Guest Editorial--Frank Miller--Forgetting Where You Came From

This article is in response to the recent arrogant and uninformed rant of  (good) comics creator and (bad) film director Frank Miller against the Occupy movement. I won't link to his site but it's been all over the Net and Facebook this past weekend. The following originally appeared in a slightly altered form on my wife Rene Thompson's OpenSalon blog. As this is not a political blog nor do I wish it to become one, overtly political comments, arguments, or flames will not be allowed. 

Reading Frank Miller's venomous ramblings concerning Occupy was painful.  Oh, not because of the blind hatred at a situation he doesn't understand. That can be seen on any given day on Fox News. No, because it tells us just how much Frank Miller has fallen and just how much he's forgotten.

He calls the Occupiers "iPhone and iPad wielding spoiled brats" who should, “In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.

 Or better yet, enlist for the real thing. Maybe our military could whip some of you into shape.”

Had Miller done any amount of research, he’d understand that Occupy members include not just college age students, but every age group including the elderly.  Members of all classes are involved in Occupy, the poor, the working class, the middle class and even some members of the 1%.  Several unions have aligned themselves with Occupy – and Frank would have a hard time complaining about unions given that his father was a carpenter/electrician and his mother was a nurse.  The efforts of unions helped place a roof over his head as a child.

And, had Frank been paying attention, veterans have been playing a very important part of the Occupy movement across the country.  It has been documented that veterans who served as far back as World War II are protesting financial malfeasance and the involvement of corporations in our political system. The first Occupier seriously wounded was Scott Olsen, an Iraqi war veteran who served two terms and came home uninjured only to be shot in the face in his own country because he dared utilize the freedom of assembly.  (There is a certain irony in Frank’s comments as he never saw fit to serve during war-time.)  

And making the crack about young people living with their parents playing games – Frank, who do you think bought your work and made you rich?  Where did your money come from?  It came from good, decent “fan-boys” or geeks who lived with their parents and often played video games , D & D and World of Warcraft.

The Occupy movement is about people who watched the stock market and banking system play craps with regular people’s money and lose.  These ordinary people lost their retirements, their jobs, their chances at their children having a better life while those who committed the crime not only got off scott free, they were given bonuses. And our representatives helped looked the other way because they were being paid to.

Miller has forgotten where he came from, who got him there and even the myth that started the journey for him.  Occupy members are the eight year-old children who just watched their dreams murdered, only this time there was a policeman who looked the other way.

And Frank Miller, the man who brought us BATMAN--YEAR ONE,  has lost touch to such an extent that he’s now cheering for Joe Chill.