TIME Magazine's Squatter of the Year Award

By Thaddeus S. Kaczor, Jr.


TIME Magazine, in their annual propaganda issue- er... 'Person Of The Year' Issue, has named 'The Protester' as their choice as the most influential individual of the last 12 months. While it is hard to disagree with the choice of the brave individuals in the Middle East and elsewhere who have stood up against tyrannical dictators by risking their very lives, TIME Magazine does a brave disservice to these courageous men and women by conflating their bold efforts with the largely unfocused, disorganized and ultimately ineffective 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters here in the United States. The OWS Protesters perhaps risked their lives by creating many unsanitary and potentially hazardous conditions for themselves, but to equate protesting torture, execution and subjugation by your government with complaining about your student loans, whining about others being richer than you are, as well as  'Climate Change', Animal rights and heaven knows what else is insulting to the very nature of the valid human rights protests in other countries. 


While the OWS protests started with some very basic and arguably sound issues, such as the failure to prosecute ANYONE responsible for the Financial Collapse of 2007-08, and the oversize influence of the corrupt Financial industry, it's unfocused nature has simultaneously allowed it to  devolve into the twin-headed monster of both an anti-capitalist protest, and it's capture as a vehicle for both the Democratic National Committee and the Obama Presidential Campaign to advance their Class-Warfare theme for 2012. Moreover, the OWS protests' failure to even QUESTION- let alone focus on- Government's role in the current crisis, let alone the corruption stretching from Capitol Hill and the White house through K-Street directly to Wall Street undermines and bankrupts and Moral or logical high ground the protesters may have tried to claim. As Napoleon the Pig said in Orwell's 'Animal Farm'- "All animals are created equal- some are just more equal than others". TIME seems to have adopted this theme as their template for reporting on the OWS protests! 


Another of Orwell's books '1984' accurately defines the media reportage on this 'protest', as the 'Doublespeak' on the reporting of the unruly, unlawful and generally confused OWS protests seems to be using a wholly different criteria than that used by most outlets for the orderly, law-abiding and focused Tea Party protests in 2007-2010. Many of the 'People's Microphone' tactics seem to eerily echo the 'Two Minutes Hate' tactic that Big Brother used to channel public outrage into 'acceptable' outlets, while the early Tea Party Protests were quite egalitarian in allowing anybody and everybody to have their say, even if their was disagreement with a particular viewpoint.  Of course, the label 'Tea Party' has become somewhat muddled, as Big-Money GOP interests have insinuated many Neo-Con 'Wolf' Organizations in Tea Party 'Sheep' clothing since the 2010 elections, and many supposed 'Tea Party' events now more resemble GOP fundraisers and Party-Line echo chambers than the original open-mic Tea Parties of the early days. 


Giving credit where credit is due, the DNC moved more swiftly and efficiently in it's infiltration (and instigation of) many OWS protests than the GOP Elites did in their attempted co-option of the Tea Party. It is truly contemptible, and unbelievably transparent the way the White House and the DNC have used the OWS protests to further their agenda, taking an amorphous and unfocused protest and seemingly 'channeling' their message of class warfare, Government entitlements and hatred of the Capitalist system as the 'face' of this movement. The pliant Progressive media also seems to be marching to the Progressive drum circle beat in eerily pushing the same 'talking points' propaganda themes about OWS in unison. More troubling, however, is their deliberate ignoring of the darker side of these protests- the disregard of private property rights, the open flaunting of public laws regarding protests, public health and even rape, robbery and illegal substance abuse. 

Everything the Progressive media (unfairly) accused the Tea Party protesters of has unfortunately been the hallmark of many of the OWS protests. Many of the incidents of racism, violence against women, incitement to violence and other heinous things at the OWS protests that the Media were NEVER able to find evidence of at the Tea Party gatherings (though not for lack of trying or even fabricating!) were on open display at many OWS gatherings,(But curiously were ignored or downplayed in reporting!). In many cases, if you look in-depth at the reportage of the OWS protests, the terminology, optics and tone used by the sympathetic media types were similar to the coverage of a 'garden party' or an ice cream social. Coincidentally, while there were some incidents of Police over-reaction to protesters, many of the 'incidents' of 'police brutality' were a direct result of the tactics of provoking such incidents by protesters who took 'classes and instruction from groups like the Marxist 'Working  Families Party' who actually recruited, trained and paid many of the protesters.

When TIME Magazine refused to even ACKNOWLEDGE the Tea Party protester as one of their 'top stories of the year' in 2009 it was flabbergasting, as the Tea Party Movement turned out to be one of the largest populist political movements in the last 50 years! Of course, when they even covered it at all during that year, it was through the filter of a progressive East-Coast Media elite viewpoint, where massive anti-government protests in 'flyover country' are viewed as mere distractions, while smaller protests for the 'correct reasons' are magnified and shouted from the rooftops of their penthouse coktail parties on Manhattan's upper east side. So it is no surprise that TIME now overemphasizes what is actually a smaller, less focused and more 'astroturfed' (as Nancy Pelosi would say) protest movement as it's 'Person Of The Year'. One thing you can say about TIME Magazine and much of the insular Establishment Progressive Media: they certainly ARE consistent- in their biases.

It is no surprise to anyone except the true believers in the Progressive cause that the readership and confidence (if any) in 'Old' Mdia such as TIME Magazine continues to plummet, as their increasingly insular and warped world view is rejected by those with even a minimum of critical thinking ability. With every article published, and every misguided analysis, it would seem that TIME has adopted as their motto "Who are you going to believe, US, or your own lyin' eyes?"