well what the result is. The key is that they see themselves in the big chair, sending their political opponents to their deaths, so it's all good, because they will be in charge.

Anonymous said...

Somehow, I am reminded of Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre 's stance on freedom of speech after he rose to power.

In the old days, nutcases like these would've been eliminated by Smilodon long before they came of age.

We definitely need the 2nd Amendment expanded in this nation, if only to keep the riff-raff out.

On a different note, please pray for California: Governor Moonbeam takes over in the morning.

Ulises from CA

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, ooooh, libs and commies rioting in the streets. I better order a pile of batteries for the EOTech. And magazines. Lots of magazines. And earplugs. And....

theirritablearchitect said...

Top to bottom, you had me rolling with the snark on this, Tam. Terrific imagery.

If not for the serious nature of the whole bit, I'd still be cackling about it all.

Borepatch said...

The rioting is aimed at the center-left, who might be tempted to go all wobbly. Nothing like some petrol bombs to let the rest of the team know just who the real vanguard is.

As the promised Utopia fades from sight, expect more of this.

Joel said...

In internal flow charts back in my Mr. Suburban Man days, when somebody's plan was too vague or optimistic I'd add a box in the appropriate spot labeled "Miracle Occurs Here" - mostly just to see if anybody was paying attention.

Yeah, it didn't work then, either.

Anonymous said...

Save the threats.
As Nike says, "Just do it."

Tam said...

"As Nike says, "Just do it.""

As Reebok used to say, "There is no finish line."

staghounds said...

People like her make me almost respect Angela Davis, who at least put herself at some personal risk.

She forgets Robert Bolt's More:

"And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake! "