Here I've been wondering about the Occupy movement. Why so many people would put out so much time and energy for something that has no stated goals or message. I've been wondering when someone in the movement would take the opportunity to make a coherent point when a local TV reporter shoves a microphone into their faces. I've been wondering how blocking traffic furthers any sort of cause other than, well, keeping traffic from moving.
Many of us here are used to issue advocacy, so it's not always easy to wrap your mind around the idea of a non-specific protest. But that's my problem, not theirs.
Still, it's hard for me to tell my non-politically involved friends and clients exactly wtf this is all about, even though I've been reading the words of the protesters and their sympathizers, and I know their concerns to be, well, all over the place, but with significant overlap with each other and even me. But average Joe needs a fairly short and comprehensive answer to understand what's happening, and average Joe will not support what he does not understand.
But there it was. Posted a week ago on a discussion board, in response to a column by libertarian columnist David Harsanyi:
These are a few of the issues people talked about at Occupy Wallstreet the last few days:
Legislators don't care what the people say, and this is true for both the Democratic & Republican parties, who have kept independents & other parties out of the status quo media & debates, and certainly this is both to keep a bad system & to prevent other options that they people would prefer
1% of the population owns most of the wealth, pays few taxes & Under the Supreme Ct. Corporations considered people & therefore they can pay the legislators to represent THEM without revealing it.
1% of the wealthiest people in the world & in history have much of all the benefits and the 99% of the population have too much of the sacrifices
Chant: Bailed out the banks & screwed the people
Loss of employment & homes
DPS: In some ECE classes, (Preschool to 3rd Grade) classes there are 30 students to 1 teacher & the snacks may have no warnings about the dangers of GMOs & the profits to the Monsanto Corporation (As Seen in "The World of Monsanto")
War Invasions & war too long & too much destruction & too many groups in countries
The blocking of Healthcare for all
Against providing $millions to an apartheid Israel country - since they are now on their feet & probably have less unemployment, more healthcare assistance from the U.S.-Israel Gov., & a larger percentage of young adults with their college degrees & even masters degrees paid.
Torture, innocent, falsely accused form bogus military trials, : Even for those without charges like over 700 people in secret prisons & Guantanamo-including under Obama U.S. Pvt Manning & under Bush-U.k. Father Shaker Aamer
Increased tuition costs
Few Jobs
Invasions
Having the Federal Reserve
Police State
Loss of rights with FISA, & Patriot
The president Bush never holding pentagon responsible for the $ 2 Trillion Dollars LOST the day before 9-11, nor did the public get to vote on the Trillions spent on the War & the military bases around the world
The U.S. having CIA around the world like Davies & people like the leader of Haiti deposed & held hostage from living in their own countries.
President Obama- invading other countries & assassinating, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen- Making deal with leader & ordering the bombing of 100 civilian men, women & children & then blaming al Qaeda & since this was released to public - of course trying to sensor news, especially Wikileaks & torture, imprison make false charges on anyone involved in the releasing of the truth
Bush should be like any of the 99% if we removed evidence from a murder crime without allowing the proper investigation to take place we would be arrested & so should he be, The Bitish & Canadian Gov. have paid $Millions of Dollars for the unjust torture of their people & the U.S. Pres. Bush was the most influential and responsible party for the torture.
Allowance on all people, the 99% to be able to access PUBLIC PARKS, including Denver's Lincoln Park & share picnic lunches & dinners. In Denver the Police never said, Please staY ON the sidewalk, their cars pretty much directed us into the street & then they cut the street off & then stood in a line in half the street blocking the Lincoln park, and actually the man with many hats that I formally so appreciated blocked the Occupy group from the park and the full city of Denver from the use of the street of Broadway for 1 block south of Colfax.
One of my friends who is a teacher, stood behind the Fox's Reader & said turn off your TV and come down here, and most of us watching were laughing & saying yes, yes.
There. That clears up a lot of things, in my opinion.
Now, for the official teabag rebuttal (this guy addresses the columnist personally):
Come on David, don't be a heartless jerk! They're not asking for much. They just want to be handed everything they feel they deserve and they want the rest of us to cover the costs. I mean seriously, they've been hurt for so long.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow up in a home worth half a million in a gated community and go to a selective private school and then be accepted to one of the junior ivies to get a liberal arts degree only to try to get a job later and find that without work experience, it's tough to land a six figure salary with a degree in philosophy and fine arts?
You have obviously never lived with the stress or hassle that comes from growing up in the upscale suburbs of the East Coast and you can't speak to the struggles facing many of these young people who can't get food stamps for their cats, have to turn tricks to make ends meet, and have to live in coffin factories with other artists because they can't afford to live any other way and because of the greed of Wall Street, they have NO other options whatsoever!
They are ENTITLED David, you heartless _! They've given at least 20 years of their life to a private school and a private university and their parents have gone into debt to provide them a better future outside of the slums of the Hamptons and the Upper East Side. Give them what they demand, they aren't asking for much, just free higher education, a guaranteed living wage, minimum wage of $20/hr and all past debts forgiven. The 1% of the nation can surely handle that cost and everyone of the rest of the 99% who make up to $585,000/yr (and are CERTAINLY not rich) will benefit from that shared sacrifice of that 1%.
C'mon David, you know better than your typical right-wing spewing of tripe on these pages! You are lying through your teeth and trying to convince people that the son or daughter of bankers, lawyers, accountants, and consultants don't deserve a better life. Everyone deserves to be equal, after all, just like these kids, everyone can live in a McMansion in a gated community and afford to go to a junior ivy on the East Coast. They are the 99%, just like the rest of us David!
So, there you have it. Occupiers still need to do a bit of work on communicating the broader message. Teabag conservatives need to lighten up and have some empathy.
Fucking Update
Got it? I am not pissed off because of the traffic disruptions.
On a very personal level, I could give a flying fuck about the fucking traffic disruptions.
But that particular intersection is perhaps the second busiest intersection in the city, and almost everyone who works in or near downtown--stock brokers and waitresses, rich bankers and poor janitors, lawyers and retail clerks--has to negotiate that intersection or one of several other intersections that are also affected.
But it's not such a problem for the fat cats, who aren't punching any time clocks.
It can be a real problem for people who work on an hourly basis and have to punch a clock.
My concern is not about myself. My concern is that any and all messages will be lost if these protests cause more harm to the 99% than to the 1%. It seems counterproductive.
Have you seen the latest response to this?
