FBI entraps Occupy-friendly "anarchists" in bomb plot

Aw, shit. This is bad. Very bad. We all know full well what the Fox News crew will do with this little gift. We also know how the pro-CISPA forces will react.

The propaganda has already started.

How fitting, the first non-Islamist terror plot in a long time and it involves leftists.

In the first place: These kids did not call themselves leftists. They considered themselves anarchists, which means that they have drunk deep from the Ron Paul wells.

No, I'm not saying that they are actual Paul sectarians; any such affiliation remains to be determined. I speak in more generalized terms. By definition, anarchists adhere to an anti-government philosophy. You pretty much have to be anti-government if you wish to enter the business of blowing up publicly-funded structures.

(Update: You'll want to read what Emptywheel has to say about the actual bridge these clowns allegedly targeted. Also see this humorous page on the close relationship between anarchism and libertarianism. Wikipedia classifies its "Anarchism" entry as "Part of a series on Libertarianism." Perhaps we may fairly call these kids libertarian terrorists.)

Anarchism is the opposite of the New Deal ideal of democratically regulated capitalism. We who revere the FDR legacy do not want right-wing propagandists conflating our stance with a philosophy that has nothing to do with us. FDR fans want to build bridges, not blow them up.

Allow me to make the next point in the boldest possible fashion, because I want the message to be very clear:

I am sick of seeing that fucking Guy Fawkes mask, which so many would-be anarchists (like those five ninnies in Ohio) have stupidly embraced. Get rid of that symbol. It's old. It's uncool. It was no damned good in the first place.

Look here, you young dummies: Alan Moore -- the guy who wrote V For Vendetta and the man who foisted Fawkesian imagery on the larger world -- did not intend his masked protagonist to be a hero in the conventional sense. In his original story (which differs from the popular film), he placed the extremes of anarchism and fascism in opposition to each other. He meant to demonstrate that both of those isms have the capacity to create monsters.

Moore could never have written that comic book if he did not live in a very non-anarchist country with a government-funded social safety net. That net allowed him to embark on a very iffy new career without putting his young family at risk of starvation. Moore has made that very point in numerous interviews.

Speaking as a liberal, I've never felt that anarchism was the answer. Wall Street went to hell in 2008 precisely because anarchy reigned in the financial sector. Using anarchist ideology to fight the "one percent" is like trying to lose weight by going on an ice cream diet. A tendency toward anarchist stupidity is one reason why the Occupy movement has always frightened and frustrated me as much as it has intrigued and enthralled me.

The idiocy of these five ambulatory fetuses in Ohio proves that young people should not be allowed to do -- well, anything.

In the comments, on a regular basis, I spar with smirky kids -- particularly on the topics of 9/11, Ron Paul, the historicity of Jesus, and conspiracy theory in general. Mes enfants, you must understand something: We, your elders, have failed you. I admit it. It's all our fault. We did not provide you with the educations you need in order to function in this world. Blame us. We, the over-50s, deserve any spit you might care to expectorate in the general direction of our faces.

But no matter how much moisture you hurl, you can't change one fact: If you are under 40, you are an idiot. Simple as that. You do not know how to think. You may think you can think, but you can't.

As a result of your (perhaps permanent) state of brain damage, the best thing you can do for your country is...nothing.

Do not attempt to do anything, ever. Not on your own.

If you must act, act under the direction of someone old enough to recall those golden decades of New Deal normality (FDR to Carter). Otherwise, you are doomed.

If you try to act independently, if you fool yourself into thinking that you know what's actually going on in this world, you'll simply end up used and entrapped, just like those five dolts in Ohio. Do you really want to be tossed in the clink and forced to bend over for Larry the Lifer? That's what will happen to you.

The only way to avoid that fate is to follow the directives of your infinitely more intelligent elders.