News & Blogs - In Defense Of Oogles | Squat the Planet

News & Blogs In Defense Of Oogles

mistahedges

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Check out this article I wrote for my Blog. A basic Marxist analysis of the onslaught of homeless travelers in New Orleans every fall. : http://www.nolatourguy.com/in-defense-of-oggles/

Halloween is just around the corner, and as anyone who lives here knows, it’s time for our neutral grounds, streets, taverns, and parks to be filled with heavily tattooed, filthy, dreadlocked, dog owning, obnoxious, homeless people wearing dark clothes with spikes and patches with band logos often too pointy to read. Many Nola denizens grumble and swear under their breath mouthing the word “Oogles”: a derisive slang with a broad meaning, and like many derisive slang terms with broad meanings, it’s usually applied to the “other”–a group of strangers wearing vaguely similar attire. Everyone that lives here for more then a year grumbles in amazement at their routine arrival on Halloween.

It’s like clockwork–every October 31st they arrive, they beg for change in the neutral ground, they poop on your front porch, they mistreat their dogs, then their dogs get in fights with your dog, then they punch you in the face and call you a hipster because you don’t dress like them. They spare change, they refuse to work, they spend all their money on fortified wine, they run amok. They don’t appreciate our unique culture. Well, except for the whole drinking in public part. Most importantly, to many who see themselves as part of a great urban renewal process here in the city of New Orleans, these filthy travelers represent a step backwards: not only do they refuse to take part in society, but they are a nightmare for property values and for our image as a progressive tourist friendly city.

But let’s be honest, this is not a new occurrence. In the early 1800s, American frontiersmen and farmers settled in along Mississippi river. They were looking for new markets for their goods. The Mississippi River provided a direct route to the market in New Orleans. These men hired rough boatmen to take their goods to market in New Orleans. These boatmen invaded New Orleans every fall. They drank, they ran amok, they probably weren’t ideal dog owners. The native New Orleanians hated them, they felt they didn’t appreciate their culture, which included fancy balls, opera and the Catholic Church.

So why do these oogles descend every fall upon our much loved city? Well, unless you’ve had your head up an American Flag for the last 20 years, the opportunities for anyone besides the wealthiest have all but dried up across America, while the price of rent, goods, and services has increased. The opportunities our parents’ generation had are gone. Now put yourself in the shoes of a 15 year old from Muncie, Indiana. Your father’s house is getting foreclosed. He’s drinking himself into a stupor and you can either be making $7.25 an hour at Walmart or go riding trains with your pals. Which one would you choose? Now be honest, open road or drudgery? Some of you might argue that higher education is the solution, that the theoretical 15 year old oogle could just go to college, study a field that they enjoyed, then secure a well paying job; but the reality for most young Americans is that instead of higher education being a gateway into the middle class, it’s just another source of debt, another bill that $7.25 an hour job has to pay. The ability for oogles or anyone below the poverty line to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” is becoming increasingly impossible.

While we are talking about social realities, I’d like to point out to all you hardcore oogle haters that oogles have not had anything to do with the worst things that have happened to New Orleans. Oogles did not defund the levee system to fund a war in Iraq or bungle the effort to evacuate scores of people from the Superdome. Oogles did not embezzle countless millions of dollars slated to help rebuild the city. Nor did oogles shoot innocent people attempting to cross a bridge then burn their bodies to cover up their wrong doing. Oogles did not refuse to rebuild Charity Hospital and instead opt to demolish the historic Lower Mid-City Neighborhood to make way for a hospital then run out of money nor did they demolish part of the historic Treme neighborhood to make way for a park nobody uses. Oogles didn’t demolish ancient live oaks along Claiborne to build I-10 which lead to the degradation of a historic African American neighborhood. Oogles are not attempting to raise rents in traditionally working class neighborhoods in an effort to make tons of money on real estate. I could keep typing this list, but my point is that the worst things that have been done to New Orleans have been done by corrupt elected officials, many with the “best intentions.” So to be clear, I’m not trying to excuse many of the foolish things oogles do, but a little understanding of the situation can go a long way. Instead of using oogles as scapegoats for New Orleans’ problems, we should examine what those problems are and how we as individuals and our city government fit into them.
 
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wizehop

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Yea although the comparison to the peoples of old and their looking for "new markets for their goods", or the ones who where in search of work, are in no way the same as the kids who are showing up and creating the current situation.
People respect the hobos of old because they where making an effort against a real hard ship. They worked when they could and they made an effort to be respectful and play by a certain set of ethics. Where they rough as fuck? most likely, but I bet still a far cry from some of the kids today, and its kind of a piss of that you think its the same thing.

The word oogle is retarded I agree. The only use of that word is in exposing the retards who use it. As I have seen, its the weakest losers in the bunch who go around calling other folks oogles. You can bet a dollar to a fucking donut that anyone who goes around calling people oogles aint worth the shit they sleep in.
Be glad when you hear some scum fuck use it before you decide to go on tour with them, so you can avoid the years of trauma that will come afterwards.

At the end of the day its really dangerous to generalize, and people should be taken to account individually; But for the love of all things that are holy, don't compare people who have 0 respect for anything and run from everything including themselves, to the hard working folks who have made an effort in life, and contributed to all we hold dear. This my friend is a sin

None the less, I get what your trying to do with that article and if I ever find myself in NOLA, Ill be sure to take the tour.
 

mistahedges

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I wrote it because I think many people here and other places can't tell the difference between people that have no respect that ruin things for the rest of us and just broke traveling kids that don't have many options. This guy I know who dressed punk gets shit from people all the time because they assume he is an oogle when he walks his dog around the french quarter.

I think many people here and other place also forget that they were once broke clueless young travelers that were given a chance to do better and they need to extend that to the next generation.

The comments are mostly from people on reddit, big surprise huh?

yeah come to new orleans and visit, it really is a special place and thats why i started my own tour guide company also check out my other articles.
 

bmb666

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I wrote it because I think many people here and other places can't tell the difference between people that have no respect that ruin things for the rest of us and just broke traveling kids that don't have many options. This guy I know who dressed punk gets shit from people all the time because they assume he is an oogle when he walks his dog around the french quarter.

I think many people here and other place also forget that they were once broke clueless young travelers that were given a chance to do better and they need to extend that to the next generation.

The comments are mostly from people on reddit, big surprise huh?

yeah come to new orleans and visit, it really is a special place and thats why i started my own tour guide company also check out my other articles.

lol the only people who hate travelers in NOLA are random tourists and property owners. I got fucking straight up robbed at gun point in the 9th ward, and when all they found was 2 dollars, they fuckin' drank me out on a pint of vodka and said "welcome to nawlins". I love how people act like this sensation of tramps getting drunk and rowdy is something new that came with 'crusties' and 'oogles' especially in NOLA of all places. I've read some stories from as early as the late 1800s that talked about runaway tramp kids doing the same shit..long before punk existed.
 

shwillyhaaa

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hahaha! i loooved the top comment... all great, deep points in your blog, i nod my head in agreement. scroll down a little and i hear a chinese man voice say "yea, but they poop on porch all time!!" hah!!
 
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Coywolf

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They drank, they ran amok, they probably weren’t ideal dog owners.

Bahaha. Awesome.

Great article. The points you make are very sound. This country loves to label the people less fortunate than them as "lazy".

I fucking love living the way I do. A healthy balance between work and oggledom. ::drinkingbuddy::::fuckinginbed::::eyepatch::

The American concept of wealth can go fuck itself. ::cigar::
 
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I had a "friend" call me an oogle once in my early days on the road. I had never heard the term at the time, and when i asked, she just laughed and said "if you dont know you probably are one." Now, i just imagine its a term to cause more division in the lifestyle, our own label to separate from those we consider less than ourselves.
 
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Yea although the comparison to the peoples of old and their looking for "new markets for their goods", or the ones who where in search of work, are in no way the same as the kids who are showing up and creating the current situation.
People respect the hobos of old because they where making an effort against a real hard ship. They worked when they could and they made an effort to be respectful and play by a certain set of ethics. Where they rough as fuck? most likely, but I bet still a far cry from some of the kids today, and its kind of a piss of that you think its the same thing.

The word oogle is retarded I agree. The only use of that word is in exposing the retards who use it. As I have seen, its the weakest losers in the bunch who go around calling other folks oogles. You can bet a dollar to a fucking donut that anyone who goes around calling people oogles aint worth the shit they sleep in.
Be glad when you hear some scum fuck use it before you decide to go on tour with them, so you can avoid the years of trauma that will come afterwards.

At the end of the day its really dangerous to generalize, and people should be taken to account individually; But for the love of all things that are holy, don't compare people who have 0 respect for anything and run from everything including themselves, to the hard working folks who have made an effort in life, and contributed to all we hold dear. This my friend is a sin

None the less, I get what your trying to do with that article and if I ever find myself in NOLA, Ill be sure to take the tour.

i question your historiography of old-school hobos and your use of neuro-ableist language.

my two cents is oogle is in the eye of the beholder; there are concentric circles of oogledom: the teenage juggalo is an oogle to the drainbow is an oogle to the pc freegan anarchopunk is an oogle to the trainier-than-thou train ninja is an oogle to the old timer who knows all the tracks... and we are all oogles to someone who's never been near this kind of life.
 

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