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| Jesse Costa/WBUR |
Here are your options as an individual citizen to effect a change in an entrenched political system in America:
1) Voting for one of the two party options which are arguably indistinguishable aside from a few social issues.
2) Collectivized, peaceful protesting.
3) Political violence.
The first one doesn't work. The second is a compromise from resorting to the third. What else is there besides protesting that you expect people to actually do?
Alan Grayson demonstrated why all the media complaint’s about the unclear message behind Occupy Wall Street is nonsense. It took former Rep. Grayson 37 seconds to explain what Occupy Wall Street is about. He almost delivered the perfect 30 second sound bite, but he ran a tiny bit over. It isn’t that the one percent and the Republicans who support them can’t understand Occupy Wall Street. It’s that they don’t want to. The message isn’t complicated.
The right has been trying to play on the fears of some who support Occupy Wall Street by claiming that the left is hijacking the movement, but the support and media sophistication of people like Alan Grayson and Bernie Sanders can only help these protests grow. Grayson demonstrated the value of having someone speak on the movement’s behalf that understands and is comfortable with television.
The right and many in the media will continue to make jokes and play dumb, but while they are laughing it up, a movement is growing. They may intentionally not understand the message of Occupy Wall Street, but millions of Americans do, and these people want their democracy back.
CNN has a piece up by Douglas Rushkoff that does an even better job of explaining the movement, albeit not in as concise a soundbite.
Anyone who says he has no idea what these folks are protesting is not being truthful. Whether we agree with them or not, we all know what they are upset about, and we all know that there are investment bankers working on Wall Street getting richer while things for most of the rest of us are getting tougher. What upsets banking's defenders and politicians alike is the refusal of this movement to state its terms or set its goals in the traditional language of campaigns.
That's because, unlike a political campaign designed to get some person in office and then close up shop (as in the election of Obama), this is not a movement with a traditional narrative arc. As the product of the decentralized networked-era culture, it is less about victory than sustainability. It is not about one-pointedness, but inclusion and groping toward consensus. It is not like a book; it is like the Internet.
Occupy Wall Street is meant more as a way of life that spreads through contagion, creates as many questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken.
Congratulations to everyone out there who still doesn't get it. You are P.J. O’Rourke.
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20 comments:
One thing I don't particularly like is the forgving of student loans aspect I've heard bandied about -- not that I wouldn't welcome paying off my miserable deby.... But I think the way we think about going to and paying for college needs to be burned to the ground. Like everything else in our country the college system is designed to bilk money out of a duped public and enrich the already rich. Tuitions costs have skyrocketed out of control, 17-18 year olds should not be extended loans in the hundred thousand dollar range, or even tens of thousands, and colleges, not to mention churches, should no longer be tax exempt.
Interesting conversation going on here.
https://www.facebook.com/MichaelJEpstein/posts/10100196820526899
Some of my other thoughts, for the negative zero people who give a shit:
The idea of political violence is distasteful, but on the other hand, I'm a firm believer of the fact that there isn't a millionaire alive who hasn't gotten to where they are through tiny, incremental acts of violence against dozens or thousands of people along the way to their place as a "job creator."
Student loans should come with the same type of risk possibilities for the lender as they do in any other loan.
Loaning money *should* have some risk attached.
That's the gamble you take when we allow you the privilege of using our money as citizens to buy the chips you're playing the rigged game with.
If banks stopped giving out private loans for colleges, students would stop going to college, and colleges would promptly reduce their ridiculous, wasteful price tags. I went to college when the price for a good liberal arts school was like 27k. Now, what is it, like 40k? It was a rip off back then, and it is even worse now.
I believe the phrase you're looking for is "privatize profits, socialize losses."
Sadly familiar with that concept.
OK, I mentioned that just because some dudes took a pretty decent crack at setting the country up doesn't mean we should be obliged to try to live up to their exact expectations for how things should work, especially considering we live in the fucking science fiction future compared to those dudes. What 56 people should we trust to start it over then, Sofia asked? Here's my partial list I have so far.
1) Larry David
2) Wes Welker
3) Morrissey
4) My mom
5) Wait, just kidding about my mom via post 9/11 paranoia
... 6) Probably strike Morrissey off too on account the crazies
7) Dennis Kucinich
8) Glenn Greenwald
9) The real Barack Obama
10) Kafka
11) A monkey pissing into its own mouth
12) Gordon Ramsey
13) George RR Martin
14) Zombie Ben Franklin
briandhalligan said...
I believe the phrase you're looking for is "privatize profits, socialize losses."
repeat this x100.
Misplaced anger. The fury should be directed at the Federal Reserve and the government, not just Wall Street.
No, it still works. "Wall Street" is also symbolic in this case.
1) Voting for one of the two party options which are arguably indistinguishable aside from a few social issues.
2) Collectivized, peaceful protesting.
3) Political violence.
The problem with #2 is that it's what people do instead of changing the things they actually can change, i.e. that are within their ability to effect.
Like what? Local politics?
The idea of political violence is distasteful, but on the other hand, I'm a firm believer of the fact that there isn't a millionaire alive who hasn't gotten to where they are through tiny, incremental acts of violence against dozens or thousands of people along the way to their place as a "job creator."
That's too easy to be true.
It's a slight exaggeration at most.
I agree with this. The protesters have been surprisingly successful. The people who are criticizing them are just concern trolling.
Apart from perhaps attaining some feeling of satisfaction, I don't see what they've been successful at. At best this will lead to the Democrats adjusting some of their talking points next election.
Most of these people will leave this protest and, come next election, vote for a Wall St owned party. Just like the Tea Party. So what reason is there for anyone in govt to change anything? They spend a few million cleaning up the discarded signs and arraigning those arrested, and no one on Wall St is worse off for it.
That's pretty cynical, and I don't want to believe it, but it's probably true.
1) Voting for one of the two party options which are arguably indistinguishable aside from a few social issues.
2) Collectivized, peaceful protesting.
3) Political violence.
item 1 is incomplete. it should read: join one of the two parties, donate money, actively participate, and vote in every election. How are these parties supposed to get better if all the really smart guys are outside of them sneering in?
That's a good point Jon, and I wish I believed it was something we were capable of doing.
This is already happening in some countries not just the us and in some other countries already happened.
This have prove that the tactic of raising taxes because the country is going down... that's not a solution is a the worse option, this already happened in Spain and the country is really bad because of this...
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