William Upski Wimsatt: Cool Rich Kid/Pissed off Voter (Part I)
By Gordon Gartrelle
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By Rom!

“For me, I think the key ingredient is to keep at it and not get discouraged, you know. We only have to look as far as Florida in 2000 to see what a couple hundred people can do at the right place and the right time.” William Upski Wimsatt is optimistic about the potential for progressive social change despite the current conservative reign. Every political set back is an opportunity to educate and inspire the disappointed and ignored. Persistence is one of his talents. While most young people are contemplating moving to another country or coming to the conclusion that maybe apathy isn't so bad, Upski is more enthusiastic than ever. “People have these totally unrealistic ideas about how easy social change is or how hard it is. I'll be talking to someone on the train about how we can stop the prison system and they'll be like 'yeah, yeah but the Illuminati controls everything' and they'll take it in a whole conspiracy direction. To me that's the biggest cop out because the underlying message is that we are powerless but ultimately it's a self defeating story which at the deepest level comes out of the fear of trying and the effort of succeeding.” Time and energy are wasted on creating wild conspiracy theories but despite Upski's optimism, I have doubts about the impact that a society can have in the face of a government that uses very advanced and sophisticated tools to manipulate its citizens. Misinformation, economic pressure and fear have all been used to strip people of their ability to make rational and well informed decisions about the type of world they would like to live in. While it may be far fetched and pointless to believe that a small group of men-maybe even lizard men-are plotting to take over the world, you can not ignore the success that the US has had in implementing even its most contentious and detested policies. Upski is not convinced. “We are up against the most powerful and sophisticated government, corporate and military form of control that has ever been developed in the history of the world. So it's not some easy task to try to get that monster to shift. It is truly the challenge of a lifetime to do something about the monster that controls people's lives more than anything else in the history of the world but we know that empires fall and that it is going to take a long time. Our generation was raised on TV, immediate results and quick answers, and people get impatient if they get involved and after one day they haven't stopped the war.” It's true. When the 2004 election reached a level of frenzy and chaos , it reminded me of the episode of the Simpsons where 2 evil aliens assume the physical form of presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, forcing voters to choose one of them to be President because no one wants to “throw their vote away”on a 3rd party candidate. After winning the election, the aliens dominate the planet and turn Springfield into a slave state. It's a funny episode but it's pathetic that the 2004 election has simply become entertainment.

“The electorate, by and large, is not media or politically savvy. If they had any idea what was really going on they'd be horrified. The corporate media is just unbelievable in the ability it has to miseducate people.” The 2004 election will be remembered for the integral role that the media played in shaping the opinions of viewers. The campaigns were a complicated mixture of publicists, speech writers and media trainers. All engaged in the art of creating a more marketable candidate. As news coverage became increasingly devoid of substantive information, serious political discussion was lost in the concern for high ratings and satisfied advertisers. Upski is frustrated by the media manipulation that disempowers voters by keeping them uninformed. “Any decent media trainer will tell you that you have to clarify your message in three main points and say those over and over and over again no matter what the reporter asks you. I talk to people all the time on the subway and people will try to tell me that we need to bomb Hussein to stop Al Qaeda. You ask them what their position is but they don't have the basic facts about what is going on. Their understanding of the facts is completely off.” The internet has become a viable source of information that is not tainted by the pressure to appeal to corporate sponsors but blogs have not yet reached a level of popularity that is capable of counteracting the influence of more traditional news outlets. Upski knows that if the information was more accessible, voters would be outraged. “When you read about the people who run the right wing in this country, they are even scarier than I thought. The more I learn about what the right wing is, it's almost hard to imagine that there are people like this. George Bush, Jr. has just taken off the gloves with the economy. Tax cut after tax cut to the ultra wealthy and an economic plan that severely goes against the interests of 95% of the population.” Criticism of the Bush Administration is incomplete without addressing the Democratic Party's inaction, compliance and support of right wing policies. Upski acknowledges that the inconsistencies of Democrats are irreconcilable for the progressive voter. “Clinton put more black men and women in prison than Reagan and Bush combined and he has the nerve to move to Harlem. Clinton passed NAFTA which has increased the gap between the rich and the poor in all three countries- Mexico, the United States and Canada. He was marginally better than Bush and the people he appointed were marginally better [than the people Bush appointed].” This is the problem that I had with the 2004 election, the differences between Bush and Kerry were so subtle that even extremely close examination provides only nominal distinctions between the candidates. Third party candidates are marginalized and any serious attempt to support one is met with anger from Democrats who feel that you are undermining and jeopardizing the left's agenda. Upski responds to this dilemma the same way that most voters have resolved voting for Kerry in 2004. “He [Clinton] was a lesser of evils and that is where we are in history right now, we need to deal with the lesser of evils.”

Humans have the ability to adapt to unimaginable amounts of pain and suffering, it makes us resilient. Unfortunately, adaptation can also result in the inability to recognize an unhealthy situation. It allows us to function in the midst of gross inequities without feeling guilty and provides the delusion of normalcy whenever we need to feel comfortable or safe. We have become too accepting of the polarization perpetuated by the government and the media. The average person wants to be able to make enough money to sustain themselves and lead a moderately decent life. This basic commonality should be enough to unify this nation. If not, there is no hope. “I think that is the key right there, our imagination has been colonized so that we can't even imagine how we could live any differently than this. The goal is that if you work hard you will be justly compensated, that old people aren't thrown out and women can walk down the street without the fear of violence. When people talk about something radical or revolutionary you get the idea of violent crowds taking over. No, what people want is basic - being able to control their own lives. The problem with that is that you can't make a big profit off of people who are independent and self sufficient.”

William Upski Wimsatt is an activist and author of Bomb The Suburbs and No More Prisons. He formed the League of Pissed Off Voters last year (www.indyvoter.org). Part two of this article will be available next week.