Karen Beck of MoveOn says she will call the police on #Occupy if their actions upset her

[starroute]

69. This is so Orwellian, it makes my blood run cold

There's been concern that MoveOn's 99% Spring would attempt to siphon off attention and support from the Occupiers. But I never dreamed they would actually claim to *be* Occupy -- much less that they would construct a false narrative in which Occupy is divided into "factions," with a peaceful faction that is prepared to call the cops on anyone who seems about to get violent.

In addition to what this does to the public face of Occupy, there's also the problem of the Prisoner's Dilemma. In the classic form of the puzzle, the best solution is when nobody rats on anybody else -- but that's possible only as long as there are powerful ties of solidarity that overcome any temptation to think that you might gain an advantage by ratting out the other prisoner.

MoveOn is trying to destroy that solidarity by making it seem socially acceptable to turn on anyone who doesn't meet your standards -- and that is the worst possible thing that they could do to the movement.

Why this really scares me is that I know the cops are closing in. They're studying online videos and cell phone records and Facebook photos. They're playing catch-and-release games with the protesters. They're amassing databases of who was at what encampment or what march. They have names and faces, and when they're ready they'll start knocking on doors and hauling people in based on those records.

They'll be going after leaders and organizers, as well as public faces and people who can fire up a crowd. But they'll also be looking for people who were simply *there* -- with the intention of destroying enough lives to send a message. Some people will lose jobs, others will lose student loans, and others will just be harassed to the point of desperation.

They don't just want to crack down on protests that might turn violent or encampments that might scare away the tourists. They want to destroy the movement, root and branch, in the same way that they've been destroying anti-establishment movements for the last 60 years. And the only possible defense is absolute dedication and absolute solidarity.