Frank Miller and the Occupation

Posted on 18th Nov 11 by Drop-d Collective | 0

Once upon a time, there was a writer/artist. He was a key player in revitalising a stale, stagnant industry, legitimising it in the eyes of those who didn’t follow it. He refused to be controlled by big corporations, walking out and setting up his own company and willingly lending his name to those who followed in his footsteps, giving a new generation of creators a chance they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. When working within the corporations, he had two definitive runs in two companies with two different characters, dragging them both into the present and setting the creative bar for those who followed.

His name was Frank Miller. A hugely respected comic creator, as a writer and an artist. His run on Daredevil may never be topped. I’m a fan of a lot of his work, is what I’m trying to say. And he recently published the following blog post.

“Everybody’s been too damn polite about this nonsense:

The “Occupy” movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.

“Occupy” is nothing short of a clumsy, poorly-expressed attempt at anarchy, to the extent that the “movement” – HAH! Some “movement”, except if the word “bowel” is attached – is anything more than an ugly fashion statement by a bunch of iPhone, iPad wielding spoiled brats who should stop getting in the way of working people and find jobs for themselves.

This is no popular uprising. This is garbage. And goodness knows they’re spewing their garbage – both politically and physically – every which way they can find.

Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.

Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you’ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you’ve heard terms like al-Qaeda and Islamicism.

And this enemy of mine — not of yours, apparently – must be getting a dark chuckle, if not an outright horselaugh – out of your vain, childish, self-destructive spectacle.

In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.

Or better yet, enlist for the real thing. Maybe our military could whip some of you into shape.

They might not let you babies keep your iPhones, though. Try to soldier on.

Schmucks.”

In summary:

By posting this rant, he has destroyed the last of his artistic integrity and spat in the face of everything he once did. The man who once took out full page ads in his books, protesting corporate control, has turned on those who are simply doing the same thing. He has also revealed his own racism (already well-known by comic fans) and lack of research.

So, let’s start from the start, and see what he has to say. “Louts, thieves and rapists.” Louts, debatably. Thieves, well, thieves often strike in the midst of large crowds, but actually the number of thefts reported are quite low (one shop which WAS smashed up was protected by protesters, so there’s that.) But let’s be fair to Miller. These protests involve hundreds of thousands of people, all over the world. Not all of them are going to be squeaky clean. However, those who are there specifically to cause violence and chaos are demonstrably in the minority.

He also rants about hippies, often a target for his rage in his work. The best example I can think of would be Robin’s parents in TDKR. Both hippies, spending their time doing drugs and often forgetting they even have a child. A product of his upbringing, and he does make (debatably) valid points about the pointlessness of the hippy movement elsewhere in his work.

He goes on ‘the “movement” is… [no]thing more than an ugly fashion statement by a bunch of iPhone, iPad wielding spoiled brats who should stop getting in the way of working people and find jobs for themselves.’ And here he has a point. It is difficult to take someone seriously when they’re tweeting about not being able to pay their rent from an ipad, and it does raise awkward questions about class. There is a difference between a kid freshly out of college who’s living with their parents and a guy who was laid off and can’t feed his family. But unless you’re going to go through everyone’s backpack and calculate the cost of everything in there, it’s a pointless exercise.
I myself am currently living way below my means. Within the past year, the most expensive things I bought a laptop and phone, both of which I need to work, and nothing else. I have not supported musicians I would like to support, I have not bought any books or comics, and generally put aside as much money as I can. Why? Because I need money, and I’m not the only one. These protests are, again demonstrably, a mix of people, from a variety of social backgrounds, classes and political views. The political views are primarily liberal, but not exclusively. You could have anarchists, conservatives, libertarians, or centrists taking part, it’s impossible to get an accurate read on them. Are there rapists and thieves and louts among their number? Well, for such massive numbers, there probably are, but they are in the overwhelming minority. Most of the violence is caused by police over-reaction. An Iraq war veteran was hospitalised with a fractured skull courtesy of riot police (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/scott-olsen-iraq-war-veteran-injured_n_1034003.html) And there were plenty of homeless protesters, with many being given blankets and safe places to stay, which is more than they received prior to the protests.

And you also have those who are annoyed by the implication, intentional or otherwise, that the 99% are poor, below the poverty line, living in the ghetto. Understandably, no one wants to be lumped in with social undesirables. Yes, at times OWS has gone overboard in its statements about class equality, but these are the mistakes of a new movement, taking it’s first steps. With time, it will learn and improve upon itself. Walking before running.

His further statement, that it is nothing more than “ a fashion statement” is reductive in the extreme. He simply refuses to believe there may be people out there who genuinely believe in the cause, and are simply going along with the crowd. There may be some doing so, but the majority do believe in what they’re doing. Otherwise, why go back after the police storm their camps and kick them out?

Miller goes on to imply that the OWS has only taken place in New York and Oakdale. A simple google search shows that, actually, it’s all over the world. The Guardian has a map that shows different locations, with details of crowd numbers and length.

For those who don’t want to follow the link, there have been protests in Galway, Cork, Dublin, Birmingham, Dundee, Reykjavik, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Las Palmas, Kansas, Toronto, Athens and Cairo and numerous other cities around the world. It is NOT an exclusively American movement. The largest protests are in America, certainly, but it’s a universal problem, being tackled by countries all over the world.

‘Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.” Against who, Miller? Against who? Corrupt businesses, the military-industrial complex, the scourge of tooth decay? ‘Al-Qaeda and Islamicism.’ Dynamic entry! Islam outta nowhere!

Now, let’s ignore Islam for the moment (I’ll explain in a second), and look at Al-Qaeda. Miller lives in New York, and has for a while, so it’s understandable that he is not a fan of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda, by the by, is in major trouble, in a variety of ways. Recruitment levels are low, so they’ve resorted to ads on porn sites. They’ve also reached out to rappers to try to reach the masses.  Still dangerous, don’t get me wrong, but support has turned against Al-Qaeda in many Islamic nations. I’m ignoring his views on Islam because as far as he is concerned, Islam and Al-Qaeda are the same thing. In Holy Terror, he draws no line between Islam and Al-Qaeda. They are one and the same. If we extend his logic, all Christians are members of the Ku Klux Klan. This is the world as he sees it, you’re either with America, right or wrong, or you’re against it. Whether it’s flying planes into buildings, or protesting at an unfair system.

I’m going to skip the next part, since it’s more of the same . ‘Maybe our military could whip some of you into shape.” Tell that to Scott Olsen, Frank. I’m sure he’d love to hear that coming from someone who has never joined the army, or served in any sort of capacity and who, frankly, knows nothing about what he’s talking about. Of course, Miller is from a generation where a spell in the army would fix any problem, I deal with such people every day. Most of the people I hear this from actually did serve. If Miller wants to defend America so badly, why didn’t he join and fight, rather than produce a critically mauled “piece of propaganda” (as he himself describes it) that was delayed until a full decade after the event he’s trying to commemorate? He has gone on record to say that he knows nothing of Islam: “I can tell you squat about Islam. I don’t know anything about it. But I know a goddamn lot about Al-Qaeda and I want them all to burn in hell.”

His statements are not thought-out analysis. They are crude, abusive insults aimed at those he deems the enemy, or worse, traitors. He is fully entitled to his opinion, but one would hope he would at the very least make an effort. But he has every right to say what’s on his mind. Just as we have the right to read his opinions and feel… offended, saddened and even betrayed. And we similarly have the right to challenge his statements and opinions.

And now the New York protests have been shut down, with reports that the police used tear gas with no reason (later stated to be pepper spray). No warning was given, they simply began stomping on tents and herding journalists away. If you’re going to conduct a lawful eviction, of course you do it in the dead of night with a complete media blackout. And it was blacked out. Helicopters were barred from flying overhead, journalists were arrested and others were blocked from entering. No doubt Frank was in the thick of it, stomping on one of the homeless there for support, or one of the teenagers who tied themselves to a tree. Of course, that would require him to actually do something besides piss and moan on a blog, so probably not.

For an account of what happened, see http://occupywallst.org/article/nypd-raiding-liberty-square/. But the good news is, they were able to win a (temporary) restraining order, allowing them to re-camp there. And it has also given those in charge a chance to regroup and prevent any undesirables from taking part the next time, which can only be a good thing. For more up to date information, and a blow by blow account of the clear-out (with pictures of some of the injured), https://twitter.com/#!/JoshHarkinson.

Frank, Sin City was black and white. The real world isn’t.

Tags: 300, diminishing returns, Frank Miller, Fuck Off Frank Miller, Islam, occupy, Sin City