Re: RAT Hello Seattle, i must be going...

[Mathew Bretz <mabretz@cbomedia.com>]

i'm not suggesting that anyone is innocent.  i'm suggesting that "punks" may in
some cases be double speak which disguises at least half of the culpability.  i
was not at woodstock so i can only hypothesize on some of the accounts i've
read.  almost all, regardless of which side they came down on, indicated that
conditions were far worse than most of the festival events you or i have probably
been too.  most seem anxious to villify the "punks."  i'd say the blame should be
shared.  why am i writing about woodstock again?  oh yeah, because i think the
fact is that we have birthed a generation of less patient and less tolerant
folks.  this is in part due to the fact that america got spoiled by multinational
corporations sucking dry the rest of the world to drive our consumption.  it is
also due in part to our alienation from one another within the multinational
corporate-built "church of technology."  and it is also due in part to the rich
getting richer and the poor getting poorer.  i am not encouraging or excusing
impatience or intolerance.  but i feel that it is a by-product of the same
globilization of the corporate economy that brought thousands of thoughtful and
peaceful protestors to seattle.   in other words, "garden variety punks" may not
think of themselves as revolutionaries but few revolutions have ever occurred
without them.   and folks can tune out and turn off as long and as often as they
like but it won't change the fact of what is happening.  slowly but surely, the
killer bees are coming.

and jeffries, you got a lotta damn nerve bringing up jonny tremaine.  i'll see
you on the isle of swiss family robinson.

matthew

TimNGail@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 12/3/99 3:59:46 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> mabretz@cbomedia.com writes:
>
> << were those the punks sun baked for three days on the tarmac of an abandoned
>  airforce base, fed dysentery infected water which induced diarhea, provided
>  inadequate toilet facilities and forced to wait in line for up to five hours
> for
>  clean water as merenary vendors drove the price up to $8 per liter.  perhaps
> if
>  the promoters had taken a few moments away from raking in the cash to do a
> little
>  better planning the "punks" might not have been riled out of their purple
> haze.
>   >>
>
> You make it sound as though these were people trapped against their will,
> unaware of what would be ahead of them.  Should the promoters have planned
> better?  Absolutely.  But should the "punks" be seen as innocent here?
> Simply driven by godless concert promoters to commit violence?  I don't buy
> that for a second...  I've been to many multi-day outdoor events... never,
> EVER been in a situation where there weren't "mercenary vendors" or a huge
> line at the Port-a-John.... so either plan a little bit yourself instead of
> assuming some concert promoter will coddle you, or simply leave if it's
> getting that bad.
>
> Not sure that the comparison between Seattle and Woodstock really works...
> Not sure about the relationship between the sweet innocent youths burning
> things simply to show their disapproval of water prices, versus an assistant
> being harassed as he leads a deaf and blind child down a street.
>
> love the discussion, though...
>
> tim