A Freebie from Freemont

Let the class war finally begin, America!

I’ve taken my pot shots at President Obama over the last few months, but I say bring on this fucking long-awaited class war he is proposing. It’s about fucking time. I’ve been waiting on this class war for the last eight years and my dick is finally starting to get hard. The class war I am referring to, of course, is the debate over extending the Bush-era tax cuts.  I’d like to start by saying that this concept of “class warfare” is a very interesting one to me because it can be used in so many different contexts and has, quite frankly, been overused in the last decade. The meaning of the phrase depends on the part of society in which one exists. When Democrats, for instance, threaten to raise taxes on the upper earners in society the rich categorize this as class warfare. The lower classes, however, see the act of cutting social service programs that benefit the poor as being a form of class warfare. And the middleclass, well, as I’ve tried to document on this blog, they usually remain their disenfranchised selves—somewhere in the middle and unwilling to take a definite stand either way. As such, the most important factor in this debate becomes: who will win over those that lie in the middle? Will it be the rich or will it be the poor? Or will we continue to allow the system to dictate what constitutes class warfare without seeking to define it ourselves?  

The rich obviously want to remain rich as they work the system to get richer (ain’t that always the way?) and the poor would rather not be poor. All of this goes on while many people within the middleclass prove time and time again to vote and take sides that completely contradict their position in society. They are usually those individuals that self-describe themselves ‘Independents.’ But really they are just assholes whose dicks can be swayed by an easy morning breeze. So, for us left-leaning, radical fucks still left in this country, it has become our mission to pull on the pricks of the middleclass in order for them to think and see clearly. It is now our duty to let everyone know that extending tax breaks for the rich won’t fix the fucking economy. It never has and it never will. It’s been a long while since I’ve agreed with the president on any of his policy initiatives. But this is one I’m willing to stand with him on. In fact, I’ve always said that the original sin of the Obama administration occurred in the first weeks after his inauguration when he refused to pursue his campaign promise to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Now, I realize from a political standpoint that Obama wasn’t going to be able to muster the votes for this repeal so soon after the election and that it would have been a long and hard fought battle that would have side-tracked his other focuses (such as the stimulus and healthcare), but I’m just saying that it was the first of a long list of timid political plays that have become the theme for this administration’s first two years in office. And it is my job to point these things out.

The fight that will happen leading up to this November over extending the Bush-era tax codes will be no different than the theoretical repeal that Obama could have pursued two years ago. The Republicans will say that they want to make the tax cuts for the rich permanent. They will say this in the name of small business and job growth even though any asshole with anything of a brain knows that this is not the reason why Republicans want to extend the cuts. Their motivation is completely political. The Republicans remain the beacon of virtue for corporate America and they will continue to defend them even if it means the raping and pillaging of wallets and pocketbooks of the common people of America. Some of the Democrats will say that they want the tax cuts on the rich to expire, but believe we should extend the cuts for the middleclass. This is good policy. But, as we know, the Democrats remain as connected to big business as the Republicans. So, even though there are most likely enough House Democrats to stand firm on this policy, there are also enough pussy Blue Dog Democrats to spoil this proposed initiative when it comes to a vote in the Senate. Despite the fact that I support the president’s economic proposal, I would like to make it clear that I believe the outcome of this battle will come down to the willingness of the people to fight for what they believe in. If we don’t, we might as well sit back and let the system dictate how our future will be designed. Apathy breeds ignorance and inaction maintains the status quo.

It’s early to tell, but most likely what will end up happening is that both types of tax cuts (those for the rich and those for the middle class) will expire. Taxes will be rightfully raised on the rich and they will be foolishly raised on the middleclass (the group hit hardest by the economic disaster). It is right here, then—within this chaos—where we must forge our revolution, Friends of Freemont. I proclaim in the name of social equality that any man or woman favoring the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich is not a friend of ours. Lines need to be drawn in the sand on this one, my friends, and its time that we see who is on our side and who is not. The rich have grown richer over the last 8 years and the super rich have grown even richer while the rest of us were fed the pathetic scraps. Then, when everything came crashing down, we were made to pay for the mistakes of those that put us here while they floated to safety on their parachute of lies, schemes, and bullshit. And I’m sick and fucking tired of having our faces continually rubbed in shit. 

That’s why this will become our fight. It will allow us the time to identify our enemies, to size them up, and to create the tactics that are necessary to forge ahead with our revolution. In the upcoming weeks, I plan to do a series of interviews with the people of Somerville from all walks of life and get their reactions on this topic.

The Freemont Revolution will be televised! And it will start at 9:30PM sharply every Wednesday on Channel 3 Somerville, Mass. If the rest of you have any hair on your balls, it will be marching into a neighborhood near you soon enough.

 - Freemont Barrington   

There’s been much discussion over the use of vulgarity within the world of Freemont over the last few weeks. And, quite frankly, I’m getting fucking sick of it. If you tuned into Roger Nicholson’s show this past Sunday you saw this discussion first hand as we tried to hash it out with the Executive Director of CCTV, Susan Fleischmann. Susan was a good sport to come on air with us and I think it provided for some interesting real life content for the show. But, I also feel that it is necessary for me to further clarify here the purpose behind my use of vulgarity on this blog. Because it will become quite important as I move forward with the creation of my own program, The Freemont Show, which will air on Somerville Community Access Television in the weeks ahead and will be a cleaned-up version of what you may have caught on CCTV and read on this blog.

Let me start by saying that every revolutionary like myself knows that vulgarity is an important part of the revolution. That is because the human experience can be brought down to its most basic level when we completely free ourselves from such societal constraints such as the ambiguous obscenity standards that exist within the United States of America. As a radical, I believe in a revolution in which the middleclass must embrace the vulgarity and the abrasiveness that exists on the streets among the poor and downtrodden folks of our community. By doing this, they will be able to more freely open themselves up to joining with the lower classes in the revolutionary fight of restoring the power back to the people—a power that has been politically highjacked by the wealthiest people of this nation for decades. For me, vulgarity is the focal point at which we radicals must make a connection with the middleclass because it is the everyday willingness of the middleclass to adhere to the cultural norms of the rich and powerful that prevents the progress of a revolution. And, until the middleclass realizes this, the revolution will not be able to achieve its fullest potential for success.

The opposite of a revolution is the maintenance of the status quo by the rich and powerful. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the rich to preserve a middleclass that is both obedient and apathetic. Only when the middleclass becomes willing to embrace the culture of the struggle (by shedding their loyalty to the social standards that are dictated by the rich) will they be ready to join our revolution. I believe that the easiest way to crack the middleclass’s shell of social apathy is through the use of vulgar and sexual politics. That is why I embrace the use of vulgarity with open arms and that is why, within this blog, I aim to create political satire through the use of vulgar words and images. I am not simply trying to shock. My goal is not to pollute the minds of America’s youth. Instead, I am working to change the way that people think about the world around them and how they confront the political challenges that continue to prevent a more rich state of social equality within the United States of America. So, despite possessing a dirty mouth that could use a good soap washing, I also lay claim to a mind that is deeply concerned with the advancement of equality and firmly founded in the intellectualism of social thought. 

That is my philosophy on vulgarity. And, as I move ahead with The Freemont Show, I will adhere to the rules of Somerville Public Access Television in order to spread the Good News of Freemont Barrington over their local airwaves. But know that the true nature of my revolution will remain here on this blog and on the tongues of the people that make up the Friends of Freemont across this battered nation.

Power to the Friends of Free,

Mr. Freemont Barrington   

Ladies and Gentlemen -

I give to you above the theme song for the upcoming Freemont Show to air in September on Somerville Community Access Television (SCATV). There will be video to go along with this audio and, when complete, a hell of an intro to my show. I send my thanks to Mr. Backcorner and the Sports who set aside their usual nihilism to create this number.

Friends of Freemont and the City of Somerville - let the revolution begin. And let it begin local.

- Free 

I’m sick of hearing about this Ground Zero Mosque fucking bullshit debate. The world is a fucking mess as the November elections get closer and closer and all that these attention deficit Americans care about are their wars over symbolism (which will always be pointless wars of attrition in my eyes). The mainstream media has proven to be the worst in all of this as they’ve lapsed like a crack addict into a jittered frenzy of incomprehensible babble for such an unrewarding high (not that they were on the wagon in the first place). For a brief moment of insanity, I believed our president of the United States of America was doing quite well in staying out of this hallow and worthless debate. But, after some time, he returned to his senses and displayed his usual diarrhea mouth by weighing in on the topic only to further clarify his statement later with more maneuvering that would make his response more ambiguous and politically acceptable.

My response to all of this bullshit is that I refuse to even give a fucking opinion on the matter. Or should I say that my opinion is that having an opinion about it is a complete waste of your time. It’s much like all the other symbolic debates that I’ve tried to expose on this blog over the last couple of months—these empty arguments over racism and sensitivity and socialism and the Constitution. They are nothing more than Americans running around in circles, chasing their tales. And if you step into the bullshit of dignifying the mainstream media’s discussion on this topic, you will become part of the problem, Friends of Freemont. So, please beware of where you stick your ears and what you chose to spend your time weighing in on. Because the revolution will take careful and precise planning. Not the throwing of bullshit onto the wall in order to see what sticks. We need to act like we are starving and need a solution for the next day’s meal, not like we are satiated children wandering around in search of our parents after a long-weekend cookout. Such reactionary responses to American culture as this Mosque debate are nothing more than a show of weakness. And to spend weeks arguing over semantics will do nothing more than kill our natural instinct to truly understand and solve the problems in this world.

Revolution means getting out into the community with the people. It means asking the tough questions or making fools of those who shape the system. This kind of revolution is getting closer to your fingertips each day, Friends of Freemont. And it shall be packaged in the upcoming weeks in short Youtube clips of yours truly as I embark upon the undertaking of my new TV show. So, let the gluttonous children wander, dumbfounded. We have real revolutions to build and meaningful issues to bring to the floor. And dead fathers to bury, once and for all.

- Freemont Barrington        

The backlash that occurred this week after Press Secretary Robert ‘Good Old Boy’ Gibbs directed his frustration at the cable news networks, more specifically at those programs on the ‘left,’ which was responded to here by Keith ‘Fat Head’ Olbermann is just another façade of shit in this mindless shit throwing contest that has characterized the mood of the country this summer. It seems to me that, more now than ever since Obama’s election, we Americans have grown into a bunch of finger-pointing, pussy tattletails with nothing better to do than sit back and wait for someone to slip on our banana peal. When what we should really be doing is watching out for the banana peal and replacing it with a dildo when no one is looking to see what kind of reaction that will get.

If I’ve lost you here, you haven’t been reading the blog and you should throw in the towel and crawl back to mommy. But if, like me, you’re tired of these shallow attempts at defining what is ‘left’ and what is ‘right’ and you’re willing to think beyond this cycle of tyrannical bullshit that is the system, then I say join in the Freemont cause. Think beyond the jockeying for position Robert ‘Good Old Boy’ Gibbs’s and Keith ‘Fat Head’ Olbermann’s of the world. We will begin by infiltrating the local media with odd news stories that won’t necessarily be attached to one group. There will be random acts of protest not necessarily connected to one person or one cause. It will be a mutual breaking free from your normal realm of consciousness and expanding your social agenda into the world of the weird. Yes, this means smoking more pot and possibly trying some other drugs while you’re at it, but it will also most likely mean getting laid more on the way. Who wouldn’t fall for a guy or a gal who could in one instance encourage a group of non-English-speaking immigrants to go on strike for a day against their dickhead landscaping boss and in the next instance paint a play ground full of penises?

If I’m losing you here, Friends of Free, you’re better off lost. And you can join the rest of the wining world that tries to define left and right. Meanwhile, I will shaping the necessary and meaningful plans for the revolt. And, when the revolution is upon us, I’m sure no one argue with which side is having the most fun.

Soon to be a local TV Host,

Mr. Freemont Barrington

P.S. – More news to come on the show. It has been a long and hard week of brainstorming with Mr. Backcorner.   

Prop 8 was overturned this week by a California judge. Personally, I think my man kiss at the Tea Party rally in April did its small part in upsetting the rightly shifted balance of the universe. As you know I am a deep pessimist who believes the United States of America is a corrupt landfill of mindless political waste. But, Prop 8 being taken down for the disgraceful unconstitutional piece of monkey shit it was, is certainly a brief glimpse of light in this very long and dark sinkhole of human excrement that has been this past year in U.S. politics.

I will be spending the weekend up north touching up on my gorilla survival skills. But I hope that I can return home in time for another CCTV appearance on Sunday night. I’m sure Roger Nicholson will have a thing or two to say about this ruling.

Maybe I’ll even wear some lipstick.

News about my own show on Somerville Public Access shall be forthcoming. I have already sent out a wire to the local press. And Mr. Backcorner and I have begun our creative meetings. So, if you live in the Somerville area, tighten your fucking safety belts.

- Freemont Barrington    

On my recent CCTV appearance, which I shall have up on the blog and Youtube in the upcoming days, I was unable to go toe to toe with Todd Feinburg (a local conservative talk show host for WRKO) with the idea that conservatives are copping out just as much as liberals when they call Obama a socialist.  I could not get my point out because I co-host the show with a fellow vulgarian, Roger Nicolson, who unfortunately remains uninterested in the same type of political arguments that I am. As such, I am in the process of starting my own show on Somerville Community Access Television (SCAT) where I believe it will be easier for me to get my ideas out into the world. I will keep all of you posted on when the new show will air. At the moment, I am in negotiations with the access television team about the content and nature of the program.

Until then, let me make it clear on my blog that I believe the reactionary use of the word socialist on behalf of the right is as equally unproductive as the use of the word racist by those on the left. And for any of you reactionary assholes on either side of this fucking argument, here is why:

1.)   Both words today are commonly used as generalizations: there is no clear way to define a racist just as there is no clear way to define a socialist. Am I a socialist just because I favor the creation of a third political party in America that incorporates the socialist concept of equalizing the political voice of those in the lower classes of society with those of the upper? Am I a racist just because I feel that the word nigger can be used effectively in satire and that using the word is actually a good way of opening up the discussion about race? I have a feeling I know how both sides would respond to both of these questions.

2.)   Both words today can be used as a smear tactic: in this day in age of government bailouts and the United States’ increasing deficit, the word socialist has been used as a smear tactic against the liberals of the world in the same way that racist is used as a smear upon those of the right. I see no difference between the fear-mongering tactic of trying to label someone as a socialist (which creates fear and confusion among those who wish to avoid such a categorization) and the same method of disparaging someone as a racist. Either way, one is working to use fear as a way of preventing an honest political discussion.

3.)   Both words today are used as blasphemy through a larger historical context of the United States America: the significance of categorizing someone as a racist or socialist is based upon a deep and long history. Let’s just acknowledge here the fact that a group of individuals who have since been categorized as close-minded, nativists known as the Klu Klux Klan formed in the southern United States years ago to strike fear in the hearts of white, Anglo Americans by making them suspicious of a dangerous minority group—a group they saw as threatening the power structure of the country. This same phenomenon has occurred throughout history and surfaced in the1920’s and 50’s during the Great Red Scare, where a minority group of harmless Americans (deemed as ‘Socialists’) were made to appear as a threat to wellbeing of the United States of America. It would seem to me that liberals today are more interested in using the word racist as part of a ‘reverse witch-hunt’ to dismantle the integrity of the right rather than they are in seeking to challenge the racist and classist mechanisms that still exist within the systemic power structure of the United States. While they are doing this, the right is committing the same fallacy by recreating a modern-day Red Scare, in which anyone favoring government regulation over a laissez-faire free market is seen as a socialist.

What I am simply saying is that words can frame an ideal, but ultimately it is action that changes the status quo. And weakness lies in the time wasted in an argument over semantics when mass movement is needed. As a radical, you only lose if there is an unwillingness to move forward. Clearly, both liberals and conservatives seem quite content with this current standstill.

As for me—I’m always in motion, Friends of Freemont. I’m about to get my own fucking TV show.

Power to the mother fucking people of the Free Movement,

Freemont Barrington    

In my last blog I mentioned in its conclusion that it is my belief that both the right (embodied in the vigor of the tea party movement) and the left (encouraged by the outdated concepts of the NAACP) are similarly missing the point with their separate political agendas. The result is that we as a nation (right and left) will continue to be lost inside of this back-and-forth bullshit and will never realize the truth that would allow us to rise up against our true oppressors within the system. This notion can be seen very clearly for me after the events that took place in relation to the NAACP’s reaction to possible Tea Party racism and Mark Williams’s departure from the group after making statements that were perceived by both the left and the right to be offensive.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, Mark’s response to the NAACP request for the Tea Party to rid itself of its extreme racist elements was the following piece of satire, which is a theoretical letter from a NAACP member to Abraham Lincoln:

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.

The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out of control spending.” Again, they directly target coloreds. That means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew

NAACP Head Colored Person

Let me first say that I defend Mark Williams’s claim that the above posting was satire. It was extremely bad satire (I do much better), but it was satire nonetheless. I would even go as far to say that this might be the most creative piece of literature that I have seen come out of the Tea Party movement. No matter what you believe about his intention, at least this website posting made you think. And this may be the first time I have had to use any small part of my brain when reading something made by a Tea Party patriot. Normally, the ambiguous cookie-cutter talking points that are spewed forth from the Tea Party work to fog up any glimpse you might get of a coherent political agenda (Sarah Palin’s Energy / Budget Tax Cuts / Lift Americans Spirit comes to mind). But this piece at least put some meat on the bones of an otherwise mindless group of complete fucking morons. Don’t get me wrong—I think the Mark Williams’s and Andrew Breitbart’s of the world are opportunistic douche bags—but at least they have a plan of action.

As you can imagine, the liberal (and conservative) backlash to Williams’s above website posting was predictably quick. And the result was that his faction of the Tea Party (known as the Tea Party Express) was disbanded from the Tea Party Federation. But I am here (and will remain here) to say that all of this uproar is simply reactionary bullshit on the behalf of both the liberals and the conservatives. We must be a country that gets past the notion that symbolic racial victories lead to progress when the reality is that systemic change is what we actually need to strive for. We must try to forge ahead when it comes to the concept of race (as hard as that may be) and recognize that it is the steep imbalance between the classes of this country that is the real reason why a unified revolution of the people must occur.

Now, I don’t expect any of the Tea Party followers to embrace many of the concepts that I have put forth. And, if they do, it would only be lost in translation and stuffed inside the bloated bullshit of one of their mindless talking points. But, once upon a time, it used to be the organizations like the NAACP, founded on the noble ideals of social equality, that understood the importance in my argument. Today, they only rely upon outdated political tactics to maintain the power that they hold rather than fighting for the real causes of their forgotten revolution. And it is within this thick atmosphere, saturated by the smell of stale bullshit, that our true sense of purpose has been lost in the mindless and reactionary malaise of got-ya politics.

So, you can yell socialist and you can yell racist, but I will only yell revolution until I’m cut up into small pieces and fed to the hungry dogs that wait for me out back.

FreeB.