The whole thing’s a crock of shit. It’s just a big populist anger party. They have no goals. “Ending corporate greed” isn’t a real thing. It’s not like Obama’s going to go in front of his teleprompter tomorrow and announce “corporations are no longer greedy” and they’ll all cheer at victory and go home.
It’s not like they’re trying to accomplish something tangible like repeal the Jim Crow laws to end segregation, or end our involvement in a war. They’re protesting the general conditions of the country. You might as well protest the weather.
Fucking fucks.
I can’t believe a variety show hasn’t gone down there posing as an employment agency (i.e. addecco) filming all the people who balk when actually offered a job. It would be hilarious.
I wonder where everyone is getting that this is just a bunch of unemployed hippies? One of my friends has been there for the past week (freelance sound engineer from Seattle, he usually handles big conferences, etc) The unemployed are some of the people actually living in the park, but the vast majority of the protesters he’s encountered work full time jobs, and generally participate outside of their work hours (that’s why some of the most highly attended protests have been on the weekends).
Even the wall street journal busts that myth.
The lack of a clear goal is certainly a valid complaint. Ultimately there’s too many people with too many goals involved. The more concrete goals that have been coming out lately have the most to do with campaign finance reform, eliminating corporate personhood, etc.
I agree that the hipsters are annoying and are probably hurting the protests. However, there are plenty of real, hard-working people protesting too.
Also, I agree that they need a defined message and I defined goal. I think the protests should be about an end to Reaganomics. The article I posted discusses very well how the recent policies of tax breaks to the rich have done nothing but allow them to horde wealth.
As far as the nonsense about ending corporate greed, I think that’s stupid and I agree that that’s just a bunch of dumbass hipsters who don’t know what they’re talking about.
Fadetoblack, nothing personal, but I feel like I need to mute you.
If OWS really felt there was corruption on WallStreet, dont you think theyd do better occupying the State Attorney Generals office? Until they do, they’re just wasting everyones time and resources. Nothing will be accomplished by the whiny entitleist douche nozzles …
Maybe they should pool their resources and buy a bunch of shares in each “wallstreet targeted corps” and attend annual shareholders meetings to perhaps exert some pressure on the boards. That kind of activism gets the squeaky wheel oiled, unfortunately doesnt receive the press and attention that they crave. The OWS agenda is all about collectivism… I hate them.
That just means your friend is an idiot. It’s also not a myth it’s a reality.
First off who the fuck are you calling junior?
Just because some idiot at the NYTimes post an article about his opinion on historical economics doesn’t make it correct and it surely doesn’t mean people have to agree with it.
Also I’d like to say that every pro-owstard seems to think that picture of the WWII vet is the end all be all. That’s one guy out of thousands of hipster socialist anarchist retards around the country that have no idea what they are protesting. Sorry but I’m not impressed in the slightest.
Oh and these people must be mythical I suppose?
Oh wait I forgot these people don’t exist :picard:
Did you even go to school? Do you know anything about economics or tax structure in the slightest?
Protesting the AG’s office isn’t really relevant, because the corruption being protested isn’t so much about corrupt business practices(which would fall under the AG’s role), as it is corrupt political influence.
The OWS agenda is far from “all about collectivism”, it’s nowhere near that focused.
Ok, so you post a bunch of pictures of people that you assume have no job, etc. I post an article the breaks down the demographics. Do you have anything other than a couple of photos as evidence that this is just a bunch of unemployed hipsters?
Do you know for a fact they’re unemployed?
I know plenty of people that look like the people you posted, that work full time jobs, and not bullshit mcjobs’s either, an engineer, associate editor at a major publisher, director of corporate giving at a major US health research foundation, writer for a technical business journal, etc.
The majority of reports indicate that the majority of the people attending the protests are gainfully employed, and more than half don’t fit the demographics of the photos you posted.
It’s fine that you make assumptions, but you’re misinformed.
Well in honesty it’s really the only form of protesting that gets any attention. In the end, they’re getting a bunch of guys on a car forum talking about it. Seems pretty successful from that perspective.
I didn’t say anything about the people in the pictures being unemployed either. Although I have a strong feeling that most of them probably paid 100k for some bullshit degree and wonder why they can’t get a well paying job right out of school. The pictures were posted because apparently all the hipster douches are a “myth”.
I really don’t need a WSJ blog to throw shity unverified statistics at me to make the judgement call that most of these people have no idea what they are protesting. Besides the fact that they interviewed 198 people which pales in comparison to the entire number of people protesting in major cities around the whole country.
Oh and for the record I know a lot of professional people and none of them look like these idiots. You must know some weird people.
so let me get this straight, the yardstick that you use to measure the success of a protest is how many people on a car forum can express their disgust and hatred toward a movement that I find to be ridiculous?
That’s like saying the Seal beach shooter was successful in his actions in killing 8 people, including his ex-wife, so that he could gain custody of their child. Way to think it through. I’m sure the courts are going to hand him over now that moms out of the picture. I talked about him too, and that got a TONNNN of press… must have been a successful venture then.
As for getting press on a car forum. Sure, I’m talking about it, but I despise 99% of them. (I bet there are a few that have a legitimate claim, but the majority of the OWS’ers who chose a basketweaving degree should have thought out a better career path. Or better yet, move to “basketweaving central” in hopes of finding a better life. But quit bitching, i’m tired of hearing about it.)
PS, I’ve basically been self employed since I graduated from school 4 years ago. I’m not looking for any handouts. Why do they deserve anything more than I would?
The effects of the protest extend further than people realize. The amount of manpower required to cleanup and keep the protests under control, pull our resources from other well needed areas.
The myth is that the people in the photos represent the majority of the protesters, which it seems you’re trying to reinforce with your post. I don’t believe anyone said they are not there.
There’s been a few other polls that have backed up the info from the WSJ poll. You are familiar with how polling works, right? You can argue that the sample size wasn’t significant enough, but considering the relatively small number of people there, the sample size seems adequate for there to be an acceptable margin of error. Either way, it’s pretty obvious that you’ve formed your opinion. I doubt that even if they polled every person involved that it would change you’re opinion of who and what is there.
Admittedly most of the professionals I know don’t look like that(especially in Buffalo), just saying that they exist, especially in NYC.
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Not at all. I’m just saying it’s successful in the sense that people unrelated to, and generally not in favor of the group that’s protesting are talking about it. The car forum is simply an example. You seem like a smart enough guy, I’d think that was pretty clear.
Good for you, but I don’t really see how that’s relevant. From what I’ve read, the majority of the people protesting aren’t looking for handouts.
I don’t think anyone would deny that there aren’t significant collateral costs. At the same time, these people have a constitutional right to peaceful assembly, and with a few exceptions, the protests in NY have been peaceful.
If you’re going to start prohibiting peoples constitutional rights simply because you don’t agree with them, that’s one hell of a slippery slope.
Well i do agree with the slippery slope. And trust me when I say, I’m allllll about rights and lack of restriction. But mob mentality and history have both proven that even the most peaceful protests often turn violent and destructive.
Do me a favor and show me the last time the Tea Party went out of control?.. or required a significant police presence?
Just about every protest is going to illicit some form of police involvement.
I suppose that depends on your definition of “out of control”. When was the last Tea Party protest that last more than a couple of days? I would say for the amount of time this has been going on, and the number of people involved, it’s been shockingly peaceful.
I’m with you here superfan, but good luck convincing these guys. You’d think people would realize that $70,000 per year is a lot closer to 0 than to what the top 1% make, but people want to associate themselves with the super rich over the poor even though they’re not even close and never would be.
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I particularly enjoyed this one. Shocker that Fox News decided not to air it.
