Occupy Comix
Hey! If you’re reading this, you may have found this website through this image:
This is the most popular comic from a larger project, which was a method for me overcoming ideological trauma from my time spent at an Occupy camp. The infighting was so hilarious, and I was so invested in the outcome- making fun of what I saw as the tragicomedy of idealism, fundamentalism, and collaboration was essential for me to “get over” the world not changing forever.
Here are some of the other comics I made at the time that I still think are funny.
(To be clear: the joke is not supposed to be *on* anyone here, its about the absuridty of colliding worldviews)
The frustration of “taking it from both sides” – your boss, the media, etc. thinks you’re too idealistic. Too political. Your comrades at the camp think you’re a crypto-fascist piece of shit. There is no way to please everyone.
At the end of Occupy I felt like we had lost the unifying thread. Visions of a better world had clouded the pragmatic short-term steps we needed. Slowing or ending the influence of big money on our legal and political system
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During Occupy I was introduced to the idea of “diversity of tactics” – an idea that resonates with me more each year. However, this point of contention sticks with me. There is a time and a place for various tactics and we should be careful not to corrupt our comrade’s messaging.
This was the last comic I ended up making for OC. Apologies for the hetero-centric hero-worship business. I was trying to use the concepts from mythology to make the point that establishment parties are all unified in their opposition to electoral reform that empowers small parties and social movements’ influence.
I want to make hundreds more of this series someday.
This concept proved to be important to my thinking in the years after Occupy ended. Why do we have so much trouble communicating? What are the factors that alienate us from one another?
Team-mind, inter-ideological communication, and “steelmanning” became the rough basis of the podcast that this website is named after is about. We have almost everything in common. I agree with everything you have to say. Please allow me to spend 15 minutes paraphrasing it and insisting that we do agree.
Shawn V, 2015
