We Didn’t Start the Fire

By Phil Polizatto,WWH – I understand that the Occupy movement has hurt the feelings of some of the 1% and in a way, this makes me feel badly. Some at the very top feel they have been unfairly singled out, like Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, whose salary is ten million dollars a year. He told his employees that Wall Street bankers are just a bunch of misunderstood do-gooders. He said to them, “I, like you, get a little incensed when you think about how much good all of you do, whether it’s volunteer hours, charitable giving we do, serving clients and customers well, … You (referring to the Occupy movement) ought to think a little about that before you start yelling at us. The 99% should be thanking us!”

Oh, Brian! You take everything so personally! Do you need a hug, Brian? Come to Hunga Dunga Hippie here and I will be glad to give you one. It bothers the hippie in me to see us devolve into an “us and them” relationship.

Brian Moynihan

It violates a hippie’s core principle that we are all one. It really does. But you give us no choice. I must remind you (taking liberties with Billy Joel’s song) that we of the 99% didn’t start the fire. We didn’t light it, but we’re tying to fight it. It’s nothing personal. We just don’t like the idea of your corporations controlling our government and politics; your money and lobbyists skewing the democratic process. Funny how it’s against the law to campaign for someone inside or within so many feet of a polling place for fear of skewing the vote, yet the lobbyists paid for by your corporations skew the democratic process in your favor with no legal repercussions at all. Until you allow democracy to flourish unimpeded by corporate influence, there will be an “us and them” relationship.

As long as you’re making something useful as your way of contributing to the nation and the planet, make as much money as you want. Just make sure you pay your fair share. If you’re making your money off of other people’s money… well that’s not very cool. And if you’re making money off the backs of the rest of us… well, we can’t have that any longer. Make as much money as you like as long as no other human being or the planet suffers. Otherwise you will have to live with the “us and them” divide and we really do want you to come back to the fold.

There seems to be a very telling parallel between the “us and them” of the 1% and the 99%, and the “us and them” of demonstrators and law enforcement. Where police have supported the Occupy movement, there is no divide. Where judges have refused to detain those arrested, there is no divide. Where city councils have declared a tent is a symbol of free speech and therefore the tent has the right to “occupy,” there is no divide.

A five-hour Irvine, Orange County, CA city council meeting ended with the council unanimously agreeing that the Occupy tents on the town hall’s lawn were a form of free speech and vowing to “add the needs of ‘The 99%’ to their official agenda.” Afterwards, the mayor asked the protesters if they needed any more blankets. The general sentiment being: ‘This is quite clearly the model. And the occupation most in tune with city needs.’ – LA Times, Oct. 16, 2011

There may be very few cops who refuse to disobey the orders of their superiors and openly align themselves with the 99% just as there are very few justices who rule in favor of the protesters. And it is a rare city council that will vote their conscience and help support a movement they believe to be acting within their constitutional rights. But their numbers will grow as the outrage of an awakened public sweeps the nation. Unfortunately I can’t say that about corporations. There are a minuscule number of corporations or CEOs who refuse to put profits over people or the environment. It’s very difficult to do. The system in which they operate is rotten to the core.

Which brings me back to you, poor, misunderstood CEO Brian and all your 1% friends: It’s not your fault! You can’t help it. Greed is a disease. You need an intervention. We hippies are here to help you in your time of need. All you have to do is admit you are sick. That is the first step to recovery. I can empathize. I really can. I know where you’re coming from.

It has to do with the kind of neighborhood you lived in as a kid. I used to think it was natural that all fish floated on top of the river in iridescent oil slicks. That was my world. The river went through the industrial section of a poor town. It was all I knew as a kid. It was a traumatic experience when I won a trip up the Hudson River valley and saw my first cow! But I learned that a person can think the whole world is exactly like the neighborhood he lives in until someone expands his view.

In contrast, you and your friends probably had money in your families for generations. You all lived in a neighborhood that had country clubs and polo grounds. This was your world. This is how you were raised. This is all you knew. Greed was ingrained in you. It’s like the “family of origin” theory. You have been imprisoned in this system of greed for so long, you may not even realize you are addicted to it. But until you admit your sickness, you deprive yourselves of the rest of us. You deprive yourselves of the pleasure of our company. We feel sorry for you.

You began believing that greed is a universal trait, and not confined to just those who seek ever larger fortunes. You even persuaded yourselves, and through your control of the media, a large portion of the population… that greed is synonymous with the ambition to accumulate wealth. And that ambition is a sign of superiority. Those without ambition for wealth are inferior. Anyone with enough ambition can become as wealthy as you. Therefore don’t tax the rich because with enough ambition and enough greed, you might get into the club. Ambition and greed are the marks of the superior person. And this belief, Brian et al, will be your undoing. This belief is a lie.

Most people’s ambitions are not for wealth, but for a reasonably comfortable and secure life, a world without war, and a healthy environment. The majority of people who got to experience a true middle class would be happy to have remained, deliberately, in that middle class. And I’m sure the ambitions of those who are really poor aspire to no more than what the middle class had. Happiness was a reliable job, affordable health care, and a nice home, good food on the table, a decent car, and maybe a two-week paid vacation. Success for most was achieving the ambitious goals of being debt-free and mortgage-free; sending their kids through college, and looking forward to their reward: an adequate pension upon which to retire. Who could ask for more?

Greed was something to feel guilty about. It was more about a value system than an economic one. Sharing was fun. No one seemed consumed by making it “big.” We didn’t covet your fortunes or obsess about them. Time was much more valuable to us. Time to spend with our families, friends and neighbors. As long as we had the basics, I think most of us valued time to make art and love more than making millions.

So Brian, Mister CEO of the Bank of America, and all of you who are part of the 1%, I want you to know that I do not hate you. I give you the benefit of the doubt that there are many of you in this very small demographic who do wonderful works that benefit many people. Why none of them seem to benefit me I don’t know.

I do understand that because we lumped you into a percentile why you would think we don’t care about you as a person. We do. We all really are in the same boat. We all bleed. We suffer from diseases. We suffer the loss of loved ones. We all feel pain. That is why I am in disbelief that so few of you can empathize with the rest of us. I have taken the time to meditate on you. I am able to empathize with you, if not sympathize. But I don’t think you have bothered to meditate upon what a more pleasant world this would be if you could cure your addiction to the never ending cycle of greed and the power you require to be greedier.

Are you now afraid of us that we have made our presence known? Do you sleep less well at night knowing the rest of us are fully awake and understand what is going on? Don’t worry. I don’t want your millions. I don’t want your mansion. I give you the benefit of the doubt that you may be a fine person, one who gives to charity, and one who is a patron of the arts. I give you the benefit of the doubt that I might even like you. I do not covet your wealth. I do not hate you for being a capitalist. I hate you for being a greedy capitalist. And I hate the corporate capitalism upon which plutocracy thrives. I hate the system, not the individual, unless he or she knowingly causes harm to another person or the planet.

I don’t want your millions Mister. But if you are not satisfied with millions and want even more… more than you will ever need, then we have a problem. It is this disease of yours called Greed. It is the root of your illness. It has caused you to become insular and paranoid. It has caused you to have tunnel vision. It has caused you to become so protective of your ability to amass more and more wealth, you have failed to include in your profit and loss statements the toll your greed has had on your fellow human beings and on this planet which we must all share.

Welcome to your intervention! We are here to help you. We are the 99% and we won’t leave until you are cured!

To contact Phil or find out more: check out his website and blog For a copy of HUNGA DUNGA
Phil Polizatto – Worldwide Hippies Bureau Chief – West Coast USA, is a graduate of The School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was a feature writer for the overseas division of UPI, a copywriter for CBS, and an award-winning corporate film producer. Mr. Polizatto is a published poet and a regular contributor to Worldwide Hippies as well as a variety of other arts and literary journals. Hunga Dunga is his first published novel. He resides in the Pacific Northwest.