annoyatron: crickets and tumbleweed

plemur:

annoyatron:

plemur replied to your post: An open letter to all the Occupy [location] people

You realize that people are not asking for their individual problems to be fixed, but rather an end to corporate personhood, lobbying influence, and money buying outcomes of legislation while forcing loopholes that benefit only the rich, right?

I sincerely doubt that all the protesters are that altruistic. It sounds good in writing though, doesn’t it? Personally I can’t even afford to camp out in a park for two weeks to protest. In order to change our current system we would have to do away with our democratic republic and opt for a different style of government, and that sounds like revolution to me. Which also sounds like a really bad idea because our economy still struggles, we still have to figure out what to do about healthcare, so making these major changes right now would seriously destabilize our entire country.

Besides, I doubt Exxon, BP, Boeing, and GE gives a flying fuck about a few hundred protesters in a park somewhere. If you want to do something worthwhile, become filthy rich and crack the system from the top down. Of course, when you are filthy rich you will not want to change a damn thing about society. ;-)

I don’t believe that it’s altruistic. I don’t even believe that altruism exists, honestly (an argument for another day). What I do believe is happening is that people are experiencing financial strain, or seeing those around them suffer. This has been an impetus to either look into the causes for the disparities in wealth and who the recession has affected, or reinforcing an understanding that has simmered at the back of people’s minds even when the economy was performing well. Having seen that Wall Street executives are doing even better financially than they had been before the downturn—after massive citizen backed bailouts—while never having been held accountable for obvious disregard for laws, people are waking up to the fact that something needs to be done to fix some serious issues in how we regulate the economy. Something fundamental to the economic machine is broken.

I understand that sometimes it’s the people rather than the message that sticks in a craw. Considering the personification of the movement that was done to create a human story with the “I am the 99 percent” meme, this is all the more probable to occur. The personal stories expressed within that campaign are not part of the demands of the movement. These stories are intended to be done in order for people to see that the movement is comprised of people like themselves. Granted, many are far off message. This is to be expected when not an overwhelming percentage of people understand the end goal of the campaign.

If you do not see your story within the movement, or don’t feel as though multi-billion dollar lobbying efforts on K street are having a serious impact on the governance of our country, then maybe it’s not for you. If you can see that there’s a serious problem with lobbyists writing legislation (not an exaggeration), offering quid pro quo scenarios to legislators and staffers, or using cash to influence votes, then maybe there’s something more for you to support.

Working hard for what you have is what we all strive for. I’ve made ice cream (I’m a master frozen dairy confectionist…well, probably not anymore), I’ve painted gas cylinders, worked in clean rooms, swept floors, and had a corner office overlooking a cityscape. I appreciate that you’ve worked hard as well. It’s a good thing to have done. Less useful college degrees (an assumption on your part), and wanting handouts (another) are not the issue. Some people in those parks probably did study anthropology and concentrated on the commonality of a certain musical note or beat among various cultures. Some people probably studied finance. Business. Liberal Arts. English. Hell, I bet if you spent ten minutes asking people what they studied you’d pretty much cover the spectrum. I’m sure quite a few didn’t go to college as well.

The bottom line is that none of this or that about the people in the crowd much matters. They aren’t inherently evil. They aren’t conmen looking for a quick score. These are just people who have something to say. If you listen to them, rather than trying to dissect what their college major was, maybe you’d hear the real message.

The system has been corrupted by greed, and no one is looking out for the majority of the population anymore.

That is precisely why I addressed the individuals within or associated with the movement and not the movement itself. It’s a worthy cause. The execution so far leaves a lot to be desired. The tent cities have had major issues with disturbances, violence, and disorderly conduct. None of those are related to your freedom of speech. You take a piss in a public location, you can tell the officer about your freedom of speech as he reads you your rights.

Source: annoyatron