"Occupy" Protests

Surprised no one has made a thread about this yet, so here it is:

What was originally the Occupy Wall Street protest, which was a bunch of people camping out in protest of corporate greed...has now spread to 70 cities and seems to have taken on a 99% vs the 1% theme, as well as corporate greed, general power and influence of big business and the whole government being f**ked.

So what do you think?

I'm pretty pessimistic, these things never amount to much and they are asking for pretty radical changes in the very fiber of America functions.

What does excite me though is despite this being called a "left tea party" the group has been quite varied. Liberals and conservatives, socialists and anarchists, hippies and veterans.
The vast vast majority of us Americans are pissed off, and really it all is over the same problem. We turned to Democrats, then Republicans. Both are slaves and the Tea Party movement is too extreme (and phony by this point)
If a massive, nationwide peaceful protest that is truly unified can last, well that'd be a beautiful thing!

So I don't know, obviously no plan and no real chance of getting anything changed but I admire what is happening.
Thoughts about any of it?

change happens because enough people want it to--  but yes, an organic movement rather than an organized one would be nice to see, though by your description of us pissed-off Americans it sounds like the Tea Party and this Coffee Party(?) could just as well join forces, as they seem to essentially want the same things (other than their stance on government)

Atavachron wrote: change happens because enough people want it to--  but yes, an organic movement rather than an organized one would be nice to see, though by your description of us pissed-off Americans it sounds like the Tea Party and this Coffee Party(?) could just as well join forces, as they seem to essentially want the same things (other than their stance on government)

Well, we got bogged down with "isms" and sides and fine details but yeah, the large majority of Americans (and all world citizens) are middle/working class. It doesn't even need to be the "lower" ones...the tea party originally was an upper middle movement and at my current job, largely an upper middle demographic, people are pissed the hell off

Ask people across the spectrum and every walk, you'll find the grievances ARE generally the same.

Problem is "we need to win, then argue about what to do" we all may hate the government and system but just what to do is the issue.
Like I said, as hopeful as I want to be...realistically can't imagine much coming from this.

I also can't join Teo (being a weekender may defeat the purpose) but you could always go and give supplies, take pics and spread word on FB.
 
46% believe that capitalism "isn’t fundamentally evil; it just needs to be regulated
When asked about their thoughts on Obama, 40% said they "believed in him, but were let down" 22% "said he's doing the best he can," and 27% "never believed in him."

Seems to be more diverse and not leaning too much to any side. Can't be said of the tea party that's for sure

It would be a little less silly if they weren't so hypocritical. They claim they are against wall street and bailouts for billionaires, but they want to reelect Obama, who is the one who bailed out wall street and let them off the hook in exchange for political donations. They rail against capitalism, but they love celebrities like Michael Moore who made their fortunes as capitalists. If their message was even remotely consistent and coherent, I might have some respect for them.

thellama73 wrote: It would be a little less silly if they weren't so hypocritical. They claim they are against wall street and bailouts for billionaires, but they want to reelect Obama, who is the one who bailed out wall street and let them off the hook in exchange for political donations. They rail against capitalism, but they love celebrities like Michael Moore who made their fortunes as capitalists. If their message was even remotely consistent and coherent, I might have some respect for them.

Some sure but not all, that was kinda my point there are people all over the place, which is what I do like about it.
Even if it accomplishes nothing like it probably will end up being...it's nice to see people unifying behind the general ideas for once.

And seriously llama, thats why I put those stats we all love. They are not all rallying against Capitalism, all certainly do not want Obama and how do you know they all love celebs? Even if so what does that matter anyway? We are still imperfect human beings as well dont forget.

It is incoherent but you sir llama were the one who opened my eyes that liberals and libertarians DO have the same beefs and ultimately want the same goal. I hate saying "us vs them" or "99% vs 1%" but I think its a somewhat unified concept. They are just sick of being pushed around and pissed upon. That is all. Aren't you?
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Of course not all of them are idiots, and I sympathize with the ones who are upset because they have lost their jobs, but it infuriates me that they demand more government to solve the problem when government caused the problem in the first place. I don't think that liberals and libertarians have remotely the same goals. The far left wants the complete enslavement of everyone except movie stars, whereas libertarians want people to be free, but I digress.

As for the things I said about the Occupiers, I am only repeating what I have seen them say on the news, but obviously the few people they single out are not the entirety of the mob. I do, however, really resent the amount of trash and destruction they are causing. I saw a photo of one of them defecating on a police car. I believe in the right to peaceful protest, but I think such conduct is abhorrent and irresponsible and it's no way to be taken seriously as a movement.

KoS wrote: Meh. I got like, real sh*t to worry about.

So predictable

Hey I'm there with ya, but what can I say? I tried my best to just not care and focus on "life" but thinking I can easily balance the two

Can't disagree llama. It's another reason this is doomed to fail, these things are inevitably going to get out of hand and the stuff like that is disgusting and counter productive. Also just a matter of time before anon gets too involved and shoots the whole thing to hell but it doesn't matter right now. I still say it's good.

Besides, how often do we get to know people? I'm looking forward to just being able to talk to some of em, maybe set up a YT channel with some videos I took and finally start that blog I wanted. Want to see for myself how diverse this crowd really is.

thellama73 wrote: It would be a little less silly if they weren't so hypocritical. They claim they are against wall street and bailouts for billionaires, but they want to reelect Obama, who is the one who bailed out wall street and let them off the hook in exchange for political donations. They rail against capitalism, but they love celebrities like Michael Moore who made their fortunes as capitalists. If their message was even remotely consistent and coherent, I might have some respect for them.

Or buy a Marxist pin with their bank-controlled currency and call it capitalism.

Edited by King of Loss - October 12 2011 at 00:29

haha

I'll try to keep it a bit more serious, I know surprise right?

It's not that I don't care, but I do not even have time to join. Too many things to do.

Good for protestations.......in light of Financial irregularities. This should be a protest against banking ethics globally not just in USA.