Anarchists and Tasseled Loafers
By TIMOTHY EGAN
NYT
Amid shattered glass and the black smoke of urban pyres, I found myself in a riot some years ago — the anarchists-led assault on the World Trade Organization meetings of 1999. At the height of what became known as The Battle of Seattle, I bumped into an otherwise mild-mannered, libertarian-leaning friend on the streets, gasping at the bitter taste of tear gas. He was ecstatic.
“Isn’t it great?” he shouted. “The established order is coming down!”
Turns out, only Nike Town, the Gap and a few other outposts of global capitalism were coming down, and just for a day or so. But the nihilistic spirit of those window-smashers, whose goal was to bring chaos to a city of passive refinements, seems to have found a home: in the Republican Party.
Who would put at risk, at a time when most people are hurting from a gasping economy, the monthly issuance of life-supporting funds for wounded veterans, disabled children, countless elderly couples living on barely $2,000 a month — all told, over 70 million checks that go out each month?
(More here.)
NYT
Amid shattered glass and the black smoke of urban pyres, I found myself in a riot some years ago — the anarchists-led assault on the World Trade Organization meetings of 1999. At the height of what became known as The Battle of Seattle, I bumped into an otherwise mild-mannered, libertarian-leaning friend on the streets, gasping at the bitter taste of tear gas. He was ecstatic.
“Isn’t it great?” he shouted. “The established order is coming down!”
Turns out, only Nike Town, the Gap and a few other outposts of global capitalism were coming down, and just for a day or so. But the nihilistic spirit of those window-smashers, whose goal was to bring chaos to a city of passive refinements, seems to have found a home: in the Republican Party.
Who would put at risk, at a time when most people are hurting from a gasping economy, the monthly issuance of life-supporting funds for wounded veterans, disabled children, countless elderly couples living on barely $2,000 a month — all told, over 70 million checks that go out each month?
(More here.)
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