Re: Will "Occupy Wall Street" Stick?

[Amazon D]

HIPPIES = http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/19/1028029/--OWS:-Let-Me-Tell-You-Wall-Street->-bleeped-<s-a-Little-Something-About-Hippies

One of the attack memes for right wingers and know nothings is that the Occupy Wall Street movement is merely the wacky doings of hippies, or aging hippies, or dirty f----ing hippies.

Now I don't want to make this all about hippies...because it isn't. The #OWS movement is a phenomenon all to itself. Blaming it on hippies is just typical weasel behavior from the champaigne-sippin', caviar-dippin' greedheads of Wall Street crowd – you know, the ones who got us into this mess in the first place. It's just their way of avoiding responsibility, and boy howdy are they good at it.

But hippies, young and old, are involved...and that's a damned good thing.

[Butterflyhugs]

I live about 2 blocks from the Occupy Portland camp, intended to show solidarity to those in NYC. (There are similar movements in L.A. and such)

I've been down there a few times to drop off supplies to those there, and I can tell you the majority of them are not "hippies" or crazy. That is purely a media frame. Most people there are average Americans fed up with corporations playing Wack-a-mole with the economy.   

[Amazon D]

[Amazon D]

http://front.moveon.org/one-of-the-biggest-reasons-people-are-mad-enough-to-protest-in-one-eye-opening-clip/?rc=fb.fan

One Of The Biggest Reasons People Are Mad Enough To Protest In One Eye-Opening Clip
front.moveon.org
It's often referred to simply as Citizens United and it's unleashed an electoral monster on society.

[gennee]

I went down to Occupy Wall Street this past Monday. My wife and I are going by there later today.

[Amazon D]

iceland did it and came back ruled by the people = http://roarmag.org/2011/06/iceland-crowdsources-constitution-investors-spain-greece/

[Felix]

I live about 2 blocks from the Occupy Portland camp, intended to show solidarity to those in NYC. (There are similar movements in L.A. and such)

I've been down there a few times to drop off supplies to those there, and I can tell you the majority of them are not "hippies" or crazy. That is purely a media frame. Most people there are average Americans fed up with corporations playing Wack-a-mole with the economy.

Yeah. I pass through downtown every day, and I talked to people in the Portland camp a bunch of times, and it's all sorts of people getting involved.

[Butterflyhugs]

The camp got run out by police last Sunday

[Felix]

Yeah. It was a muddy spectacle. The police horses had helmets on. Most everybody was smiling for a lot of it, though.

Marches still going on. Thursday they blocked the trains, and the cops had this big bulldozer-looking black tank, and the whole thing would've been scary except that the protesters were playing the Imperial March from Star Wars, which I thought was hilarious.

I still don't know how to effectively explain to my kid that the police are not going to arrest us if we are just walking by.

[Michelle.]

Thursday they blocked the trains.

Let's see here. You want to get the 99.9% of the 99% to join OWS.

So your best idea is too block trains, subways, ports and highways. The cops end your campout, so you protest by following first graders home from school.

Great ideas there. Great ideas.

[Jamie D]

I am old enough to remember Wookstock and Ten Years After's paean to counterculture and anarchy, "I'd Love to Change the World,"  The next lyrics were, "... but I don't know what to do, so I leave it up to you."

Many of those protester, instead, listened to the admonitions of Timothy Leary to "Turn on, tun in, drop out."  The current Flea Party will amount to nothing more than an annoyance and turn the independent vote right into the hands of the conservatives.

[gennee]

What I see is a generational divide. Have those at OWS ineracted or made connections with activists of previous generations? The civil rights and labor movements of the past had goals and objectives and went after them. I don't see this with OWS. That will need to change if occupy is being a tool where change can be implemented. I WILL comment further on this in a day or two.

[Shang]

I haven't heard much about the Occupy Movement, honestly.  What I've seen has made me giggle just a bit.  They protest larger corporations, but the items they own and are using during the movement are more-than-likely made by corporations.

Also, it's not longer just with Wall Street or even in the U.S.  When I visited Nottingham (U.K.), there was an Occupy Nottingham camp there.

(I'm 23 and find the Occupy Movement a bit silly, but mostly because it seems to have dissolved and there doesn't appear to be much reason behind it.)

[gennee]

Lynn, you bring you the very point that some have made. They can't say that they are against corporations and use their products. To be more effective and put teeth in their message, they should stop buying from Wal-Marts, stop eating at McDonald's, quit drinking coffee from Starbucks, buying designer jeans, and buying and smoking cigarettes. Another point is to take their money out of the big banks and put it in savings and loans or credit unions or community banks .

[Amazon D]

Lynn, you bring you the very point that some have made. They can't say that they are against corporations and use their products. To be more effective and put teeth in their message, they should stop buying from Wal-Marts, stop eating at McDonald's, quit drinking coffee from Starbucks, buying designer jeans, and buying and smoking cigarettes. Another point is to take their money out of the big banks and put it in savings and loans or credit unions or community banks .

DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER

[Butterflyhugs]

Lynn, you bring you the very point that some have made. They can't say that they are against corporations and use their products. To be more effective and put teeth in their message, they should stop buying from Wal-Marts, stop eating at McDonald's, quit drinking coffee from Starbucks, buying designer jeans, and buying and smoking cigarettes. Another point is to take their money out of the big banks and put it in savings and loans or credit unions or community banks .

How do you know that they don't actually do this?

[ToriJo]

I've always felt they lacked a message - something they all have in common.  It feels like lots of people having lots of different conversations, not all of which are realistic or even reasonable.

For instance, I saw today some identifying with OWS asking the government to essentially pay off all student loans, since they got ripped off.  Well, that didn't happen with mortgages, and it's not going to happen with student loans.  And it ignores dealing with real issues - what the point of college is, how much it's worth, and why costs have gone up so much (it's not any single thing).

I've seen others protesting banks.  Well, I don't particularly like banks either.  On the other hand, what is the solution?  Closing the banks tomorrow won't fix things.

I admire their energy and determination.  But I have no idea what their plan is.  I'm about as far from tea-party supporter as one can get, but I knew what the tea party wanted.

[Butterflyhugs]

Banks and student loans are essentially the same issue in the USA at least, because it is banks who provide student loans and thus make long-term interest off them.

[Amazon D]

JOIN http://WWW.THE99DECLARATION.ORG  and vote for delegates or become a delegate and go to the convention in phila pa july 2012 and vote on a redress of grievences that will be served to congress the senate the president and the supreme court.. at least sign up to be a voter for delegates running in your district

presently there are 582 delegates and 250,000 voters signed up to vote on them